Front end twitchy into a right hander

[_Will_]

So three times lately when dropping into a right hander my front end has twitch and felt like it wanted to tuck, two were in the 55-65 mph range and one was only about 20 mph in the rain where the front did wash momentarily and catch again but that may have been the rain and oil on it since that corner collects some?

Is this the cupping or scalloping term I've heard of? My front tire looks fine to me but I'm not expert. It's a bt014 with 3.5-4.5k on it (odometer is frozen). What else could I look for. I use my front brake only but don't tend to trail brake, more of a brake , drop, throttle kinda guy. It's a stock front end and the bt is a 120/70.

[ragedigital]

I think that's a lot of mileage for a BT-014. I noticed issues after 2k miles on mine. I would consider replacing the tire. Check that air pressure. Tires can look fine until you put a decent gauge on them.

[_Will_]

Finally found my air gauge, it was down to 25 lbs. That will definetly mess with the handling. Sometimes we forget the kiss method. My BT still has a lot of tread up front, the rear is showing a lot of wear but I commute to school and work daily on it there's no surprise there. I seem to get more miles out of my tires than a lot of people, funny since I do so much riding and daily pick the routes with the most curves and sweepers to make my a-b rides more interesting. I still wish that they made the bt016 in a 150, when I ran the 160 I'd estimate I go 10k ish and the front and rear came due together

[pefrey]

Low tire pressure might make the front end feel a little squirrelly, but it would be the same in right AND left hand turns.

Aside from the obvious (which is not so obvious to spot / detect / measure) front end being tweaked, have you considered "rider error". What I mean is, most of us tend to like certain turns (left or right) and tend to become better at the one we like. I like left hand turns better, but I handle right handers better. So if the issue is not mechanical, it could just be that you need to ride more. Just a guess / alternate viewpoint, I'm not trying to say anything other than that.

[_Will_]

Low tire pressure might make the front end feel a little squirrelly, but it would be the same in right AND left hand turns.

Aside from the obvious (which is not so obvious to spot / detect / measure) front end being tweaked, have you considered "rider error". What I mean is, most of us tend to like certain turns (left or right) and tend to become better at the one we like. I like left hand turns better, but I handle right handers better. So if the issue is not mechanical, it could just be that you need to ride more. Just a guess / alternate viewpoint, I'm not trying to say anything other than that.

I take no offense, particulary since you merely provide it as a possibility rather than outright claiming to know me or my riding (a pet peeve of mine ). Topping off the tires seems to have done the trick but I haven't tested it on that same corner, just some I enter in the 45-55 range.

As far as experience it's a decending on ramp that I've dropped into 3-5 times a week for the past two years since it's part of my ride home. I take it specifically since it's preceded by a banked right hander and makes for a nice unwind on the the ride from work. I have about 20k miles under my belt (meaning my poor bike has 45k give or take on the motor, go Yamaha!) particularly since my FZR has been my sole mode of transportation for the past 6 months and am always looking for ways to improve my riding, picking better lines and dropping lower into corners. I've managed to scrape peg on the banked right hander (pucker moment right there) but am working on my lefts right now. When I do drop into left my rear tends to back it in some (which it doesn't on rights), haven't been able to figure that one out but it's not a loss of control so much as a constant and expeceted effect at this point. It does that primarily when I drop into one quickly. Florida seems to have a law against too many lefts within a square mile so I don't get to practice them as much as I'd like. I've gotten better at them and have upped my entry speed and comfort level by 10-20 mph on some of them. Mainly maintaning speed and not hugging the inside line as many do has been my recent focus. I'm glad this seems to have fixed it, the bike just pulls so beautifully in the cold air and I'd hate to ride like a puss when the motor wants to play.

[Fartblood]

Check your rear wheel is in perfect alignment. The swingarm marks are shyte, so check it against a proper straight edge on the ground. If the wheels out it can make the bike feel unnaturally hard to drop into a corner in one direction.

[_Will_]

Got to hit the same drop in spot and sure enough with good air pressure she carved the Hell out of it perfectly stable all the way around. Thanks gang.

FB, I'll have to check the alignment since I am relying on the hash marks now