Shimmy at about 48 mph up to 56 mph - best guess?

[Baron14y]

2015 RTL. 19,000 miles. Almost new auto tires front and rear. Tires have been balanced, laser alignment, BajaRon sway bar, 18 psi front, 20 psi rear. Have tried 16 psi front.
Same difference. Just started getting a shimmy starting at about 48 mph, at least up to 56 mph. Prior to this, very smooth. Best guess?opcorn:

 

[bigbadbrucie]

2015 RTL. starting at about 48 mph, at least up to 56 mph. Prior to this, very smooth. Best guess?opcorn:

I’d first heck the tires very carefully, looking for possible tread separations. Second thing I’d be checking would be the wheel bearings. jmho wdik

 

[Bfromla]

Similar here goes away when ease off throttle. Starts very minor think DPS exaggerates what little there actually is.

 

[Baron14y]

I'd be surprised if it is tread seperation. Almost brand new auto tires. Will see about the wheel bearings although, no lead up to the shimmy, was just there one day.

 

[Baron14y]

Can anything can be done about it?

 

[CopperSpyder]

Your description is interesting (shimmy). Can you tell if its the front or back doing it? Sometime if you have a rear wheel bearing go bad it will give what I would call a shimmy feeling. Rear Wheel bearings are not expensive and are often done when changing the rear wheel or get damaged when changing the rear wheel and you end up with the bearing problem soon after the tire change.

 

[PMK]

Drive it down and get your tires correctly balanced...

Recent semi local 2021 Sea 2 Sky had the same symptoms. Route 1 could not fix it and told him it was normal. 10 minutes to determine the cause, about 15 minutes to correct. Not that I endorsed his test speed or method, he returned stating the issue was resolved and glass smooth with hands off at well above posted speed limit.

 

[canamjhb]

You may have thrown a weight from your front wheel balance. I'd take the front wheels off and have them road force balanced. To me, that is the first, least expensive and logical place to start. Good luck..... Jim

 

[Plarimer]

OK bear with me on this one. I had the same problem on a stretch of highway that I let it all out just to get some revs in the engine. All of a sudden about four weeks ago I started developing a shimmy in my front end over 50 miles an hour. I thought it quite strange as it’s never happened before. Couple of days later I was on the same highway but about 5 miles away, and I dropped the hammer as usual. No shimmy. The next day I went on the original set of Highway doing the same thing and just like that the shimmy showed back up. So I experimented a little and found out that at lower speeds nothing happened but it higher speeds my front end started to shimmy. I went on the other side of the four-lane in the same area and you guessed it, no shimmy. That’s it, it was caused by the highway and not the bike. So the long and the short of it is if you’re experiencing this on the same stretch of road try it on another. I know it seems simplistic but it’s solved my problem.

 

[Mikey]

I had a friend that had a bad shake at that same speed, I checked his front end out and found some slightly loose bottom ball joints, and one slightly loose connecting rod! But out of all of that said, we started by having the tires balanced by another shop, and it was bad!!! Bike feels good now, we will keep a eye on all the rest of the stuff!!! I would start with a recheck on the tire balance!!! Maybe another tire shop!!! Good luck!

 

[PMK]

I had a friend that had a bad shake at that same speed, I checked his front end out and found some slightly loose bottom ball joints, and one slightly loose connecting rod! But out of all of that said, we started by having the tires balanced by another shop, and it was bad!!! Bike feels good now, we will keep a eye on all the rest of the stuff!!! I would start with a recheck on the tire balance!!! Maybe another tire shop!!! Good luck!

Agree, see it often, shakes with so called balanced tires, so an owner starts checking all sorts of other stuff...
As mentioned, that S2S had been worked on by a dealer, there so called balanced tires had one good one and one out by 1 1/4 ounce. Imagine that, with both balanced it ended the problem.

As for the idea of “throwing” a balance weight, anything is possible. These wheels require stick on weights and if not cleaned correctly may not remain stuck. Typically though, they are difficult to remove. I have to use a plastic scraper and it takes some effort to get them off.

Regardless, all the best with it.

