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Post by philthat on May 30, 2023 20:50:29 GMT 1
A few years ago I posted this!
Hello everyone
Been Around Lc's for 40 years. Had 3 runners and several that never went anywhere. Anyway I always wanted a powervalve after my cousin who used to race Lc's had one on the road in 84. I got one about 18 months ago. it is an import that is in reasonable condition and looks 80% restored. generally I am over the moon with it, except that it is worst handling bike that I have ever come across in my life. And I have had some of the worst Z900, Gt750 etc. It is only once it gets to about 70mph that it starts to flap the front end causing it to be incredibly unstable by 80mph. At 90 mph I have to slowly slacken it down or risk being thrown off whilst going in a straight line. I have read that they can be not as good as an LC, but is this normal? It has newish BT45's. I did fit a fork brace which seemed to only help a little. I also adjusted the air in the forks to the required psi. Any ideas
Many thanks
Well I put up with it, after changing the oil in the forks to a thicker type. I changed the front fork springs for progressive ones etc. It was still not good. Then I took my wheels to have new tyres fitted, to the same place where I had my last tyres fitted. Only to find out that the front wheel had an inner tube fitted in it the last time I bought new tyres.
When I told the fitter that it is not meant to have an inner tube, he said that that there was one in it the first time that you brought it here 3 years ago. So that's what I thought it needed.
So, now with no inner tube in the front wheel and new BT46's it goes as straight as an arrow, and just as it should do. Lesson learned, always check the obvious first. (even if they are brand new tyres + take it someone who knows what they are doing!!!!!!)
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Post by shaunthe2nd on May 30, 2023 21:10:57 GMT 1
That's interesting and a lesson to most of us. Glad you got it sorted and now enjoying the bike.
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Post by JonW on May 31, 2023 0:14:17 GMT 1
That is good advice. Great that you got it sorted. IMHO the LC2 doesnt handle speed as well as the LC and we always put it down to the nose cone fairing over the years. just my 2c tho  |
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Post by beardy on May 31, 2023 15:01:05 GMT 1
A few years ago I posted this! Hello everyone Been Around Lc's for 40 years. Had 3 runners and several that never went anywhere. Anyway I always wanted a powervalve after my cousin who used to race Lc's had one on the road in 84. I got one about 18 months ago. it is an import that is in reasonable condition and looks 80% restored. generally I am over the moon with it, except that it is worst handling bike that I have ever come across in my life. And I have had some of the worst Z900, Gt750 etc. It is only once it gets to about 70mph that it starts to flap the front end causing it to be incredibly unstable by 80mph. At 90 mph I have to slowly slacken it down or risk being thrown off whilst going in a straight line. I have read that they can be not as good as an LC, but is this normal? It has newish BT45's. I did fit a fork brace which seemed to only help a little. I also adjusted the air in the forks to the required psi. Any ideas Many thanks Well I put up with it, after changing the oil in the forks to a thicker type. I changed the front fork springs for progressive ones etc. It was still not good. Then I took my wheels to have new tyres fitted, to the same place where I had my last tyres fitted. Only to find out that the front wheel had an inner tube fitted in it the last time I bought new tyres. When I told the fitter that it is not meant to have an inner tube, he said that that there was one in it the first time that you brought it here 3 years ago. So that's what I thought it needed. So, now with no inner tube in the front wheel and new BT46's it goes as straight as an arrow, and just as it should do. Lesson learned, always check the obvious first. (even if they are brand new tyres + take it someone who knows what they are doing!!!!!!) I just had a lightbulb moment whilst thinking about your handling issue. My 4lo does exactly the same and obviously it does have an inner tube. The only thing with mine is that I’m running Gloop in the tube so I wasn’t able to get the wheel balanced. So even though you had a tube in your front wheel. Was it balanced with the tube in it? |
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Post by philthat on May 31, 2023 20:23:22 GMT 1
Hello everyone
Yes Beardy, It was balanced. But even then it must have upset the front end so much, because I couldn't read anything from the clocks at about 80 upwards, and i was wrestling to keep the thing in my hands by 90!!!
One thing that I did notice when I picked up the front wheel having had the new BT46 fitted, was that there were no weights on it. I asked if it had been balanced, and was told yes, and it didn't need any weights added. Where as the time before with the inner tube in the BT 45, it had about 3 weights on it on both sides.
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Post by beardy on May 31, 2023 21:17:38 GMT 1
Well that’s blown my theory out the water then.
Glad you got yours sorted then 👍🏻
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Post by geoffers997 on Jun 1, 2023 9:05:19 GMT 1
Many many years ago I had a GS550, I had it from new and because it was a work bike I went through tyres and suchlike very quickly.
About 2-3 weeks after a tyre change it developed an alarming speed wobble and wouldn’t ride straight over about 70mph.
Long story short it flummoxed the dealership so they got Suzuki involved.
Their guy took the rear tyre off and found the tube had been pinched and wrapped itself into a big knot. The wheels were tubeless I think so they held pressure with this big lump of rubber inside.
I went and played war with the tyre fitters but didn’t get anywhere.
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crogthomas
Drag-strip hero
In his shed....
Posts: 260
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Post by crogthomas on Jun 1, 2023 22:14:12 GMT 1
Good advice there. Goes out to check tyre valves.......
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Post by KevtheRev on Jun 27, 2023 10:29:19 GMT 1
I left my VFR 400 into a place for new tyres one time because I was too busy to do it myself . Collected the bike and when I went up the road it was almost un-rideable , turned out the tyres were both fitted backwards . And another time I got a place to fix a puncture and after riding away discovered the blokes tyre lever starting to poke out through the tyre .
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Post by philthat on Jul 6, 2023 20:49:24 GMT 1
Flippin hell Kev.
That makes my experience sound almost acceptable.
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Post by steve63 on Jul 11, 2023 13:06:00 GMT 1
When I swapped from LC to YPVS I wasn't at all happy with the handling. To me it was like jumping off a 350LC and onto something much bigger and heavier like a GS550. It seemed to take a lot more effort to get it around the corners and the straight line stability was borderline.
When I talked about dropping a YPVS engine into an LC chassis to get the best engine in the best chassis I was told by loads of people that it was nonsense and that I had built the worst of both Worlds. I think some people just repeat what they hear and read as gospel.
Tyres are the route of an awful lot of handling problems, especially oversize tyres. On the other hand I put standard size Continentals on my LC/YPVS and It ruined the handling. It never improved until I took them off again.
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Post by steve63 on Jul 12, 2023 12:54:10 GMT 1
I must have said this before but a mate of mine was racing a 350LC in 1984 and swapped to a YPVS for the 1985 season. He rang Stan Stephens for advice regarding the handling being a bit unstable. Stan said "you need to adjust your bottle." My mate couldn't understand what he meant and asked what bottle? Stan said "no, YOUR bottle." Basically he was telling him to man up a bit.
From memory we used to fit a 130 or 140 or maybe bigger Dunlop KR164 to the back and a massively oversize KR124 on the front so there is no wonder they flapped a bit!
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Post by KevtheRev on Jul 14, 2023 13:07:58 GMT 1
I'm running a new set of BT46's tubeless on my 4LO , just about scrubbed in , the bike steers really well and feels glued to the road ,
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Post by vectisitch on Jul 19, 2024 15:59:42 GMT 1
Stan said "you need to adjust your bottle." My mate couldn't understand what he meant and asked what bottle? Stan said "no, YOUR bottle." Basically he was telling him to man up a bit.
Lolol. That's such a Stan thing to say. Legend
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