Adventure in Ohio?

It's off Dana's Rd/ Bear Run Rd (CR25). If coming from Newport, it's past CR9 to the bottom of the hill and take a left through the creek & up the hill (TR382). Up is better than down,

Thx - I'll look around. That makes for a good round trip down there and back - but that's what I'm here for.

Last week week I went down through Rio Grande on south to the river, just north of Huntington, WV. Maybe it just seems remote down there but I don't think they get this week's newspapers.

I'll keep an eye out for that local 'hottie' with the ankle braclet - funny jewelry they wear sometimes. . . (all the time!)

Anyone want to take a stab at it?

Just changed my rear tire, chain, both sprockets, and front brake pads on the V-Strom.

Did some other little stuff: degreased the hell out of the front sprocket area, cover, swingarm and such from 5 years worth of chain lube collecting there; replaced some missing rubber bumpers, checked all visible bolts, shit like that.

First ride after doing that, at speeds from 0 - about 40, the bike feels a little wobbly. It feels kind of like riding on a paved street that has been used by a lot of heavy trucks, you get those light ruts in the pavement that make the bike track in them and feel like it is a little twitchy is the best way to describe it. It's not as obvious feeling as a flat tire or bad wheel bearing. At speeds above 40 or so the bike is smooth and stable.

I checked the following:

-Front suspension, settings the same, travels smoothly, no binding or leaking
-Front wheel bearings, wheel spins easily, no side to side play, no grinding, all spacers appear to be accounted for
-Front brakes, checked all bolts
-Front tire pressure
-Fork "Superbrace", tight, hasn't moved from it's originally installed position
-Axle and pinch bolts tight to specs
-Rear suspension, setting hasn't been changed from what it was, no binding or leaking
-Rear wheel bearings, wheel spins easily, no side to side play, no grinding, all spacers appear to be accounted for
-Rear tire pressure
-Chain tension, front and rear sprocket bolts
-Stering head bearings, the steering head nut is secure and with the front wheel elevated the bars turn smoothly all the way through their travel

The only other thing I thought it could be would be tire balance. I never balance my tires and just have the guy who mounts them line up the balancing dot and call it even. I've never had an issue in the past and honestly I don't know what an "out of balance tire" feels like on the road. Whle checking all the other stuff above I scraped off about 5 wheel weights on each wheel which have been there since the bike was new, but that didn't change anything with how it felt on a follow up ride.

Any thoughts? It's just obvious enough to make me think it's a problem but I'm not sure where to look next.

Rear wheel alignment maybe? Cush rubber missing? You seem to have covered most of the bases. Im just taking stabs at it
Does the rear tire look out of round? If you spin the tire can you see much runout?

Wheel spacers in correctly? Rear wheel alignment OK? You didn't change that much. Jackup the front. Make sure there's no drag or mis-alignment.
Check the rear. No drag? Chain lines up good? Tire OK?
Gotta be something simple.
Make sure tire is seated evenly on the rim.

Yeah, I'd be inclined since you had wheels and sprocket off to think a spacer is missing or in backwards and allowing travel that's abnormal.

Look down your chain up to the countersprocket - is it straight and the chain alignment correct? Not sure on the Wee but if you get a spacer wrong on the Vee it screws up this alignment something fierce makes it obvious.

On your steering stem bearings, they can still swing side to side sometimes rather smoothly but be out along their vertical axis. To check them for this, with the bike on the center stand pick up the front wheel and pull it out away from the bike. If there's play there, they're fooked. Doubtful this is it tho.

An really out of balance tire is a bumpy wobble that gets worse as you speed...never feels squishy or affects the overall feel of the bike in my experience....more like you're going over a bumpy, rhythmic road.

I experienced the same issue and it went away as quickly as it started, so I'm clueless. :huh I wrote it up to wind.

I would second what bikerider mark said. Check to see that the bead has come out on the rim all the way. Most tires have a line on the outside of the tire that should be equal distance from the outside part of the rim if the tire is seated correctly. Carl

Sounds like balance or alignment. New tire tread? Bead? Did you remove a rim lock?

Take a tape measure once and measure to the rear axle from a set point on the frame
Swing arm bolt center usually works. If its a bead you can usually spray some lube on it like Windex or soapy water, over inflate and roll it while hitting it. They normally correct that way. Im still wagering balance or more aggressive tread.

Did you check your muffler bearings?

a bad canooter valve often feels like worn muffler bearings...if you dont measure with a hemowhatsis you'll never be able tell the difference

Well if you haven't figured it out by now...my dog is indypup and she was on the back of the KLR again tonight. Of course I was riding in some undisclosed location...

That'd be my guess also. I've experienced this, it doesn't take much to throw it off and give exactly the feel your describing.

A'ight, thanks all. I will take good look at the tire bead when I get home, I can certainly inflate the hell out of it and pop it in if that's all it is. Didn't really even consider that.

It's not "more agressive tread" as these are the same brand / model of tires I always run, I'm used to them. But thanks.

Np, just curious, why didn't you have them balanced?

I never do. I ride a lot, but I guess I'm not a connosieur. I don't know how much different a big ol' trailee would feel on quasi knobs if the tire is or is not balanced.

I don't really want to be a nuisance to my mechanic, either, I like him and he does the work for very little money, so I hate to take up more of his time by having him balance the tires.

Balancing the tires on an adventure bike is pretty much pointless. Most tires go out of balance within 500 miles or hitting the first pothole.

An adv bike yes,even knobbies too. That i understand. He said strom, so im picturing 80/20 tires at best. All valid points, I was just wondering why is all. Once I hit about a 60/40 I wont bother with balance unless its pretty noticeable.

Shinko 705 which I guess is a 80/20 tire.

Checked the chain, rear wheel alignment. Straight / true. Checked the steering bearings in the Swingset manner, no looseness.

I examined the tire, it appears to be seated on the bead.

To be on the safe side, I rode to the gas station with a ball bat, tire gauge, and bottle of windex. "Drained" all the air from the back tire, waled on it with the ball bat, lubed the area of the bead, waled some more, hyperinflated the tire to 70+ PSI without seeing or hearing the bead popping, waled some more, dropped pressure to 41 PSI Rode home. Same as it was.

I noticed the only difference between my bike and Meredith's is the rubber dust cover over the wheel bearings on the disk side of the rear wheel on mine is slightly dimpled, like the rubber is a little crushed; and on hers it is nice and flat. That's it; all other spacers are exactly the same between the two bikes.

I'm not terribly worried, just curious. I'm gonna keep riding, I guess one of three things will happen - it will get better, it will get worse, or it will stay the same. Even if it gets worse I can't see a catastrophic failure since everything checks okay.

Thanks for the advice.

[QUOTEBalancing the tires on an adventure bike is pretty much pointless. Most tires go out of balance within 500 miles or hitting the first pothole. __________________][/QUOTE]

I'm not arguing or disagreeing, because I don't even understand this stuff at a distance, but I am curious; why should this be true? How does hitting a pothole "unbalance" a tire?

You balance a tire/wheel because all sections or segments of the tire/wheel don't weigh the same. You add weight to one section to attempt to "balance" these inequalities. I understand that tires wear unevenly and this weight distribution changes over time, but don't understand how hitting a pothole would change a tire/wheel weight distribution.

Did you check the swing arm bearings for excessive play?