 

[Baron14y]

Your description is interesting (shimmy). Can you tell if its the front or back doing it? Sometime if you have a rear wheel bearing go bad it will give what I would call a shimmy feeling. Rear Wheel bearings are not expensive and are often done when changing the rear wheel or get damaged when changing the rear wheel and you end up with the bearing problem soon after the tire change.

The shimmy is definately in the handlebars. Could the rear wheel cause something like this?

 

[Baron14y]

OK bear with me on this one. I had the same problem on a stretch of highway that I let it all out just to get some revs in the engine. All of a sudden about four weeks ago I started developing a shimmy in my front end over 50 miles an hour. I thought it quite strange as it’s never happened before. Couple of days later I was on the same highway but about 5 miles away, and I dropped the hammer as usual. No shimmy. The next day I went on the original set of Highway doing the same thing and just like that the shimmy showed back up. So I experimented a little and found out that at lower speeds nothing happened but it higher speeds my front end started to shimmy. I went on the other side of the four-lane in the same area and you guessed it, no shimmy. That’s it, it was caused by The highway and not the bike. So the long and the short of it is if you’re experiencing this on the same stretch of road try it on another. I know it seems simplistic but it’s solved my problem.

I was thinking the same thing. Unfortunately, it happens on a couple of different roads, including two newly paved roads.

 

[Baron14y]

Drive it down and get your tires correctly balanced...

Recent semi local 2021 Sea 2 Sky had the same symptoms. Route 1 could not fix it and told him it was normal. 10 minutes to determine the cause, about 15 minutes to correct. Not that I endorsed his test speed or method, he returned stating the issue was resolved and glass smooth with hands off at well above posted speed limit.

Wish we were closer. Will try a different repair shop (notice, I didn't say "dealer") to check the wheel balance after I take a look to see if there is anything obvious.

 

[2dogs]

Any auto tire business can easily balance your front tires if they do it correctly. Do you recall when the shimmy first started?

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

IF the tire is actually DEFECTIVE ( and a lot of Kenda's are ) there is a good chance that it will NEVER balance, even using a proper Spin Balancer ..... jmho .... Mike :thumbup:

 

[Lew L]

'

When I purchased my 2014 :spyder2: the shimmy and bounce was so bad on the front tires that both the RIMs and tires had to be replaced. Now with auto tires( with minimum balance weights )---------rides smooth up to about 100mph.

Lew L

 

[PMK]

IF the tire is actually DEFECTIVE ( and a lot of Kenda's are ) there is a good chance that it will NEVER balance, even using a proper Spin Balancer ..... jmho .... Mike :thumbup:

But he stated in the opening post, he has three cars installed for a while now.

In regards to a defective tire that is not round, you can absolutely balance them. However, the out of roundness will not be an imbalance but rather a mechanical hop that could feel similar. Two kids on a see saw, one skinny and light, the other older larger and heavier. With an adjust of the fulcrum point, balance can be achieved. However, the distance from the fulcrum will be different, similar to the out of round tire that is balanced. The difference in distance from center creates the hop.

 

[PMK]

Wish we were closer. Will try a different repair shop (notice, I didn't say "dealer") to check the wheel balance after I take a look to see if there is anything obvious.

They must check precession also.

BTW, what tires are they.

 

[Zoot]

Agree, see it often, shakes with so called balanced tires, so an owner starts checking all sorts of other stuff...
As mentioned, that S2S had been worked on by a dealer, there so called balanced tires had one good one and one out by 1 1/4 ounce. Imagine that, with both balanced it ended the problem.

As for the idea of “throwing” a balance weight, anything is possible. These wheels require stick on weights and if not cleaned correctly may not remain stuck. Typically though, they are difficult to remove. I have to use a plastic scraper and it takes some effort to get them off.

Regardless, all the best with it.

Walked past the bike in the garage a while back and noticed a weight laying on the floor next to the wheel. Just sitting there it fell off. Probably 750 miles on newly installed tires. Back to the shop... When I got my bike back from the shop after a major service, it seems they had sprayed everything with Armor-All. Best guess, they got it on the wheel before they balanced it.