Still new tire woes

Ok everyone, As stated in my other thread, New Tire Woes, I was having an issue with my new Conti Road Attacks and their difficulty in balancing. I ended up taking the Dyna Beads out and having both tire balanced by machine. Still had vibration. I called customer service at Ride Direct explained what I've been thru, they sent me another set of tires within three days, plus they sent me a UPS shipping label to send the old ones back. I up graded the tires and had them send me Michelin Pilot Road 2's, front and rear. I again took them to the Honda dealer for mounting and balance, and I'll be damned if I don't have the same fricking vibration at speeds above 90mph. I've checked wheel run out, disc run out, torqued every bolt to spec., pulled the front rotors and checked wheel bearings, I have a dial indicator set up and checked the front axle, straight and true! There is absolutely no play in the steering head or any slack in the triple tree. What are the chances of getting another set of, or at least another bad front tire but of a different brand? I would think astronomical! I'm at wits end with this one. I just may write to ride direct explaining what I've been thru and send the Michelin's back and have them credit me back. I'll then order a set from the dealer and have them put on. If any problems arise they'll have to deal with it. Sorry for the long post but I'm grasping at straws here. I'm planning a long road trip for the end of May and want all this to be done, now!!!

 

did it wobble or head shake with your old tires?? and if it did not they are not balanced right or just by bad luck you got blem tires also tire pressure it is correct?? good luck i had different tires some smooth best ever some h8ed them and were brand new..

 

Crazy I say send the bike to me I need to feel this one sSriously thou, I really doubt now if it's the tires. I've and experienced seen a many tires taken off and on at the track, reason I say this is they have it set up like undoing a zipper and yes some need more balance weights than others and they double check everything so they know the unit is good to go. and they don't shimmy once on the bike. my next move if it was me. is to take the front tire off the rim and see how it spins up on a balance machine with no tire, Second are you sure it's the front tire / wheel assembly? not saying you don't know what you are talking about, as it's hard to tell this over the inter-net. I'm starting to think it's something else. when doe it shake doe it get worse as speed increases or goes away? what kind of vibs? what I'm going to try and guess. can you sorta count them, or is it more a buzz? starts off slow from the start? do you know someone at a track that knows this sort of thing? may really take hands on it seems.

 

It's a mech issue, put it on the dyno.

 

Kat,
first try to eliminate the tires. The Viffer is easy enough to swap frt and rr.
Use a buddy's wheel tire combo or talk a dealer to swap out on a used (or new if your lucky) bike on the show room floor. Until you do this you will be chasing your tail.

Jon
94 VFR

 

well, you took them to the same dealer and got the same results. Have you thought that the dealer could be the one problem here?

Get them balanced somewhere else to eliminate that issue.

The chances you got two sets of bad tires from two different manufacturers is almost impossible. You could ride down here and I'll balance them for you.

 

The vibration starts at approx. 90mph and gets worse up to 110mph or so. I can actually see the ends of my forks and brake calipers vibrating. If I go faster than 110 the vibration turns into a buzz feeling thru the grips. As I decelerate the vibes pick up as the bike cruises down into the 100's and goes away around 80/85mph. It could be the rear tire, here's what I discovered. With the bike running and up on the center stand in 3rd gear I accelerated up to about 95 on the speedo, it was smooth up till 95 or so, just like out on the interstate. Once I hit 95 the rear tire started vibrating so bad it was shaking the whole bike. Afterwards I put a crow bar under the rear tire and pulled up and I got approx. 1/8" movement and a clunk-clunk. It appears I may have bad rear axle bearings with just enough play to cause this vibration I'm experiencing. What say you?

 

Old tires (original Dunlop 204's) were smooth all the way up to 145, the fastest I've ran thus far. Yep, tire pressures were rite on. It's not so much head shake as a vibration, like the tire has a lump/s on it. It sorta smooths out around 120 or so but then as I decelerate it will pick back up again going down thru the 100's and smooths out at about 80/85. I started this two weeks ago with the Contis Road Attacks and am now running the Michelin Pilot Roads 2ct.

