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[yhafting]

Today i had my front tire replaced on my 2015 SR.

This being my first bike, i wasn't completely sure of the significance- but since i got my licence 6 weeks ago, i have had a growing suspicion that the front tire wasn't all as it should.

I have had notable wobble cruising between 50-80 km/h- kind of enough that it seems best to keep both hands on the steering bar at all times. At higher speeds 110km/h+ the vibration has been notable, but since i have had little experience with motorbikes except for a steep learning curve on the school ICE bike- i had little experience to tell me something was wrong. All i can say is that i would not be comfident pushing the bike much past the maximum speed limit of 110km/h. (Not saying i haven't been above that, but never for long time).

I talked about this growing suspicion to my dealer, and he took the bike for a test ride, and concluded that it was not the way it should be. So today i got a new Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact front tire, which does seem as glued to the ground compared to the previous. There is not much vibration at all- so much less that i guess it will have to excercise stronger self control to keep within the legal limits .
That is- i can now go confidently past 110km/h, and even let go completely of the steering at 65 km/h without the feeling that this would probably end horribly wrong (This makes waving to fellow motorcyclists a lot easier...)

The dealer workshop told me that they lately had replaced three front tires on Zero's for the same reason (not sure if i was the third or the fourth). They didn't know of this being an issue other places in Europe, so it could be the case of a bad batch of tires, although it could also be that the the Diablo's weren't the best match for the bike.. 

I'm just happy that i reported this in time for this being a warranty issue.
 

[laramie LC4]

pirelli seems to have issues with this. my mt-90 scorpion that came OEM on my 990R was replaced under warranty for nasty head shake. i know of several others that had the same problem. made the bike down right scary to ride and impossible to let go of at any speed which is contrary to all the forces of nature.

glad you got it figured out. hope you didn't have to pay for the new tire.

laters,

laramie 

[yhafting]

pirelli seems to have issues with this. my mt-90 scorpion that came OEM on my 990R was replaced under warranty for nasty head shake. i know of several others that had the same problem. made the bike down right scary to ride and impossible to let go of at any speed which is contrary to all the forces of nature.

glad you got it figured out. hope you didn't have to pay for the new tire.

laters,

laramie 

Thanks, I got it covered 100% by warranty/ or Norwegian law (which is pretty strict to protect consumer rights).
The only cost for me was driving 2x 50km in heavy rain. (On my way home i saw a bike stranded on the road i went down- having water some 50cm + up on the bike. I am happy i went that direction a bit earlier on the day..)

[Killroy]

I was thinking that the balance was done wrong.  Did they try that before they replaced the tire?

[yhafting]

I was thinking that the balance was done wrong.  Did they try that before they replaced the tire?

Bad balance was my initial thought too, and i would assume that they actually have done some testing. However i have no idea what they did, as i was browsing their store while they were looking at it. (They preffered not having customers hanging over their shoulders while doing their work, which i can understand - though i would like to look if i were given that option). Anyway i am confident that they were competent to do the necessary testing to determine whether this was purely a balancing issue or not. And i can't imagine they would prefer the paperwork of returning a tire compared to simply balancing the tire, which they would inevitably do when changing to the new one.

The new tire is also a sport tire, so it should match the diablo rear well, and judging from reviews it should have good performance in rainy weather which is important for me.

Visually, i can see there is less vibration/ or that the shape is more straight (looking at its side while driving at any speed) with the new tire, so in a way i do believe there was more to it than just balance. 

[laramie LC4]

they tried balancing mine 2 times, nottta. it was the construction of the tire that was causing the problem. as soon as it was replaced problem was gone.

laramie