A case of the wobbles

[big yellow tractor]

During my little trip into Darkest Dorset last weekend, my DRZ had a nasty weave at speeds just above 70mph. It started as a slow weave, became a wobble and then a bit of a head-shake as I increased speed. Sitting right back on the seat eased it off a bit but it didn't go away.

I didn't have this problem at all through France and Spain last year and I went from fully loaded with luggage and 28lts of fuel to fully loaded but with empty tank without any wobbles. Also without luggage but nearly full with fuel showed no issues. That was on Meffo Explorers, a very road biased tyre; last weekend, I was on MT21s.

I took it for a thrash yesterday with maybe 8lts of fuel and no luggage and it was fine.

Is it possible that certain tyres have an issue at speed when loaded ?

Is there something else on the bike I should be looking at ?

Any ideas ?

[Dave]

Without insulting your intelligence I'll just list everything I can think of. Also you're talking about weaving. This is side to side opposed to increased vibration.?

Loose yokes / stem nut
Incorrectly seated tyre, check bead
Loose wheel nuts
Ragged wheel bearings
Tyre pressure
Wheel alignment is out
Malformed tyre / uneven tyre wall
You're drunk..
If you've been running low pressures perhaps the tyre has moved and inner tube isn't seated correctly within the tyre? - that is pretty far fetched tho
To answer your question, I have read of people with 21" fronts suffering wobble at high speeds when certain tread patterns wear down and become uneven from the centre line. A 21" is mean to be twitchy anyway at higher speeds..

[big yellow tractor]

Without insulting your intelligence I'll just list everything I can think of. Also you're talking about weaving. This is side to side opposed to increased vibration.?

Hey no worries about stating the obvious, always best to assume I know fcuk-all. My brother once spent half a day trying to work out why his bike wouldn't start and accused me of taking the piss when I asked if it had petrol. I didn't.

and yes, side to side weave.

Loose yokes
Incorrectly seated tyre, check bead
Loose wheel nuts
Ragged wheel bearings
Tyre pressure
Wheel alignment is out
Malformed tyre / uneven tyre wall

All the above appear to be fine; the wheel and tyre run nicely true and the wheel has been balanced.

You're drunk..

Unfortunately not.

I have read of people with 21" fronts suffering wobble at high speeds when certain tread patterns wear down and become uneven from the centre line. A 21" is meant to be twitchy anyway at higher speeds..

Perhaps I have to accept that is just a characteristic of MT21s. It's not really a big problem at normal cruise speeds but I do like to give it some beans occasionally.

[Dave]

Weird and yet obvious how much tyres play a role.

I'd always used Bridgestone for my Transalp before. Recently I put on a pair of cheaper Conti's dualsport tyres on it. Seem to have way more grip than Bridgestone's road tyres on the black stuff in all conditions and hold just as well on the trails compared to the Bridgestone dualsports for my skill level (or lack of it for a big bike).