4200-5000 RPM wheel & handlebar shimmy

[Navy Warrant]

My new 2012 Spyder RT-S has developed a shimmy between 4200 - 5000 RPM which started at about 800 miles. I have 1130 miles on it now, and I haven't hit any potholes or obsticles. You can accelerate or decelerate out of it. The BRP trained mechanic verified it and is theorizing that it might be the BPS, or power steering unit. He's checked the wheels twice and says everything is tight. Anyone else have any ideas? The mechanic is going to post this problem on the BRP mechanics forum.

[kyspyder]

Assuming they have checked wheel balance and tire condition have your BRP tech check for proper toe-in, bad steering angle sensor, bad torque sensor, bad ball joints, bad a-frame bushings, bad DPS.


KYSPYDER

[Pennyrick]

My new 2012 Spyder RT-S has developed a shimmy between 4200 - 5000 RPM which started at about 800 miles. I have 1130 miles on it now, and I haven't hit any potholes or obsticles. You can accelerate or decelerate out of it. The BRP trained mechanic verified it and is theorizing that it might be the BPS, or power steering unit. He's checked the wheels twice and says everything is tight. Anyone else have any ideas? The mechanic is going to post this problem on the BRP mechanics forum.

Have gone through this on my 2012 Limited but it was intermitent, not constant. We finally tracked it to a bad belt in one of the front tires that would move around and cause the wobble. It doesn't sound as though this is your problem but it wouldn't hurt to have the dealer pull a front wheel from a new unit and try it on each side of your Spyder to see it you can make it go away.

[Ken Thomas]

WHEEL BALANCE.


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My new 2012 Spyder RT-S has developed a shimmy between 4200 - 5000 RPM which started at about 800 miles. I have 1130 miles on it now, and I haven't hit any potholes or obsticles. You can accelerate or decelerate out of it. The BRP trained mechanic verified it and is theorizing that it might be the BPS, or power steering unit. He's checked the wheels twice and says everything is tight. Anyone else have any ideas? The mechanic is going to post this problem on the BRP mechanics forum.

[JJW SpyderRider]

My NEW 2012 RT-S had a bad wobble at about the same RPM. The belt was riding up on the rear pulley flange. When it slipped off it shook the front end, front right wheel, and handle bars. Aligned the belt all was good :thumbup: I pointed out that the belt was against the flange and the wobble at my 600 mile service but ignored. This is why I fix my own :spyder2:.

[SpyderAnn01]

I had this problem and it was caused by cupping of the tires. New tires solved the death wobble for me.

[Bob Denman]

You mentioned 4200 to 5000 rpm; is it only rpm sensitive, or does it occur at a particular speed? :shocked:
Think of an automotive front-end, and you've got an idea of where you can start looking for issues...
Please let us know what is found, and Good Luck! :thumbup:

[viperryder]

My new 2012 Spyder RT-S has developed a shimmy between 4200 - 5000 RPM which started at about 800 miles. I have 1130 miles on it now, and I haven't hit any potholes or obsticles. You can accelerate or decelerate out of it. The BRP trained mechanic verified it and is theorizing that it might be the BPS, or power steering unit. He's checked the wheels twice and says everything is tight. Anyone else have any ideas? The mechanic is going to post this problem on the BRP mechanics forum.

We had a person with a Lava Bronze 2012 that had asimilar vibration. After many tries to fix it they finally came up with the idea of looking at the motor mounts. Thsi was the problem. After which they fixed and he has had no futher problems. Hope this helps.

[NancysToy]

Rpm sensitive (in any gear) is more typical of a drivetrain problem. Think belt adjustment, a stone or debris in a sprocket (it doesn't tale much), or a motor mount/clearance issue. Speed sensitive is more likely wheels, tires, steering, or suspension. Eventually these usually show up in the form of irregular tire wear.You can have both, where one enhances the other. There are a lot of things to inspect, evaluate, and eliminate as possibilities in either case, all you can do is be thorough and go through the possible causes until you find something out of whack.

[Bob Denman]

:shocked: Does this mean that I might have brought up something that mattered for a change?? :yikes: :roflblack:

[Littlebadwolf]

The belt tensioner smoothed out any vibration I noticed on my RS...smooth as silk at this point.

[chris56]

wheel balance ..

[BajaRon]

I had this problem and it was caused by cupping of the tires. New tires solved the death wobble for me.

An interesting statement. Tires don't cup unless something is wrong causing the condition in the first place.

Cupping of tires is usually caused by an out of balance condition. Less likely reasons are bad shocks or other worn, bent or broken suspension parts.

If new tires cured your problem then it is most likely that bad balance was the culpret, as any other cause would still remain and your tires would begin to cup again pretty quickly.

