Unstable ride feeling........

[Easy Rider]

As I get more miles on the Y, the "jittery" feeling going down the road is getting a bit better.
Keeping a light touch on the bars and focusing your attention FARTHER down the road helps.

BUT.....I decided to put a bit more pressure in the tires to see what that would do.
To my surprise, as I added 5 PSI over the recommendation to each tire, that caused the axle/frame to raise up noticeably; maybe a half to 3/4 inch.
And it seems to have made the ride more stable too (sidewalls flex less ??).

Some additional seat time is needed to see for sure but at the moment I'm happy.
I suspect that tires with stiffer sidewalls might be even better.

 

[Little Blue]

Tires

Are you talking about the stock tires? Kenda?

 

[Tazzel]

Put at least 300 to 1k miles before you decide to do any mods. If your still feeling the quirkiness, add a Baja Ron upgraded swaybar. Compared to most it is a pretty cheap mod.

 

[Chupaca]

Good to hear

You do have to find the best pressure for your ryde. A relaxed grip is the start then tire pressure and balance then a good laser alignment and you will be fine.:thumbup:

 

[Easy Rider]

Are you talking about the stock tires? Kenda?

Yes.

 

[Easy Rider]

Put at least 300 to 1k miles before you decide to do any mods. If your still feeling the quirkiness, add a Baja Ron upgraded swaybar. Compared to most it is a pretty cheap mod.

I'm a bit over 3K miles now.
I do NOT have a problem going around turns or corners.
I ride conservatively and do NOT notice objectionable sway.

 

[Peter Aawen]

I'm a bit over 3K miles now.
I do NOT have a problem going around turns or corners.
I ride conservatively and do NOT notice objectionable sway.

I take it you're saying this in response to the 'add a better sway bar' comment?? If that's the case, you might be interested to know that a better sway bar CAN help reduce the twitchness some get on the straight & level while running the standard swaybars on their Spyders!!

While for swaybars generally that might not necessarily be the case, but in the particular case of our Spyders (& other vehicles with similar front end designs) the front suspension & steering design our Spyders have is such that if one side moves up or down a little, it WILL vary the camber and the toe in/out slightly on that side as the suspension articulates, and that contributes significantly to the twitchiness some experience. Sure, it might only be fractions of inches or degrees, but it is enough of a change to make itself felt!! The std swaybars simply don't 'equalise the suspension articulation between wheels' sufficiently to reduce this twitchiness below noticeable levels, but the BajaRon bars DO equalise the articulation across both wheels much better by passing any flex experienced on one side of the suspension across to the other side much more & in doing so, effectively equalling the articulation, which means that any variation in Camber and toe in/out caused by the flexing gets more closely matched on the other side too! So instead of having just one wheel increase & then relax (or vice versa) its camber & toe as the suspension flexes, making a noticeable twitch in the directional stability of the Spyder, BOTH wheels react much more in concert with each other & by doing that, cancel the twitchiness out!! When one wheel increases toe & changes camber, so does the other; and so too when one wheel decreases toe & changes camber the other way, so does the other - and that just doesn't happen anywhere near so much with the lightweight standard swaybar as it does with a stronger BajaRon bar!!

So fitting a BajaRon bar CAN & DOES significantly improve the straight line stability on a twitchy Spyder as well as significantly improving cornering & reducing excessive sway & buffetting induced wandering!! :clap: As will increasing the pressure in the Kendas (& significantly compromising traction & ride, et al when you do!) or fitting better tires with stronger sidewalls & running them at the correct pressure for the load you put on them!! :thumbup:

 

[dsteve931]

30 psi

I have 2015 St i bumped mine to 3o psi handling everything seemed better that may be to high but I think 15 to 17 is way to low.

 

[RykerUSA]

Laser alignment solved all my problems and I have a lot of problems.

 

[Bob Denman]

Too much tire pressure will adversely affect ride quality...
But if you like what you feel: go with it!

