Buell, wierd handling, Whats new they are all fkn lethal. I dont understand how they got a certificate of conformity.. The rake is too steep, no wonder they all handle like shoppin trollys.You can set them solid its still mad even on my brand new smooth test track,,(i mean bypass) No amount of fiddliing makes a sod of difference, it just changes the point where it starts to get scary..Best to back off the gas at 90ish rather than 150ish where its less likely to settle down as quickly...Ive been fiddling with my Buells for 5 years and i love them, The wierd handling is something you will get used to.. I dont notice it anymore,,Untill i rode a mates bandit round a corner with no hands,(just to see)it was absolutly fkn perfect.....Also a lot can be said about helmet design and flapping jackets,vortex shedding,etc.But this didnt affect the bandit or indeed other bikes ive ridden over the years with RWU forks..And one tip is for fucks sake dont loosen your grip on the bars.They have snatched out of my hands once and i thought i was a gonner,,It was shear luck that they came back into my hands and i gripped hold and backed off untill it settled down again.....

It is with much respect to you that I have to dissagree, early fireblades were known to be twitchy on the front, again a smooth test track as in a smooth by-pass is IMO the worst place to determine set up. I favour a twisty bumpy road to judge set up because thats where the problems will start. The problems start not because of bike type but because the tyre is leaving the road if only a few times a second.

There was some great slow motion scenes at Quatar GP. You could see clearly Rossi's bike under hard braking keeping the tyres on the deck but thingy's bike a Honda (can't remember who now) was clearly pattering on the rear.

Keep the tyres on the deck and things work a treat.

You only ever see a shopping trolly wheel wobbling about when one is slightly off the deck! Whatched for hours when I'm dragged to such places!

N.

some news
i raised the tyre pressures to 36f and 38r
its now affected by white lines a lot less, im thinking of going upto 38 and 40
i also reduced rear pre load by 1 click, im now on click 2, its mostly cured itself
did a run to blackpool on sunday with no servere surprised, although it did give me a few little nudges here and there i was able to open it up a bit more in places i couldnt before, the edge of the tyre is getting a bit scared now theres about 3mm left
yes sportster mann it was a new bike, im the first owner, and it has a 'red' spring, hell knows why i thought it was white, ive been looking at it so much the colour has rubbed off in my head
v66, im sure my air scoops weigh an extra 20kg
im less then 56kg in normal gear, if i put my leathers on it might add 3 or 4kg maybe
no more than 60 on the road
id go as far as to say, with my preload lowered on the rear, a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders, must be down to 50kg now
final verdict
lowering rear preload and raising the tyre pressures has took the weave/slap down by 50%, its also seems to have slowed my steering a bit (10%), but nothing worth mentioning
i reckon when i get the high bars itll feel a lot better, ive done 2000 miles on it now since march and i just cant get used to the cr style bars, i gave them a chance but im weak, im also getting blasted about by wind, ive stopped eating curries, beans and eggs but its still a problem
im looking into a top fairing from a xb9r but thats another story
thanx for the advice guys, ill keep updating this post as i make more changes
a happy fz911

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of course its black

2nd post (by Ursus) suggested tyre pressures

An interesting thread. Mrs Adam, who is certainly much too light for the XBSs suspension set up doesn't have any problems with handling, and when the mood takes her, she gets past a few Sportsbikes - and often has the 'Nearly Bike' flat out keeping up with the 1125 or the Duc
She does moan about getting bounced out of the seat on bumpy roads though

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

just thought id update this by saying i never got it sorted, i had the forks rebuilt by hd under warranty as they were clicking, started going thru all the settings and it made hardly no difference, seemed to be a bit worse the further i went from lightweight lowest standard setting, ive left it at that and now i know when and where its gonna do it, i just give it a bit extra throttle and pick the front wheel up a tad, its costing me in rear tyres but its way more fun, when i get round to it i will get some lighter weight springs for it.
i guess i came back on here as i was searching for info on the rotor mod lol, my bike threw its stator a week before the recall, and now its blown its third stator
still dont wanna sell it tho

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of course its black

What state are the tyres in? Are they squared off??

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Spencer Racing... www.spencerracing.co.uk

As I've said many times before,the belt has a hugelimiting effect on rear suspension travel.

A new bike with a very light rider may have less travel than others.

The basic geometry is a touch on the sharp side,but my 1125s have both done 135 ish on the strip with the front end strapped shorter than stock. My 09 was much less stable than the 08-with more miles on it.

Maybe steering stem bearing tightness has a large impact? a damper solves the problem completely.

The statement about letting go of the shaking bars to let them settle does suggest the rider is part of the problem.

