Handling Issue

[Gasman129]

Just put Vee Rubber tires on all three corners. 2oz beads in the fronts. 3oz beads in the rear.
19lbs pressure in fronts. 28 lbs in rear.

Prior to new tires the bike tracked just fine. Could steer with one finger. Ride home after new tires was almost scary. Pulls hard to the right and handles like crap.

What at went wrong?

[Highwayman2013]

Probably a bad front tire, is the belt tracking properly?

[Gasman129]

Belt is fine I believe. Ride was normal going to have front tires changed. The tires are new that I put on.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Just put Vee Rubber tires on all three corners. 2oz beads in the fronts. 3oz beads in the rear.
19lbs pressure in fronts. 28 lbs in rear.

Prior to new tires the bike tracked just fine. Could steer with one finger. Ride home after new tires was almost scary. Pulls hard to the right and handles like crap.

What at went wrong?

I have never been a fan of Kenda tires, the Vee Rubber tire people used the crappy Kenda as a MODEL for their tire ........ Sooo you have a Kenda tire with a different name on the side-wall ...........sorry...............jmho....Mike

[SpyderAnn01]

I have to agree with Mike. Vee Rubber has such a bad reputation that the motorcycle tire shop we use for mounting will not mount any of their tires.

[Ex-Rocket]

Maybe your alignment is way off after the tire change.

[Chupaca]

Depends on who did it and if you are out of alignment. Don"t know about beads and how many you need depending on if the tires were mount correctly..you may be out of balance as well. Don't know what model your on so can't comment on the tire pressure....

[BajaRon]

Definitely sounds like bad rubber. You're so much better off with an appropriate car tire.

I hate even using that term. Because the Kenda and Vee are simply filmsy, light duty car tires. So light duty that you can't run them on an actual car. But other than that, they are a car tire.

[Gasman129]

I am on a 2013 RTL. I did some checking on here and it seemed like 19lbs pressure was pretty popular. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around how changing the front tires can make it out of alignment. It rode just fine on the old kendas 2 hours ago.

So is it worth having the dealer check alignment when I take it in next week for its 10,000 mile check up. Or just ditch these new tires and put the old Kendas back on for now. So disappointed.

I also reached out to Vee Rubber to see what they say. Just went out also and made sure the directional arrows were going the correct direction.

[Peter Aawen]

......
I hate even using that term. Because the Kenda and Vee are simply filmsy, light duty car tires. So light duty that you can't run them on an actual car. But other than that, they are a car tire.

I don't think there's any (other?) place in the world (anywhere that polices this sort of stuff anyway!!) that considers Kenda's are constructed sufficiently robust enough for them to qualify as a passenger car tire - they generally make & sell push bike & wheel barrow tires, & not widely recommended wheel barrow tires at that (altho their push bike tires sometimes get a good rap!) I really don't understand how Canada could ever recognise these tires as a 'safe' motorcycle tire, when they are so obviously an extremely lightly constructed 'car' tire (or should that be 'dodgy' not lightly??) & a car tire that wouldn't/shouldn't qualify as a 'safe' car tire at that, & I'm pretty convinced that it's only that initial recognition by Canada that's swayed any other country to let them run on vehicles used on their roads!! And we, the end users, pay the penalty for that - at least so far it's been in poor handling, ride, & tire wear, & hasn't (yet?) been in accidents & injuries!! Personally, I'd be getting rid of the Kenda's or any tire based upon them at the earliest opportunity & putting on a tire that has actually & unquestionably qualified as being good enough to run under a passenger vehicle in your country, whatever that country is!!

And Gasman, before you get too carried away spending money on searching for physical or mechanical issues on the Spyder, just try swapping the front wheels to the other side & going for a careful ride to see if your symptoms change!! Yes, I know the tires are directional, but if there's an issue in the tire mounting or the construction of one or more tires creating your tracking & steering problems, swapping the tires to the other side will make that bloody obvious & you can then get that addressed rather than chasing your tail!! If it's NOT a tire mounting or construction issue, then swapping tires will have no effect on the way the symptoms present, & riding reasonably gently on directional tires turning the wrong way isn't really all that risky, well, not unless you are riding at warp speed or in very wet conditions!! Heck, many road racers & off road racers have been known to purposefully mount directional tires the wrong way around on one end of their vehicle just to take advantage of the extra traction in reverse that gives them or the changes in handling it can give your vehicle at speed!! And many people run their directional spare the wrong way for thousands of miles after a puncture with little adverse impact except greater wear on the tire cos it's turning 'against the grain' so to speak!!

So try swapping yours to the other side & see what it does to your tracking & steering effort!! No change, look for other things like wheel alignment or worn ball joints etc; but if the bad stuff disappears or the 'steering pull/tracking deviation' changes to the other direction/side, then it's probably gonna be a tire mounting or construction problem!!

