Bloody wobble has gotten the better of me…...

[Mikeybikey57]

I really have had enough! I've stripped out the front wheel (again) and will be taking it to my local tyre emporium (again)……... but this time to get the front tyre replaced.

My S10's front end goes into a rather dramatic wobble when decelerating from 50mph, until it disappears at around 30mph. The issue initially began as a mild oscillation, a little while after fitting a new pair of Conti Trail Attacks, late last year. . Since racking up a further 1500 miles, the problem has only gotten worse. I tend not to ride with both hands off the bars so there's no imminent risk of my lobbing the old girl down the road. However, it's still more than a little disconcerting to feel the front end trying to wiggle itself out of my grasp.

So, over the past week, I've done everything else I could think of to try to isolate the problem. I've had the wheel balance re-checked, stripped, cleaned, re-lubed, re-torqued and measured everything else, to ensure it's all running straight and true. That's all checked out as 100% tickety boo, so I can't see that it could now be anything but the front tyre.

My motorcycle tyre man has spoken with his supplier and they claim never to have heard of there being a fault with these tyres. However, I know that a few people here have experienced similar issues and many folk on the various UK and US GS forums have also complained of similar wobbles with Trail Attacks fitted too.

I'm going to go down the warranty route with this tyre, as i'll be seriously out of pocket after buying a replacement. However, my tyre man says that his distributor has confirmed they'll send the tyre back to Continental for testing but he doubts that i'll ever hear anything back from them.

So, does anybody on this side of the pond have any experience of dealing with Continental Tyres (UK) or have and advice as to how to improve my chances of coming out of this without losing money on what appears to be a faulty tyre issue?

 

[markjenn]

I tend not to ride with both hands off the bars so there's no imminent risk of my lobbing the old girl down the road. However, it's still more than a little disconcerting to feel the front end trying to wiggle itself out of my grasp.

Does the problem only occur when riding hands free?

- Mark

 

[autoteach]

If the bike was ridden with the top triple loose, it could have ended up misaligned. This can cause the trail of the tire to fight the rake of the neck, causing a wobble. I would make sure that all is aligned and happy, and that all is tight once aligned.

 

[bobbar]

i just joined the forum as i am thinkin about gettin a tenere and read this post. on my old strom i bought the conti attack tires and had quite a disturbing wobble. after much debate with vender and verification of the wobble by my suzuki svc manager they took the front tire back. they sent me another conti with the same build date. i didnt want to try my luck again with a tire from the same batch. i then ordered another anakee, had it installed and problem was gone. with the conti we tried everything including rebalancing, loosing and tightening axle and fork brace. talked to conti and mss and initially all were very dismissive. could be the tire if no one else is reporting this problem on their s10.

 

[Roge]

I had a Metzler Tourance replaced after it had been returned for testing if that helps

 

[avc8130]

http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=4752.0

ac

 

[Mikeybikey57]

If the bike was ridden with the top triple loose, it could have ended up misaligned. This can cause the trail of the tire to fight the rake of the neck, causing a wobble. I would make sure that all is aligned and happy, and that all is tight once aligned.

I had considered not bothering to check them, as the bike didn't wobble on the OE Tourances but did it anyway, just in case. Double checked that the triple trees (steering yokes over here) were lined up last week and they and the forks were 100% true.

 

[Mikeybikey57]

Does the problem only occur when riding hands free?

- Mark

Initially yes……….. but now it's there in a milder form when riding with both hands on the bars, which can be contained if I grip the bars really tight. Over the last 500 miles, there have been a few "butt puckering" moments when slowing into a bend, between 50 and 30mph. The front end continues to wobble into the corner and feels like it may wash out on me. There's not a single wobble if I go in faster or slower but I'd really like to choose my speed at those times, not be dictated too by a duff tyre.

 

[scott123007]

The Conti IS your problem. That is a fact. Been there, done that. I think you are over reacting about the "danger" you perceive though, as it is annoying but harmless, as long as you don't ride no-handed. Having said that, I would demand a replacement even though you won't be guaranteed that it won't do it again. Continental can deny it all they want, but they have had a substantial amount of complaints with that front tire. I used and loved Conti's for years, but after the BS I went through with my front tire, never again. There are too many other choices.

