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vibration, balancing or allignment?

spydaman60

spydaman60

New member
took a ride today and noticed vibration in the front end. happened to be near my dealer so stopped by and there was a spyder qualified repairman there and he told me to bring the spyder in for an allignment. it's only four weeks old and only has 1450 miles on it. anyone had this problem on a new 2012 rss?
i noticed some old threads spoke of tires out or round, but nothing about alignment.
i'm all ears!:(
 
spydaman60 said:
took a ride today and noticed vibration in the front end. happened to be near my dealer so stopped by and there was a spyder qualified repairman there and he told me to bring the spyder in for an allignment. it's only four weeks old and only has 1450 miles on it. anyone had this problem on a new 2012 rss?
i noticed some old threads spoke of tires out or round, but nothing about alignment.
i'm all ears!:(
Click to expand...

Many Spyders came misaligned from the factory in the beginning. Things have gotten better but probably not 100%

Usually alignment does not cause vibration. It causes uneven tire wear which in turn can cause vibration from out of balance tires. How is the wear on your tires? Uneven? Cupping?
 
no noticeable cupping at all. if anything i think the left front tire might be out of camber, (top to bottom- slightly in on bottom)
i noticed this a week ago when i thought i saw the fender vibrating a little. today was short sleeve weather and i noticed it in my arms. not the muscles in my arms that i once had!
 
spydaman60 said:
no noticeable cupping at all. if anything i think the left front tire might be out of camber, (top to bottom- slightly in on bottom)
i noticed this a week ago when i thought i saw the fender vibrating a little. today was short sleeve weather and i noticed it in my arms. not the muscles in my arms that i once had!
Click to expand...

Straight ahead the wheels should be sligtly in at the bottom. Is the tire wear even across the tread?
 
Is it a steady vibration or does it come on at certain speeds.? Most times an out of balance tire will come and go [vibrate] at varying speeds. :popcorn:
 
it's noticeable at anything over 25 - 30 mph. as i said before, there doesn't seem to be any noticeable cupping or uneven wear. there isn't much of any weights on the wheels. i was kinda wondering if it could be the balancing.
both wheels are not the same when it comes to the camber.:banghead:
 
Your wheels need to be checked to see that they run true. Also the tires need to be checked to see that they are round (run true). Beyond that, I'd suspect out of balance tire(s), or a bad tire. Ride-On may help. Alignment seldom causes vibration...although it can lead to tire problems that do.
 
NancysToy said:
Your wheels need to be checked to see that they run true. Also the tires need to be checked to see that they are round (run true). Beyond that, I'd suspect out of balance tire(s), or a bad tire. Ride-On may help. Alignment seldom causes vibration...although it can lead to tire problems that do.
Click to expand...

Can the belt not be straight...literally? If the belt tension was adjusted, what can go wrong that could possibly make the belt run slightly 'out of track' on the back? Maybe the vibration is not from the tires but from another source? I'm just throwin' this out there...
 
When I picked up my Spyder RS-S 2011. I had vibrations and when I checked the front tire pressures, the left had 20 psi and the right had 14.5 psi. I pumped the right tire up to 20 psi and the vibrations went away. Try 20 psi in both front tires.

Mike
 
MikeinGA said:
When I picked up my Spyder RS-S 2011. I had vibrations and when I checked the front tire pressures, the left had 20 psi and the right had 14.5 psi. I pumped the right tire up to 20 psi and the vibrations went away. Try 20 psi in both front tires.

Mike
Click to expand...

Good call. We take for granted that people keep their tires inflated properly while at the same time we know this isn't true.

But you would think that if he took it into a dealership for front end vibration they would have checked tire pressure.
 
THIS PROBLEM

If there is noticeable tire wear at 1450 miles I can't imagine that he can even hold onto the handlebars let alone feel a tingle. I hope the dealer does all that's necessary for you under warranty.....Mike.....:thumbup:
 
yea, i hope so too. they have been a great dealership to deal with so far (as i have three sleds through them) and i have no reason to doubt they will take care of this. it goes in on friday!
thanks for all the ideas! i'll question them from every angle.:banghead:
 
vibration infront end

spydaman60 said:
yea, i hope so too. they have been a great dealership to deal with so far (as i have three sleds through them) and i have no reason to doubt they will take care of this. it goes in on friday!
thanks for all the ideas! i'll question them from every angle.:banghead:
Click to expand...

:banghead:well, just drove the bike back from the dealers and supposedly it was fixed. wrong!!!! they said they spent four hours on alignment and that they balanced the wheels again. supposedly the wheels were not bad when it came to balancing them, but the alignment was way off. i must admit up to 50mph it is better than it was, but once you hit 55 to 75mph it still vibrates. the air pressure is 20 in both tires.
so, any more guesses, anyone??? :banghead:
 
It's the belt

My 2012 RT does the same thing at around 60-75. They checked it out and all was fine. Several other owners were there and commented on the same thing. There is no belt tensioner so it will vibrate due to the length of the belt. I just ride through it and it stops pretty quick. Mine feels like im driving over rain grated roads but only for a minute then lines out. Give it gas when it does this and see if it stops
 
jcoker said:
My 2012 RT does the same thing at around 60-75. They checked it out and all was fine. Several other owners were there and commented on the same thing. There is no belt tensioner so it will vibrate due to the length of the belt. I just ride through it and it stops pretty quick. Mine feels like im driving over rain grated roads but only for a minute then lines out. Give it gas when it does this and see if it stops
Click to expand...
i'll try it tomorrow if it doesn't rain all day!!! i'll try anything.:banghead:
 
i guess the next move is to buy a belt tensioner. does anyone know if the installation of this unit can create problems if a warantee issue comes up? anyone had any experience with that?:banghead::banghead:
 
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