[BajaRon]

I am on a 2013 RTL. I did some checking on here and it seemed like 19lbs pressure was pretty popular. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around how changing the front tires can make it out of alignment. It rode just fine on the old kendas 2 hours ago.

So is it worth having the dealer check alignment when I take it in next week for its 10,000 mile check up. Or just ditch these new tires and put the old Kendas back on for now. So disappointed.

I also reached out to Vee Rubber to see what they say. Just went out also and made sure the directional arrows were going the correct direction.

All of us are diagnosing your issue from afar. All we can do is give you our best idea. But I can tell you a poorly constructed tire on a very sensitive machine like the Spyder can give you fits. But is that your problem? We can't say for sure.

If you dealer does not have the ROLO laser alignment system (and know how to use it) you're wasting your time having them check your alignment.

Good luck and let us know what the final fix is.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I am on a 2013 RTL. I did some checking on here and it seemed like 19lbs pressure was pretty popular. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around how changing the front tires can make it out of alignment. It rode just fine on the old kendas 2 hours ago.

So is it worth having the dealer check alignment when I take it in next week for its 10,000 mile check up. Or just ditch these new tires and put the old Kendas back on for now. So disappointed.

I also reached out to Vee Rubber to see what they say. Just went out also and made sure the directional arrows were going the correct direction.

Re-read posts #2,4,5 & 8.............It's not likely to be an alignment issue ......unless when they mounted the front tires they used a FORK LIFT to do it, and the operator was DRUNK .......Try and get a refund and think about a car tire, there are plenty that will fit........good luck .....Mike

[SpyderAnn01]

I don't think there's any (other?) place in the world (anywhere that polices this sort of stuff anyway!!) that considers Kenda's are constructed sufficiently robust enough for them to qualify as a passenger car tire - they generally make & sell push bike & wheel barrow tires, & not widely recommended wheel barrow tires at that (altho their push bike tires sometimes get a good rap!) I really don't understand how Canada could ever recognise these tires as a 'safe' motorcycle tire, when they are so obviously an extremely lightly constructed 'car' tire (or should that be 'dodgy' not lightly??) & a car tire that wouldn't/shouldn't qualify as a 'safe' car tire at that, & I'm pretty convinced that it's only that initial recognition by Canada that's swayed any other country to let them run on vehicles used on their roads!! And we, the end users, pay the penalty for that - at least so far it's been in poor handling, ride, & tire wear, & hasn't (yet?) been in accidents & injuries!! Personally, I'd be getting rid of the Kenda's or any tire based upon them at the earliest opportunity & putting on a tire that has actually & unquestionably qualified as being good enough to run under a passenger vehicle in your country, whatever that country is!!

And Gasman, before you get too carried away spending money on searching for physical or mechanical issues on the Spyder, just try swapping the front wheels to the other side & going for a careful ride to see if your symptoms change!! Yes, I know the tires are directional, but if there's an issue in the tire mounting or the construction of one or more tires creating your tracking & steering problems, swapping the tires to the other side will make that bloody obvious & you can then get that addressed rather than chasing your tail!! If it's NOT a tire mounting or construction issue, then swapping tires will have no effect on the way the symptoms present, & riding reasonably gently on directional tires turning the wrong way isn't really all that risky, well, not unless you are riding at warp speed or in very wet conditions!! Heck, many road racers & off road racers have been known to purposefully mount directional tires the wrong way around on one end of their vehicle just to take advantage of the extra traction in reverse that gives them or the changes in handling it can give your vehicle at speed!! And many people run their directional spare the wrong way for thousands of miles after a puncture with little adverse impact except greater wear on the tire cos it's turning 'against the grain' so to speak!!

So try swapping yours to the other side & see what it does to your tracking & steering effort!! No change, look for other things like wheel alignment or worn ball joints etc; but if the bad stuff disappears or the 'steering pull/tracking deviation' changes to the other direction/side, then it's probably gonna be a tire mounting or construction problem!!

All very good points! I was talking to someone the other day who had had discussions about tires with the powers that be at BRP and he told me that when BRP put out the specs for bids for the first Spyders that Kenda was the only company to respond. No one else wanted to touch them.

[garb55]

Mike
I usually agree with what you have to say
But it could be alignment
the front tires are aligned to the rear tire when doing a Rolo alignment
If who ever mounted the rear tire changed the tracking on the belt then the rear tire is not aligned with the front tires znymore
It does not take much to change it
Just my 2 cents

[wanderingman]

Just put Vee Rubber tires on all three corners. 2oz beads in the fronts. 3oz beads in the rear.
19lbs pressure in fronts. 28 lbs in rear.