 

[Mikeybikey57]

Just a quick update. Had the tyre changed this morning and replaced with another Conti but this time a Trail Attack 2. My tyre man looked over the old tyre after he'd taken it off and commented that he thought the profile was a bit of a weird shape. He also pointed out that it was made in Korea, raised his eyebrows and said "say no more". Don't know whether that's actually relevant or not as anything that's manufactured can be unwittingly made with a defect, irrespective of where . I guess i'll find out whether it's cure the wobble as soon as it stops pissing it down and I can get the new tyre scrubbed in. ::26::

 

[RED CAT]

Had great luck with Michlin tires. Had wobbles with front Tourances in the past. Never tried Conti tires. Even my cheap Shinko 705s didn't wobble but the rear tread blew off at 100mph once. Pretty sure it a tire problem. Maybe stay away from Contis in the future.

 

[ec90t]

I've used Conti's on a few of my bikes and always had very good luck with them. Now I mainly used the Motions as they worked great for my everyday street bikes. My boss rides a lot on the Road Attacks and he loves them. With all of that being said, I've never used the Trail Attacks and probably won't because of what I've read. This would go for using a standard Tourance front as well.

The Tourance EXP's that came standard on my ST is a great road tire and I knew what to expect out of them as I had a set on my old Vee. I've also had really good experiences with the Battle Wing's.

My next tires will be something more dirt oriented. I'm liking what I read about the K-60's and the E-07's, but that'll wait until I wear more on these EXP's.

 

[Mikeybikey57]

This front end wobble is really strange, as I had two pairs of Trail Attacks on my Tiger 955i and had nothing but the highest praise for their feel, stability and wear rates. It came fitted with Tourances when I bought it and they were utterly horrible. They had as much feel as a hardwood log, felt skittish and tramlined in the wet and despite my fastidious attention to tyre pressures, the front tyre cupped and made the bike handle like a hippo on roller skates. Like i said………………strange. ???

 

[528Hz]

I have seen others with defective new tires have a wobble on cruisers, metzler marathons. I have a metzler marathon on a cruiser now that produces a front wobble around 35 mph at 38 psi. If I add more air the wobble starts at higher speed, lower pressure lowers wobbles starting speed. Has nothing to do with balance or forks or anything with the front end. It's not a violent wobble, but noticeable. I just keep my psi at 38 and stay either below 35 or above 40.

 

[markjenn]

Initially yes……….. but now it's there in a milder form when riding with both hands on the bars, which can be contained if I grip the bars really tight.

A wobble (even a divergent one) at a resonant speed (typically around 40-mph) with hands off the bars is fairly common and if a light grip on the bars damps it, it is often not worth chasing the problem. One's arms are required steering dampers on bikes. But it sounds like yours is well over the threshold of acceptability. I haven't noticed it on my S10, but the FJR I used to own would wobble badly with Avons and was mostly fine with every other brand of tire. (Needless to say, and for other reasons also, I'm not a big fan of Avon tires.)

A bunch of things can contribute to the problems - chassis alignment (particularly forks), loading, steering head adjustment, suspension settings, wheel bearing wear, wheel balance, tire pressures, and ..... brand/construction/variability of tires. I'd take the easy way out and simply change out the tire for one that behaves better. It might be the individual tire or it might be the particular model/brand.... perhaps even a combo of both.

- Mark

 

[Mikeybikey57]

I managed to make the most of a break in the weather and scrub the new front tyre in today. ::001::

The differences between the old faulty Trail Attack and the new T.A. MK2 is really noticeable. I'd probably become used to some of the less obvious foibles in the old tyre, as apart from the wobble, it's now really clear that it used to make the front of the bike drop into slow corners. The new one is neutral throughout and the front rolls in and out smoothly at all speeds.

I also used to assume that the front forks were unable to react quickly enough to any given road surface, as the front end would patter slightly all the time. Nothing dramatic but a little like riding over a washboard with very shallow ridges. Turns out that the tyre was responsible for that too, as now there's not a hint of patter and the bike rides as smooth as a George Clooney chat up line.

To say I came home a very happy man is an understatement………………it was like riding a different bike. ::008::