[jrivas]

ok,i didnt think it was anything but now im worried. its been a couple of times i have taken the wife for a ride and coming back home on a curve we have to take, the bike feels like its losing grip so i have to slow down big time. at first i thought i may have just been goin to fast, then i thought the road was just jacked up (and this has happened to me 3 times), well i took the same route on my own and nothing......i even went faster to see what it felt like and nothing. It cant possibly be my tires since they are practically brand new, made sure everything was nice and tight everywhere and nothing. i really thought we were gonna fall the last time we did this so i was going like 10 mph and i can usually take that curve going 60 no problem. the wife just thinks i dont wanna take her for rides but i really dont know what to look for ....any ideas

oh yeah this doesnt just happen on curves, even on simple turns it feels like im going to bite the street..... but when im on my own, no problems at all

[cbr1kfireblade]

i sometimes notice that too with the wife, i really havent pinned it to this but i think its just the suspension giving a bit more than your used to.. thats what i think and feel... .02

[denzee]

Tire Pressure good?

[jrivas]

Originally Posted by cbr1kfireblade

i sometimes notice that too with the wife, i really havent pinned it to this but i think its just the suspension giving a bit more than your used to.. thats what i think and feel... .02

whos knows my friend... .... always have a 35 to 36 on tire pressure.....its crazy! i hate turning when i have her on..i hate to tell her but i would rather ride on my own, if i could only figure out what it is so i can fix it and i would have these crazy thoughts and not taking her out on lil rides here and there

[cbr1kfireblade]

im the same way, i rather ride alone.. try adjusting the ride height to compensate for the extra weight.. i will have to do the same, havent thought about it till now lol

[freakiepriest]

I've had the same issue when riding with the gf on the back, was rear shock set to soft for our combined weights, adjusted it accordingly and it's fine now.

Also tire pressure, even a few PSI can make a difference with a pillion on board

[jrivas]

Originally Posted by freakiepriest

I've had the same issue when riding with the gf on the back, was rear shock set to soft for our combined weights, adjusted it accordingly and it's fine now.

Also tire pressure, even a few PSI can make a difference with a pillion on board

so adjusting the rear shock eh....so do you do this only when you have someone in the back and then put back to normal or did you just make one change and that was good enough with passenger and without?? we are getting somewhere now cbr1k

[cbr1kfireblade]

Originally Posted by jrivas

so adjusting the rear shock eh....so do you do this only when you have someone in the back and then put back to normal or did you just make one change and that was good enough with passenger and without?? we are getting somewhere now cbr1k

im listening.. carry on

[jrivas]

waiting for freakie to school us on this matter.......

[cbr1kfireblade]

LMAO.... that lil guy you got there is funny as hell to me

[jrivas]

which one.... this one

[cbr1kfireblade]

yeah lol.

[jrivas]

Originally Posted by cbr1kfireblade

yeah lol.

HEHE........ yeah i get a kick out of that lil rascal too...... well it looks like its gonna be a waiting game now, im sure someone will answer our question mr cbr1k...we will just have to do a lil bit of this to our fellow riders, someone will feed us with knowledge.......hopefully

[freakiepriest]

because I'm a heafty fellow, i just turned the rear shock up (the rebound) to the 2nd hardest setting on the factory shock. cause the misses is a light weight i was good for both solo and 2 up

[freakiepriest]

A link a found very helpful for suspension setup

Motorcycle Suspension Set-up

[zerogara]

I have a few thoughts that may help you past what ever else told you, which may very well be the case.
1 The passenger on the RC and most sport bikes seats well behind the CG almost on top of the rear axle. This has an effect in your weight bias, therefore the front starts feeling light. The lighter the bike the more noticeable it is. Since there are no handles for the passenger I assume your wife hugs you tight, so she is not causing the wobble in slow turns.
2 The subframe may be close to its limits, not saying your wife is heavy, but it seems that the RC's passenger seat is a joke and I don;t think too much of the designs time was spent on the passenger capacity. Remember this is a bike designed to win races and then made street legal.
Also check the welds of the subframe, a broken weld may cause a hell of a wobble.
3 Unlike fast corners where forces act in a closer range, in tight slow corners there are sudden forces that twist and flex things in different ways.
Have you noticed how when you hit bumps in corners at 2-3 imes the speed they feel much easier to deal with than on real tight corners?