Prior to new tires the bike tracked just fine. Could steer with one finger. Ride home after new tires was almost scary. Pulls hard to the right and handles like crap.

What at went wrong?

Very likely you need a fresh alignment. The rear wheel was removed when the rear tire was installed. Unless it was replaced in exactly the same position as it was in prior to removal, your alignment has changed. Alignment is simply the relationship of the rear wheel to the frame (chassis) and the relationship of the front wheels to the rear wheel and each other. It is unlikely that the alignment of the front wheels moved, but very likely that the rear wheel moved. The person who said the tires could be causing it could also be correct. My Rt when brand new had tires with misaligned belts in the tires.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Very likely you need a fresh alignment. The rear wheel was removed when the rear tire was installed. Unless it was replaced in exactly the same position as it was in prior to removal, your alignment has changed. Alignment is simply the relationship of the rear wheel to the frame (chassis) and the relationship of the front wheels to the rear wheel and each other. It is unlikely that the alignment of the front wheels moved, but very likely that the rear wheel moved. The person who said the tires could be causing it could also be correct. My Rt when brand new had tires with misaligned belts in the tires.

.. If what you say is true about the alignment, then tell me why the handling on my RT always feels exactly Spot On............and every time I get off and look at my rear sprocket the belt has moved.....Someone here on Spyderlovers found a Video on U-Tube of what the belt does on a moving Spyder .........IT MOVES BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE SPROCKET ....continuously !!!! ..................................Mike

[Peter Aawen]

.... and he told me that when BRP put out the specs for bids for the first Spyders that Kenda was the only company to respond. No one else wanted to touch them.

I wonder if that would be the case now?? With over 100,000 Spyders sold & one of the major gripes from owners/riders clearly being the quality of the OE tires (2nd only to BRP customer Service maybe?) And there's lotsa people out there riding Spyders who are very successfully running other automotive tires with absolutely no issues, so most of the potential concerns they were worried about way back then should surely have been put to rest by now....

I wonder when BRP last approached any other tire manufacturers, cos I wouldn't be surprised if it were found that the specific brand choice & the restriction of tire brands/sizes for the Spyders was having an adverse impact on their sales??

[vided]

.. If what you say is true about the alignment, then tell me why the handling on my RT always feels exactly Spot On............and every time I get off and look at my rear sprocket the belt has moved.....Someone here on Spyderlovers found a Video on U-Tube of what the belt does on a moving Spyder .........IT MOVES BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE SPROCKET ....continuously !!!! .................... ..............Mike

[copilot]

Make sure all the tape weights are off your front wheels. Try taking the beads out of front tires and have the tires spin balanced.

[Jetfixer]

Make sure all the tape weights are off your front wheels. Try taking the beads out of front tires and have the tires spin balanced.

And make sure the lug nuts are properly torqued.

[jcthorne]

Maybe your alignment is way off after the tire change.

Tire change does not effect alignment.

[jcthorne]

Mike
I usually agree with what you have to say
But it could be alignment
the front tires are aligned to the rear tire when doing a Rolo alignment
If who ever mounted the rear tire changed the tracking on the belt then the rear tire is not aligned with the front tires znymore
It does not take much to change it
Just my 2 cents

I disagree. If the belt was running anywhere near correct before and is running anywhere near correct now, the rear wheel angle has not moved enough to be measureable. We are talking hundredths of a deg to adjust belt tracking.

It was aligned and driving fine before the tire change and rides like crap now. Its the tires. Have the dealer remove them and give you your money back, preferably installing new high quality tires. If the dealer chose to rep those awful tires, they need to deal with the time loss for having done so.

[spyderCodes]

That is a video of a properly aligned and tensioned belt.

There seems to have been a spate of recent blathering over several threads of how the belt moves all over the sprocket and is always in a different place each time it is stopped.

Thank You.

[Gasman129]

Okay. Here is the latest.

Tried the switching sides the pull went to the opposite side. Played with tire pressure still no good.

Spoke with Jerry from AJ Parts who is a sponsor here and where I purchased the tires. Also spoke with Lynn from Vee Rubber. Both gents were very helpful.

There is definitely an issue with the tire. I am sending them back for a refund and putting my old tires back on for now. They still had pretty decent tread and it drove fine.

Thank you to everyone with your help and suggestions.

[SpyderAnn01]

Okay. Here is the latest.

Tried the switching sides the pull went to the opposite side. Played with tire pressure still no good.

Spoke with Jerry from AJ Parts who is a sponsor here and where I purchased the tires. Also spoke with Lynn from Vee Rubber. Both gents were very helpful.

There is definitely an issue with the tire. I am sending them back for a refund and putting my old tires back on for now. They still had pretty decent tread and it drove fine.

Thank you to everyone with your help and suggestions.

Glad to hear you found the source of the problem.