 

You're on to something there, but you may be feeling a shock dampener thump, or sloop in the linkage when lifting up the rear like that, it's not necessarily a rear axle, but I'm wouldn't rule that out, definitely worth looking into for sure, a bearing would buzz like crazy as it loads up. a buzz over 90 ain't a tire problem per say, look at the chain too. I know it's really a weird set of circumstances going on here. Now it's time to get down and dirty by going over the whole machine with a tooth brush. Take one thing and check it out, one thing is if the tires are spot on, did you witness this to be true? I watchem do it I want them zero'd out and I watch them do it to make sure. I'm pretty sure it ain't tires. High speed buzz usually mean it's something else. Reason you feel it in the bars it's like a tuning fork and that's the most noticeable spot, that and foot pegs. I say if you can get it to a track and let a couple that know how to ride, ride it and get their feed back. Yea Dyno might also help with keeping an eye on the rear part, but I believe this will take a seat of the pants feel to get to it first. Best of.

 

The saga continues. Hell has no wrath compared to chasing a problem through internet advice. Good Luck.

 

Thanx for the inputs RVFR, I'm open to any and all suggestions! What has me almost convinced it's the rear axle bearings is the vibration I got when running it up on the center stand. Also, when I pryed up on the rear tire I could see the movement in the axle assembly. I know there's rubber dampers in the rear hub but still I wouldn't think you'd be getting any up and down movement if all were good. I'm not bouncing it off the rear shock either, I watched for that. I didn't actually watch them balance the tires but I must take for granted they know what their doing. It's one of the largest and most prominent Honda shops in the state and I've done a lot of business there. The shop super did show me the balancing machine and explained how it's used. This one is all digital and senses where the tire is out of balance and by how much, a lot like the ones used for cars and trucks. I don't have access to a track or anyone with track experience, so this one is on me, VFR World, and possibly the Honda dealership with some warranty work.

 

You might want to consider that someone from Ride Direct might read your threads...it would sure look bad and piss somebody off if it turned out not to be the tires. You have made them eat $300.00+ already with the return and re-shipment of new tires. Maybe you might want to use pm. :smile:

 

On the contrary, if Ride Direct went to so much hassle and expense, so quickly, to satisfy a customer and "make things right", it tells me a lot of good about their professionalism and business sense.
I believe they just bought themselves a lot of good advertising for very little expense (their Wholesale cost from their supplier is much less than Retail).
I applaud Ride Direct for their prompt response and true customer service "above and beyond" reasonable accommodation (paying for the Return).
If I wasn't determined to support a local small bike shop who treats me right, I might consider using Ride Direct in the future.

As for the problem, I believe that in my first post in the original thread I had mentioned or reiterated to check all bearings and such before suspecting the tires, due to Conti's reputation for quality.
*With the bike on the centerstand, can you physically "wiggle" the wheel and find any play?
That would be the bearings.
*Are you tightening the rear wheel lugs in a "criss-cross" pattern, and in several stages up to proper torque?
Is the shop blasting each lug up to 100lb/ft with an air wrench? - could cause the wheel's center hub/flange to warp on the cush-drive hub.

I'm by no means a resident VFR expert, but I've heard of rear wheel bearings going out at about 20k miles.
My front & rear wheel bearings got replaced last year at about 40k miles.
Oddly, and similarly, I didn't notice any issues until the tires were replaced.
Apparently disassembling/reassembling everything must have changed something so the bad bearings became noticeable - still scratching my head as to exactly why...

 

I don't think they'll loose any sleep over this, if in fact one of them happens to come across these threads. I am very pleased with Ride Directs service and do recommend them for any of you that wish to purchase over the internet. I got the Michelin Pilot Road 2's delivered for $330. I went over the bike again this pm and it's not the rear axle bearings as I originally thot. What I was seeing was the rubber damping in the driven wheel as it's called. I pulled both wheels again this afternoon and am taking them to a different dealer for a rebalance tomorrow. If it still vibrates I'll just keep looking. I'm getting so fatigued over this whole ordeal. I just wanna ride!

 

another idea, frozen link on the chain? could be jumping on the sprocket? pulling at straws and trying to help...

 

I doubt it's the tires. Especially two different brands.


I'm willing to bet it's in your suspension setup. As high speeds can amplify the imperfections in your setup. Both fork tubes set at the same pre load? Blown fork seal? low fluid? How's the rear shock? more than 20k miles? might be worn out. I'd focus on the suspension setup for now.


Also check out the chain and sprockets like other have mentioned. Check out every link for frozen links. Depending on how well you or the previous owner took care of the bike the chain could be beat to hell. It doesn't take long without lubrication for a chain to go to hell.