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Nige...1125d 9.43@140mph

no the thyreare fine spen, ive been thru 3 sets in 7000 miles, its the same with new tyres as it is with worn out ones, ive not tried it with square ones yet tho

battyone,
ive reset the headstock a few times hoping to find a problem there,
if i use a damper im gonna be sacrificing a bit of what makes the bike so good
if i was fast enough and brave/stupid enough to completely let go of the bars when its got its thing going on i probably wouldnt be here today.
the bars move that fast im probably not even touching them anyway, nearly broke my thumb last time it happened, one time it half pulled both my gloves off,
its not what people are describing as a slight wobble, ive felt the steering stops touch once or twice at over 60mph, as soon as it starts it stops again,
i have a theory, tell me what u think,
theres a nasty spot where the front wheel is hovering millimetres above ground when im accelerating moderately (im 56kg remember),
it happens more so in 2nd and 3rd and its even happened in 4th on hard acceleration,
uneven road surface is causing the wheel to come back into contact with the tarmac briefly several times within a second or so which causes an upwards hammer drill effect on the front suspension which in turn makes the wheel bounce slightly,
but im usually not on a perfectly straight road or im leaning to one side slightly coming out of a bend/motorway sliproad etc or bear in mind im riding on a left or right drop cambered road
combine those factors and it will be dragging the tarmac backwards on the bottom of the tyre slightly off the centre either towards the left or the right edge, that is causing the bars to turn that way, similar to landing a wheelie with ur bars half cocked, it just flips them to the other side, each time the rebound flip gets harsher until ive lost control and the bike is riding me...
it is 'always' rider error, im accelerating borderline too fast/too slow for the bikes suspension capability and the road conditions, i could slow down!!! but if i ride slower i need to keep an eye out behind me, cr mirrors are bollox so what ive done instead is to speed up so i know the wheel is clear of the uneven road/camber, i hardly feel the problem now but im just used to over accelerating, id like to slow down a tad sometimes but its impractical.
getting back to suspension,
if theres anything i can do to improve the negative reaction of that hammer drill effect of the tarmac on the bottom of the tyre then its a route i really need to take, wether its softer springs or more/less rebound on the front id be grateful for input, i can use the winter to source the right bits
just for information purposes even tho i still have rear grip in the cold weather, there is a lack of it and the problem i have is much less noticeable, i think because the front tyre has less resistance it will slide when its skimming the tarmac instead of gripping and throwing the bars
fz911

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of course its black

You seem to be finding your way but with your weight I would be looking for a softer rear spring to get rid of the tankslapper. I had the same problem with a V4 Honda and traced it to the yokes being dropped 20mm on the forks. I would say you are looking to relax the steering geometry more when accelerating, as the forks are topping out, the only other thing you can do is sink the back.

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08 Specialized Langster

Have you tried increasing the compression damping on the rear shock to slow up any pitching while accelerating?

Try winding on more compression damping than you think you need with a cold shock. As the shock warms up, the comp. damping fades quite significantly (if you use the std Showa)

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

I guess I'm a tad heavier than you, but never had any issue with the bars flapping over any road surface on my 1125R in 29,000 miles. When i bought the bike, the front felt a little vague so I consulted the suspension settings in the book. I set the forks to the setting to the weight band below my weight and the rear shock the the weight band above my weight. It worked for me on all roads and tracks. On bumpy B roads I would gap my mate on her ZX10R every time. I couldn't do that on smooth tarmac as she's a faster rider than me.

The answer to your problem may not be in the bike, but in eating more pies.

hi guys, i tried everything i could back in 2010 and 2011, including rebuilding the forks with everything new, they had a click somewhere in them, it didnt make much difference although i felt loads of differences in handling and such, the problem seemed to stay and at some points it got worse, didnt ride it much this year so ive sorta let it go a bit but i wanted to sort it this winter
i really do think i need to go for some lighter weight springs but i dont want a massive expense
i can afford pies and maybe some cheapish springs, so maybe a combination of the both?
fz911

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of course its black

Experiment with a bit of high density sponge on the seat, different thicknesses, it might be a bit of rider weight distribution would help. When the wobble starts, sit up, squat, shuffle about.. see if it helps...

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Spencer Racing... www.spencerracing.co.uk

high denstiy sponge isnt gonna put me up to 77kg?????????
the pies was a better idea!
ive narrowed it down to (mostly) when im sat back against the pod, but that could be the fact that im more relaxed with less or virtually no handlebar pressure rather than weight distribution.
if im dry humping the tank im usually in devil mode and i dont give the front wheel chance to play hopscotch, i never give it full throttle when im sat back in the armchair, i feel like i have less counterbalance control.

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of course its black

My 09 would shake it's head in the 2nd 1/8 when it was standard and photos showed exactly what you have described. Front wheel just off the deck and then hitting high spots. Would completely change direction...very scary.

One drag race mod to reduce the likely hood of wheelies is to strap the front forks down. This means that the bike has to lift the weight of the wheel all in one go rather than gradually as forks extend.
Just preventing any extension of the forks from static helps a lot.

ultimately you probably do need to lower the rear end too to make an allowance for being a lightweight. What about taking a torch to a standard spring to shorten it a bit,like the cheapskates do to lower cars.

A new spring could be as cheap as £30...standard is a 550lb spring,I got a 600lb from EBR for $50. demon tweeks have loads of options.

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Nige...1125d 9.43@140mph