[Navy Warrant]

Thanks to you all for the ideas. I've passed them on to the Lake Norman Powersports technician. I'll post any fix after he finds it.

[Bob Denman]

Good luck, and we're waiting to hear what the culprit was! :thumbup:
:bbq::bbq:

[Navy Warrant]

It's pretty obvious the technician doesn't want to fool with this problem. Last week he told me to call him on Friday afternoon to give him a chance to post it on some other forum. I asked if he wanted more time and he said no. I called Friday afternoon and couldn't get him to come to the phone. I called Saturday and couldn't get him to come to the phone. They're closed Sunday and Monday. Today I went there and told him I'd found that the problem is speed related and not RPM related which tells me it's in the front end somewhere. I also told him that as I was pulling into a gas station yesterday there was a bang in the left wheel that was like someone had hit the wheel with a baseball bat. The kind of sound one might hear if a belt in the tire had broken or something. I suggested we swap the wheel with the demo Spyder to see if the shimmy was still there or gone. He said the owner wouldn't like it and walked inside, I thought to ask her. After about 10 minutes I noticed him working out back and I inquired about it with the owners daughter. She said Kenneth, the tech, was busy with other stuff and that they weren't allowed to swap wheels. Then she told me that defective tires aren't covered by the warranty anyway!!! WHAT??? I made an appointment to have Kenneth look at the bike again tomorrow, but I'm left with a really bad taste in my mouth. It's pretty obvious that I'm not going to get good service, something I thought I'd get since their motto is "We build our reputation on your satisfaction". How can a defective tire not be covered under the warranty? Does that mean they can put defective tires on my new Spyder and then make money off of selling me a new tire? Anyway, I'd noticed the left tire had a verticle line on the outside of it like someone had made it with a light colored permanent marker. It came that way, and I don't know if it's supposed to indicate a defect or not. Also, when I mentioned that I'd posted the problem on Spyderlovers.com they kind of disparaged this forum a bit and said they post on a BRP forum.

Any ideas (besides "find another dealer"):mad:

[NancysToy]

It's pretty obvious the technician doesn't want to fool with this problem. Last week he told me to call him on Friday afternoon to give him a chance to post it on some other forum. I asked if he wanted more time and he said no. I called Friday afternoon and couldn't get him to come to the phone. I called Saturday and couldn't get him to come to the phone. They're closed Sunday and Monday. Today I went there and told him I'd found that the problem is speed related and not RPM related which tells me it's in the front end somewhere. I also told him that as I was pulling into a gas station yesterday there was a bang in the left wheel that was like someone had hit the wheel with a baseball bat. The kind of sound one might hear if a belt in the tire had broken or something. I suggested we swap the wheel with the demo Spyder to see if the shimmy was still there or gone. He said the owner wouldn't like it and walked inside, I thought to ask her. After about 10 minutes I noticed him working out back and I inquired about it with the owners daughter. She said Kenneth, the tech, was busy with other stuff and that they weren't allowed to swap wheels. Then she told me that defective tires aren't covered by the warranty anyway!!! WHAT??? I made an appointment to have Kenneth look at the bike again tomorrow, but I'm left with a really bad taste in my mouth. It's pretty obvious that I'm not going to get good service, something I thought I'd get since their motto is "We build our reputation on your satisfaction". How can a defective tire not be covered under the warranty? Does that mean they can put defective tires on my new Spyder and then make money off of selling me a new tire? Anyway, I'd noticed the left tire had a verticle line on the outside of it like someone had made it with a light colored permanent marker. It came that way, and I don't know if it's supposed to indicate a defect or not. Also, when I mentioned that I'd posted the problem on Spyderlovers.com they kind of disparaged this forum a bit and said they post on a BRP forum.

Any ideas (besides "find another dealer"):mad:
The shop owner better bone up on the warranty details. Tires are covered for 6 months, or until worn to 3/32" front or 5/32" rear, whichever occurs first. What is and isn't covered under warranty is listed in your Owners' Guide. Show them the book and ask them to explain.

[Bob Denman]

I'm sorry to hear that you appear to be getting a bit of a runaround... :shocked:
Hold their feet to the fire and don't let up until they find the answer and a solution! :thumbup:

[Navy Warrant]

Shimmy was so bad and violent riding to the dealership this morning I had to keep my speed under 40 and felt unsafe. They re-balanced the wheels. No joy. Swapped the wheels off the demo and voila, no problem anymore (like I suggested 2 visits ago-duh). Said tires checked out ok so problem must be in a wheel. They have to order new wheels (with tires already installed) from Quebec. She's going to ask the owner (her mom) if they can use the ones off the one RT-S they have on the showroom floor. If not it'll take 5 calender days to get them from Quebec. If I ever find out what's wrong withe wheel I'll post it.