 

[MikeT]

Yes.

Better take a look at the sidewalls on the OEM tires just to be sure that your +5 PSI above recommended doesn't exceed the Maximum PSI for the tires. Just out of curiosity, have you had your tires laser aligned???? If not, I would highly recommend you have it done. Squared Away goes to many Spyder events throughout the US. They are good people.
Mike

 

[Bob Denman]

I might be wrong...
But I think that he's good: all the way up to 36 psi.

 

[Highwayman2013]

My Kenda’s say 30 psi max. If it's still twitchy after 3K miles, the alignment is in question.

 

[Bob Denman]

Thanks for double-checking me on this: I wasn't sure that I had remembered the max psi correctly. :thumbup:

 

[Easy Rider]

I have no doubt that some people have solved their "problem" with an alignment.
I also have no doubt that some like the overall ride better with an after-market sway bar.

But I have to assess the evidence that I see on MY ride.......with MY riding conditions and riding style.

And a really LOT of people report really good results with different tires.

While the jury is still out on the tire pressure change (not enough miles to get a good feel for the difference), it really appears that the "fix" for ME is going to be tire related. Worn out or not, they might get replaced soon.

At this point, no need to keep repeating the recommendations for after-market modifications.

 

[JayBros]

Absolutely no recommendations, only two questions:

Are you 100% certain the alignment of your Spyder is correct?

Translating your problem to an automobile, if you had similar discomfort with the behavior of the vehicle and you thought new tires might help would you lay out all the coin for a new set of sneakers before you were 100% certain the alignment of the vehicle was correct?

 

[Bob Denman]

Good point: :agree:

 

[Easy Rider]

Are you 100% certain the alignment of your Spyder is correct?

No. But the symptoms are not typical for an alignment problem.

And if the tires are crap, they are crap and need to be replaced anyway.
And they will be a bit less expensive than what I usually put on my cars.

 

[ThreeWheels]

Too much air pressure in the front tires rounds out the contact patch and makes the bike twitchy.
The bike sets up "on the balls of it's feet" and becomes too sensitive to anomalies in the road.
Having too little air pressure flattens the contact patch making it relatively more difficult to turn, but the bike is more stable.
For myself, I've found about 18 PSI is good while using the stock Kenda. I don't know what might be a good pressure for other brand tires.
If you are around 17 to 24 PSI and the bike feels like you're constantly riding behind a semi truck, then you most likely need a laser alignment.
A properly set up Spyder should track like it's on rails.
If not, something is wrong, either an alignment, or perhaps one of the suspension components, such as ball joints.
I don't go for the "loose grip" theory. Trust me, I went through that same journey in 2010 when I first bought my Spyder, and no one had any experience with them.

http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...My-Journey-to-Good-Handling&highlight=journey

Of course, that's my opinion. I could be wrong, and I'm sure someone here will let me know if I am.

 

[Rookiespyder]

Tires

Too much air pressure in the front tires rounds out the contact patch and makes the bike twitchy.
The bike sets up "on the balls of it's feet" and becomes too sensitive to anomalies in the road.
Having too little air pressure flattens the contact patch making it relatively more difficult to turn, but the bike is more stable.
For myself, I've found about 18 PSI is good while using the stock Kenda. I don't know what might be a good pressure for other brand tires.
If you are around 17 to 24 PSI and the bike feels like you're constantly riding behind a semi truck, then you most likely need a laser alignment.
A properly set up Spyder should track like it's on rails.
If not, something is wrong, either an alignment, or perhaps one of the suspension components, such as ball joints.
I don't go for the "loose grip" theory. Trust me, I went through that same journey in 2010 when I first bought my Spyder, and no one had any experience with them.

http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...My-Journey-to-Good-Handling&highlight=journey

Of course, that's my opinion. I could be wrong, and I'm sure someone here will let me know if I am.

I agree I run with 18 on my front kendra's and 24 on the rear and it works perfect for me.