2014 RT-S Pulls to Right

[Guzzi]

Thank you sir!!!

Nils888! Couldn't live with the very hard ride from the new Federal tires (165/55R15). They just beat the front end up, especially on the secondary roads, which are not always the smoothest. Barely acceptable on the Interstate. Federal Tires tracked true and were in perfect balance, and my factory Kenda "pull to the right was gone"!!! Decided to once again try for a good set of factory Kenda fronts. Stopped into Greenville (S.C.) Powersports and had them mount a new front set of Kenda's, at my expense. Had a bad wobble in the bars after the new tires installed, and the dealer worked a couple of hours trying to cure the problem, to no avail. Dealer balanced tires twice, and finally put in "RIDE ON". That helped somewhat, but the wobbly/shimmy remained. Went ahead with my trip on to Johnson City, Tn, and used the new tires for 3 days, in the mountains. At speeds below 40 mph, they were acceptable, but anything over that speed and the handlebars would start to wobble and shimmy!!! Un-rideable over 65 mph (or at the least dangerous), and you could see the tires wobbling from both sides! Started back to Florida, and called Greeenville Powersports and told them I was coming back to get my Federals put back on; at least I could get back home to Florida , and the Federals ran true and didn't cause the bars to flop around, in spite of the hard ride. They would not warranty either of the new tires, as they said my right front hub was out of round, causing the problem. The runout looks fine to me, and If this was the case, why do the Federal car tires, when mounted, not cause the same problem? Of course they had no replacement hub. Will have my local dealer in Florida address that issue. Am really pissed at this point, as BRP GIVES US NO OPTIONS" as far as tires, and apparently there are quality control problems at Kenda, and BRP both. Am a long distance rider and not that fussy; just want my $30000+ purchase to ride smooth and not wobble. I would think this is not to much to expect. Upon arriving back in Florida, my RTL is going to the dealer; handing them the key and telling them to call me when it is right. If the issue is not addressed, then will pursue other options. Oh ,by the way, on a further note, 2 weeks ago, the electric fuel pump on my 2014 RTL was really noisy when the engine was running. Dealer listened to (2) other new 2014's and neither had the noise, like mine; so they replaced, under warranty, the original 2014 fuel pump. Guess what!! The new replacement pump is even louder than the replaced unit!! At a stop light, one guy asked me what the loud whirring sound was?? That was really embarrassing! Don't mean to be a nitpicker, but am highly dissapointed in the issues with my new 2014. 3900 miles now, and still having to jack around to get it right, and enjoy the ride? Local dealer in Daytona is very good, but they are also frustrated with the issues. BRP seems mostly to ignore those of us that do have problems. This post was in answer to Nils888's original question, and for those reading, have had (2) laser alignments, factory 3000 mile service, baja rons sway bar, and smooth spyder installed along with a new ARACHNID rear tire, because the new Kenda Rear was also junk. I do not do my own servicing, but only use authorized BRP dealers.

[PMK]

I won't have time until next weekend, but plan to check out our fronts.

We don't have any serious concerns, but a slight something is felt in the bars.

I have my own balancer here at the house. It should easily handle the fronts, but the rear may not happen. I purchased a box of black stick on weights.

Ours still has the oem balance. When one the balancer, I want to see if there is any vertical runout. I also wonder if the because there is no provision to place weights on each rims flange, that maybe the there is more of an inbalance side to side which the static spin balance is not able to detect.

The best balance is dynamic. The tire is spun and weight is placed on each edge of the rim.

Static balance, can still be done by spinning the wheel / tire assembly, but weight is place on the rims centerline. With this method, you can acheive balance. However if the weight varies from each rims edge, it induces a wooble or percession into the rotating wheel assembly.

When conventional motrcycle tires are balanced, this method works fine since the weight is positioned centered between the the fork legs. This minimizes a lot of the percession when compared to a front end similar to a car.

Also, the speed range of your imbalance is typical of that on a car with worn steering or improperly dynamic balance. An out of round tire tends to hop more than wobble.

Dropping it off may solve the problem. I doubt you have a hub issue based on the comments about the other tires.

Kenda is not known as a high end tire. It would be nice if Dunlop and Bridgestone or other comapnies saw a market in the Spyder.

After I get our fronts on the balancer, I'll let you know the results.

PK