Motorcycle Forums

Are

them new tyres at the right pressure, and balanced?

Out-of-pressure tyres can cause weird handling.

Not impossible either that something's been missed out by your tyre fitter in re-assembling the bike.

Honda CBR600RR 2010

Hi Mickynoodle

Most Japanese bikes are set up for 11-11-5 stone riders,so if your only 8 stone and your friend is much the same i would suggest this is always going to be a problem of to harder springs both front and rear and over damping.With your weight this will also make tyre brand make and type a lot more sensitive to set up.Good Luck

KCMC

P.S. what area of Britain do you live?

Girlfriend's bike.

It seems like she's never been happy with it:

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/community/Forums/Categories/Topic/?topic-id=390280&message-id=4378900&__ia=message4378900#message4378900

To start with, as others have said, I'd check that the suspension settings and tyre pressures are as recommended by the bike and tyre manufacturer respectively. If the settings are as specified then at 8 stone it might be worth tweaking a bit (-the preload, at least), although as kcmc says, its really down to the springs. Has her weight never been a problem on the 12 other bikes she's owned?

Have you ridden the CBR yourself, mickeynoodle? If not I'd think about getting another bike shop to give a second opinion after a brief workshop examination and test ride.

It's low mileage but I wonder if the head or wheel bearings are worn, possibly due to insufficient grease on assembly (or aggressive jet washing?). Notchy head bearings make a bike feel crap, although a good workshop ought to be able to assess this very easily.

Apart from tyres was there a particular event or change which initiated this "bumpy at the front" feel? Were BT016s on the bike originally?

The "drifting feeling from rear tyre on dual carriageway" comment seems odd and I wonder if the real problem is a loss of confidence in the bike (brought on by some event) rather than a real bike handling problem. It happens, and when it does the rider fights the bike and spoils it, or anxiously over-analyses everything.

Hope she gets it sorted.

strange

I agree bb but we are talking to ourselves.

Is mickey taking the mickey?

thanks

Mickey's girlfriend here -

Thanks for all the thoughts on this!

Mickey isn’t taking the mickey, although I’m glad if you are enjoying my bumpy front and wobbly rear, but actually I am currently considering the various suggestions kindly given.

The tyres are definitely correct sizes, pressures and balanced, and I do trust this mechanic, he takes his work seriously and always test rides any bike he has worked on.

The other CBR I rode had Dunlop Qualifiers, perhaps I prefer the feel of them.

I’m considering taking the bike to a suspension expert to see if settings need adjustment as to be fair, my weight was an issue on the R1, it needed a bit of adjustment to get it right for me, although that was the only bike I had suspension issues on before, despite my petite (weedy) size.

Perhaps I have lost some confidence and am starting to over-analyse everything!

PS mickey says hands off the rear, its mine!