bluestratos
10-28-2013, 01:51 PM
I took my bike down to MrLoonys (Dan) place in Salem Oregon this weekend as he invested in the laser alignment kit. I live in Lynden WA by the Canadian border but it is an easy ride straight south on I-5 so I got there around 1:00 P.M. He quickly set to work setting up the equipment and in less than 15 minutes was able to determine that my bike was out by -1 1/2" (not enough toe in) overall . I watched everything he did and double checked his measurements and I concurred with his findings. I should mention that he had me pull into the garage running up a straight line to be sure my handle bars were centered as built. Using masking tape he marked the handle bar and the bike dash to use as a tool to keep the centering correct.
I should tell you what the bike did before I explain what the improvements were. I have Elka Socks and Baja Ron's Sway bar so my suspension is about as good as it gets. I could tell that on the freeway the bike seemed to be hunting left and right but I blamed this on ruts in the road. At 70 MPH it was unnerving but as long as I kept focused it was no problem. In the twisties I felt was under steering and not holding the curve and again, I thought this was something I had to live with. By the way my tires were wearing normal (23,000 miles) but possibly a bit more on the outsides (Toe out). My experience in the past is that too much toe-in will show excessive wear on the inside but you don't notice any bad habits to speak of, tow out will cause the problems I was having.
The overall took about 45 minutes but he spend time explaining what he was doing so if some one just left him to it would take less than 30 min I am sure. He had me take a 10 minute ride in the country where the speeds ranged from 35 to 50 with lots of twisties. At lower speeds it I did not really feel much difference but it held the line much better with less tendency to fall to right of the road. The curves felt good but I have to relearn them now that the bike tracks correctly.
The real difference came at speed... at 70 no more hunting, she holds a straight line and will follow a straight line hands off for quite a distance (each road has a different crown so I double checked when I got home with my local roads). Now here is the better news. Since Dan took the time to be sure the handle bars stayed in the original positions my handle bars did not change after the alignment. He had to check, check and check again but made sure the lines handle bars stayed in the original position. Consequently Nanny was happy when it was done.
Other than hitting rain for a hundred miles and hydroplaning across multiple lanes of traffic with my trailer in tow due to my own stupidity (I was doing 70 and with the alignment being right I forgot about the road conditions) the ride home was great. At one point I thought it was back to the way it had been but the I realized the wind had started blowing about 25 mph and was gusting much higher. Even with the trailer I realized that if kept the speed to 60 (the advised speed to tow at) the wind had little effect compared to the way it used knock me around and cause hunting. Now, I can fell it push me but it no longer over steers than dashes back.
Dan even found me a motel at a lower rate and negotiated an even better deal on my behalf!
Fun weekend with great results... life doesn't get much better than that :-)
I should tell you what the bike did before I explain what the improvements were. I have Elka Socks and Baja Ron's Sway bar so my suspension is about as good as it gets. I could tell that on the freeway the bike seemed to be hunting left and right but I blamed this on ruts in the road. At 70 MPH it was unnerving but as long as I kept focused it was no problem. In the twisties I felt was under steering and not holding the curve and again, I thought this was something I had to live with. By the way my tires were wearing normal (23,000 miles) but possibly a bit more on the outsides (Toe out). My experience in the past is that too much toe-in will show excessive wear on the inside but you don't notice any bad habits to speak of, tow out will cause the problems I was having.
The overall took about 45 minutes but he spend time explaining what he was doing so if some one just left him to it would take less than 30 min I am sure. He had me take a 10 minute ride in the country where the speeds ranged from 35 to 50 with lots of twisties. At lower speeds it I did not really feel much difference but it held the line much better with less tendency to fall to right of the road. The curves felt good but I have to relearn them now that the bike tracks correctly.
The real difference came at speed... at 70 no more hunting, she holds a straight line and will follow a straight line hands off for quite a distance (each road has a different crown so I double checked when I got home with my local roads). Now here is the better news. Since Dan took the time to be sure the handle bars stayed in the original positions my handle bars did not change after the alignment. He had to check, check and check again but made sure the lines handle bars stayed in the original position. Consequently Nanny was happy when it was done.
Other than hitting rain for a hundred miles and hydroplaning across multiple lanes of traffic with my trailer in tow due to my own stupidity (I was doing 70 and with the alignment being right I forgot about the road conditions) the ride home was great. At one point I thought it was back to the way it had been but the I realized the wind had started blowing about 25 mph and was gusting much higher. Even with the trailer I realized that if kept the speed to 60 (the advised speed to tow at) the wind had little effect compared to the way it used knock me around and cause hunting. Now, I can fell it push me but it no longer over steers than dashes back.
Dan even found me a motel at a lower rate and negotiated an even better deal on my behalf!
Fun weekend with great results... life doesn't get much better than that :-)