Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.

[ClayMation]

Hi,

In the last couple of days I am getting what I can only define as a wavier and bouncier ride than I am use to on this bike. It started yesterday and continued today, I checked the cold pressure this morning at 39 PSI for both tires. I just changed the rear shock settings to 3 from 2.

What else might cause this that I should be looking out for?

[Stig / Major Tom]

Don't know your scooter. ...but owner manual for all scooters I've owned says mid 20's psi for front tires.
Tire age? Miles?
Inspect tire for distressed tread or sidewalls?
Steering head (bearings)have side or front movement?
Front fasteners secure?
Need to find cause of this sudden front issue!
Stig

[CROSSBOLT]

Listen to Stig! Big change like that needs to be found and corrected RIGHT NOW! Something is loose, broken or way different than what should be.

Karl

[MJR]

Manual says 29/36 F/R for solo riding and 32/36 F/R for dual riding.

[Forbes1964]

If you have changed nothing, yet the ride has changed suddenly, then the cause needs to be found IMMEDIATELY. If you can't see anything obvious, then you may want to closely inspect the shocks for leakage which would cause them to allow more bounce than normal. If you can't find the problem, I'd recommend taking it to a professional IMMEDIATELY. This is one case where you don't want to take chances.


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[xsel777]

What about the tyres cupping? That would account for the bouncing. When my  500 started wandering around, i found the tyre  pressure to be too low.

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[Forbes1964]

The SUDDEN nature is what concerned me most when I read this. Could it be TREAD separation? Whatever it is may not be an easy correction. But it's definitely a cause to not ride until the reason is found... That's my opinion. I've seen too many bad things happen even with 4 wheel vehicles.

[ClayMation]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the concerned replies.

The feeling I mentioned has improved and i'll tell you why.

First, as soon as you guys suggested a little less front wheel pressure I lowered the PSI from 40 to about 37 and I also changed my rear suspension settings from 2 to 4.

I definitely plan to get new tires on there at my next pay check by the beginning of next week and I definitely plan for those tires to be Michelin City grips. I can get the whole thing done for $260 which includes tire price and labor so i'm happy about that.

The next service itself will cost about 360$ so that will spike me up to more than 600$ for all of it.

But once that's done my next service will only cost about 200$ I believe. I heard the 5000 mile service is the most expensive.

Thoughts?

[Mr. Paul]

Run the tire pressure according to the scooter specs, not according to the max pressure on the tire sidewall. Seems like you need to back the pressures down even more. Be careful.

[ClayMation]

Run the tire pressure according to the scooter specs, not according to the max pressure on the tire sidewall. Seems like you need to back the pressures down even more. Be careful.

The reason i've been upping the PSI to 40 lately is that I had a weird experience last month where, after me and my girlfriend went to Ojai on the bike (about 80 miles from my place of residence in southern cal) I experienced the PSI being reduced from 34ish to like 20. I attributed this to the extra weight (we also had the top cases full of about 30 pounds) and the long haul, it's like 160 miles round trip.

But ever since then i've been checking the PSI every other day and it seems to be maintaining the pressure ever since then. I have no idea why that occurred but I am sure, having not noticed it till I drove with it after a few miles, that it caused some minor cracking of the side wall of the stock maxxis tires.

Anyway, I feel it's ridiculous to have tires that only last 5000-8000 miles so i'm getting the city grips ASAP because I have no doubt they should last 10,000-12,000 from what i've researched.

I know 5000 miles might seem like a lot to hobbyists but I am not using the bike for hobby and weekend play, I am using it as a primary form of transportation, which is why I have almost 5000 miles on it despite only owning it 4 months.

[xsel777]

This scoot has a lot of torque, so rear tyre is byebye quite often... 😀

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[MJR]

I would never run that excessive of air pressure. You will gain almost 4 psi from a cold to hot tire further making it worse. If you are loosing pressure either the rim, valve stem/core, or the tire has a screw/nail/something in it causing a leak and should be looked at promptly. Excessive pressure will also lead to uneven or premature tire wear.

[Mr. Paul]

The reason i've been upping the PSI to 40 lately is that I had a weird experience last month where, after me and my girlfriend went to Ojai on the bike (about 80 miles from my place of residence in southern cal) I experienced the PSI being reduced from 34ish to like 20. I attributed this to the extra weight (we also had the top cases full of about 30 pounds) and the long haul, it's like 160 miles round trip.

But ever since then i've been checking the PSI every other day and it seems to be maintaining the pressure ever since then. I have no idea why that occurred but I am sure, having not noticed it till I drove with it after a few miles, that it caused some minor cracking of the side wall of the stock maxxis tires.

Anyway, I feel it's ridiculous to have tires that only last 5000-8000 miles so i'm getting the city grips ASAP because I have no doubt they should last 10,000-12,000 from what i've researched.

I know 5000 miles might seem like a lot to hobbyists but I am not using the bike for hobby and weekend play, I am using it as a primary form of transportation, which is why I have almost 5000 miles on it despite only owning it 4 months.

I would dare to say that very, very few on this forum are hobbyists. Most are dedicated cyclists with many decades of experience under their belts and most have forgotten more than you and I know. Seriously, they have really forgotten.

[ClayMation]

I would dare to say that very, very few on this forum are hobbyists. Most are dedicated cyclists with many decades of experience under their belts and most have forgotten more than you and I know. Seriously, they have really forgotten.

If that's true i'm guessing the guys who say they only have 5200 miles on their 2009 xciting500s must only be using it as a spare bike to their other 3 main bikes.

[MJR]

We are fairly fortunate to have great year round riding weather here also. When I was working I mostly rode one of the bikes for the daily commute. At the moment I don't have a need to commute and I can keep the mileage down on each having a choice of 5 bikes at current to ride or choosing my truck or one of my Jeeps.