Cornering feels heavy....

[XS1954]

Not sure what is going on but when cornering on my Bike (Yamaha Thundercat) the steering feels really heavy and unbalanced and I have zero confidence in it. Heavy goods vehicles can corner faster than me!

I plan to test ride something like an R6 or an SV for comparision. Would I be right in thinking that the Thundercat will not be as agile as an R6 because of it being heavier, older and not a sports bike?

Even though the TCat is a Tourer I should still be able to throw it into corners should I not? A friend has a Honda VFR800 and he can chuck that into corners no problem!!

Any ideas?
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You're a cock.

[G]

Have you checked the front tyre pressure?

[XS1954]

I have checked it and acording to my Haynes manual is it correct.
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You're a cock.

[Scotsman37]

Yep, check your tyre pressure and also check for free play in the wheel bearings and see if your brake calipers need a thorough cleaning as they maybe binding on.

[DukeRed]

Had exactly the same problem on the bros. Never did find out what the problem was and just got used to it.
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[fastyan]

i used to run a thundercat and suffered a similar problem - yes i could throw it into a corner but it wasn't quick enough on the steering. as long as your pressures are ok, the tyre is decent and nothing else like the brakes are binding, then you might want to try the following....

make sure all your suspension is set to standard (record the current positions before you move them..)
then up the rear preload by one and see if it makes any difference
next step would be to drop the front forks though the yoke (start with 5mm)

[Fruit'n'nut]

[G]

Also, what tyres are they?

Does the front dive a lot under heavy braking?

[Kwakagirl]

Perhaps check your head stem bearings. I rode my ZX6R for 12 months before anyone else rode it. It was shocking around right hand corners (which really doesn't make sense, it should have been shocking around all the corners). Eventually my Dad rode it and came back asking how the hell did I ride it like that! I didn't realise anything was wrong because I'd just come off a GPZ250R which I'd also crashed in a RH corner so I thought it was all my fault. Anyway, we pulled it all apart. The bottom bearings were rusted solid. I don't think they had ever been replaced in 10 years (67,000km). Considering it required 30,000 tonnes of pressure to get them off I'm actually not suprised. But new bearings made an enormous difference to it's cornering. Before you had to really muscle it into a corner. Now I go round and round round-a-bouts just because it's so easy and fun!
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Bikes aren't dangerous, crashing is dangerous.
Choose life. Choose to ride. Choose your future. Choose bikes.

[jonboy]

Probably pointless post, but an underinflated rear tyre will also give very sluggish steering.

[paulthewitt]

check the tyre pressures on both tyres, also i was always told to go with the tyre manufacturers recommended psi for that tyre type/bike combination.

so if they aint the factory fitted type of tyre then you never know. could be the haynes manual is wrong

Paul

[Scotsman37]

All tyres have the psi rating marked on it and that tells what it should be !

You need to take into consideration that you may need to stiffen the rear shocks if you're regularly carrying panniers with reasanably heavy stuff in them and/or a pillion passenger.

[NickD]

[Scotsman37]

You can find it on the left/right side of the tyre.

[NickD]

Some do, most don't.
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I was only doing what it said on my licence officer....
Tear along the dotted line!

[Scotsman37]

Where the heck are you buying your tyres ? India or China !

[NickD]

Mine are Blackbird specific BT57's. The pressure is bike specific, not tyre specific. Some small universals are marked with generic pressures, most decent tyres aren't.
____________________
I was only doing what it said on my licence officer....
Tear along the dotted line!

[Scotsman37]

Good quality tyre manufacturers mark them so that users do NOT exceed the recommended PSI rating for that particular tyre, but like you said some don't which isn't helpfull at all except some manufacturers do as that helps to remove any guess work!

You reduce/increase the PSI rating as according to bike's user manual but never exceeding the tyres recommonded maximum PSI rating because the designer & eng has developed the bike based upon what type of tyre required for that bike to be safely ridden on the road.

Tyres marked on tyres as standard are codes that denotes the following;

180/55 ZR17 (73W) BT57

180 -Section width of tyre in millimetres
55 - Aspect (height) ratio as a percentage of tyre's width
Z - Speed Rating
R - Radial Construction
17 - Rim Diameter, always shown in inches
73 - Load Index denotes maximum load tyre can carry at designated speed rating
W - Maximum speed the tyre is designed for. W without brackets is up to 270km/h, W with brackets is more than 270km/h
BT57 - Tread Pattern Description

[NickD]

[paulyzf600]

I am a current owner of a Thundercat.
I recently had a front tyres puncture and the steering got really heavy,infact when I tried to lean it the steering got so heavy that it was trying to force the wheel the way I was turning!

So that the first thing.
Cat's are heavier bikes than the R6 remember, so it's not going to be as easy to throw around but you should find no problems leaning the thing after all it's not that heavy!! and they are very well balanced i'd say compared to some bikes I've been on.

My brother also has a cat and I had a a ride of his tionight and his front forks are lower and the back is stiffer and it does feel alot more confident so tomorrow I plan on setting mine up the same way.
By no means should you not feel confident to lean the bike they are pretty flexible bikes ok not as easy to throw around as the R6 and the like but enough to make you feel confident to get the knee down!

Hope you find the problem the Cat is a good bike (well I think so....lol)
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Yamaha YZF600 Thundercat

[G]

As mentioned above, you should use the pressures for your bike, not those marked on the tyre, which may be entirely wrong for the bike you are riding.

[jaffa]

Yes, any pressure marked on any tyre is the maximum pressure the tyre can take when carrying its maximum load, this will NOT correspond to the pressure required for any particular vehicle as all vehicle manufacturers stay well within the tyres maximum rating.
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jaffa - all juice and no pips