I know it is hard to describe what you feel and you call a wobble, but the way I understand it is some kind of oscillating motion, like an undumped spring, or torsion bar. Like if your swingarm was really soft and flexing, or a tire was low and had soft sidewalls......?

[Blakey0078]

If evrything is ok, ie, tyres, everything tight and not broken, i would suggest a new passenger, lol.
I used to ride with my ex on back and she was about 125pounds. Had no probs at all. Have taken a few other chicks on back and they are terrible. I discovered they tend to lean the other way to you and the bike when going around a bend so they can see where your going.
Try telling you missus to stare at the back of your helmet when going around corners. This has helped with a few of my passengers.

[Bonefish]

remove your rear pegs..missus has to stay at home

[skwyd]

When you add a passenger, you need to take a couple of things into account.

First you need to remember that you are placing additional weight further from the fulcrum point which means that even a little weight has a more increased effect on the suspension. The RC51 is actually set up for a rider weighing 186 pounds, and if you add another person then the spring on the rear shock is not going to react in the same way. It will be slower to rebound because of the increased mass, and compression will be greater for the same reason.

Second you should consider that when you have a passenger their movement, no matter how small, will be felt differently. I used to have a GF who, even though I told her to keep her head on the inside of mine in a turn, would almost sit up in a turn. This takes the weight from being inline with the bike, to weight pushing down on the bike (towards the ground not the wheels).

I agree that the best option is to have her get a bike of her own, and to that end, I have no seat, and put Sato Banzai's on without foot pegs. Just my two cents.

[jrivas]

so what you all are saying is to ditch my woman eh!! I DONT THINK SO, we will figure this out
zero, the wobbly feeling, its like the bike is about to slip underneath me, that is when i have to go really slow. the hugging tight deal when we are riding....... !! i hate that, and now that i think of it , this may be one thing that is causing this, she does not hug me at all, i hate that, she just sits
there and she grabs my jacket on the sides close to my hips and belt.

Blakey, you do have a point and i have never really asked, but looking and leaning the other way when going into a curve or bend is good thinking.on a straight i cant tell she is behind me cause she doesnt lean up against me, i told her not to since when she did do this, she would smash my balls!!

bonefish & skwyd, i like the way you think but i try to be nice..........i wouldnt want to hear the nagging about "you dont take me with you", or "you never want me to go with you" or maybe even " who else are you takin on a ride". Although, these have never been said to me cause my wife is cool, i have friends that have been told this and i dont wanna have to hear it!!

it may just be the way she reacts to my riding and i may just give that a shot, either way im getting another bike nex year, this one will be a little more confortable for but will still have a little spice for me!! thanks gents!!

[BigBassTurd]

On my 929 when I ride with my wife I go from the 3rd notch to the 6th notch on the rear shock. Then I go from 5 lines showing to 2 lines showing on the forks. This seems to cure the wobble I get in the front when slowing down or accelerating while 2 up. I adjust my suspension everytime I ride 2 up and change it back for single person rides. It took a couple 2 up rides before I settled on the above set-up. a Few test rides should give you an idea where the pre-load should be set for 2 up riding.

[jrivas]

thanks for the info, i really didnt wanna seem like an idiot changing the settings each time i have someone on my back and when i ride alone........ as far as how much, playing with it will seem like the right thing to do till i get it right......... so basically, the bike will set higher when the changes are made for a passenger?????????

[BigBassTurd]

Yes the rear will sit higher because the bike dosen't sag as much when fully loaded. Also the front won't want to dive super hard and throw all the wieght of you and your passenger onto the front tire.

[jrivas]

is there a special tool for this??

[BigBassTurd]

All the tools I use came in the little honda tool kit that came with my bike. you'll need a spanner wrench for the rear and I believe a 17mm for the front pre-load. Your bike maybe a different size wrench then mine though.

[jrivas]

roger that mr turd....... thanks for the info

[Twincam]

Maybe your wife isn't leaning as much as you are, or is counter-leaning? If its starting to wobble, it makes me wonder if she is moving about (a small movement on her part could really "shake" the bike.

Deff try adjusting the suspension.

Good luck

[jrivas]

thanks twin..........a little tweak here and there oughta fix this ...........

[zerogara]

Hey Jrivas, 40 years ago today this started, take a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYKY2lpxMg8

[jrivas]

good morning zero, i cant see the youtube shortcut since im at work, cant wait to get home and ck it out........... (maybe)