New tires - no more head shaking!!!

[Scoots]

The beemer dealership has free coffee & donuts the first Saturday of every month, so I stopped by to thicken up my waist & chin. I was talking to the service manager about the head shaking on deceleration at around 35mph on my '89 R100RS and that I thought the steering head bearings may need to be tightened up a little. He came out, poked around the bike and said, "You need new tires." I told him that I was going to order some new ones at the end of the summer, but he replied, You need new ones now," and he showed me where my rear was getting rather thin (rear tire, not my ass). Nothing is cheaper on an airhead than the owner!

Anyway, they service all of the police R1200RT's for several cities. The cops have tested every brand and model of tire that will fit their police RT's. Their overwhelming choice of tire is the Michelin Pilot Roads, but they won't fit my bike, so I ordered the Pilot Activ's. I also asked them to check for any looseness in the steering head.

Long story short, no looseness could be detected in the steering head. The Pilot Activ's have been GREAT!!! They don't track the tar snakes or grooves in the road like the Metzeler Lasertec's did (I had no idea how bad they were for tracking), and there is no more head shaking on deceleration!!!

I rode up to the BMW MOA rally in Salem on July 20 (only an hour away). Quite a few airhead owners asked how I liked the Michelins and I had to report that so far they have been great and far better than the Metzelers I had!

For me, the Michelin Pilot Activ's are a better handling and safer tire! My R100RS handles fantastic!

[dougie]

FWIW.
On my '87 RS Monolever (same as your '89) I had Michelin Macadams (2 sets) followed by Bridgestone BT45's (also 2 sets). Never had a head shake.

[ME 109]

Oh dear, where to start.

Ah yes, Good news Scoots!

Now, let's see how your RS handles when the Michellins get as low as the Metzellers were.
A new set of just about any tires will cure/mask wobbling/tracking issues.

I think your worn rear was having the biggest effect on producing the decel wobble.
I think your worn rear was having the biggest effect on tracking wobble.


As El Presidente' of the (front only) lasertec fan club, all I can say is you guys have way too many snakes on the road.

[boocephus]

Funny, I thought my wobble probles was from a worn front. It's easy to see when your rear tire is worn. But my front tends to cup for whatever reason and it usually looks fine - it just handles like crap. That causes a detectable wobble for me. I have a pretty old front tire right now and I am feeling it. I am trying to get the other bike on the road so I am holding off on skins for the '73.

[Jeff in W.C.]

FWIW.
On my '87 RS Monolever (same as your '89) I had Michelin Macadams (2 sets) followed by Bridgestone BT45's (also 2 sets). Never had a head shake.

I need new tires. I've been thinking about the Pilot Activ's or the Bridgestone BT45's. I like the concept of the dual compound of the BT45's, but I've heard lots of good things about the Michelin Pilot Activ's. Up till now, I've run Metzlers (ME 88 on the front and 880 on the rear). I had the lasertec on the front a while back, and did not like it. The ME 88 is no longer made, so Metzlers are off the table.

[dougie]

FWIW.
On my '87 RS Monolever (same as your '89) I had Michelin Macadams (2 sets) followed by Bridgestone BT45's (also 2 sets). Never had a head shake.

I need new tires. I've been thinking about the Pilot Activ's or the Bridgestone BT45's. I like the concept of the dual compound of the BT45's, but I've heard lots of good things about the Michelin Pilot Activ's. Up till now, I've run Metzlers (ME 88 on the front and 880 on the rear). I had the lasertec on the front a while back, and did not like it. The ME 88 is no longer made, so Metzlers are off the table.

Don\t know about the U.S., but in Canada Metzelers are the most expensive.

[Duane Ausherman]

If a bike is perfect in every way, but has a 1/2 worn tread on the front, it is likely to shake. One could think that it has worn out of balance. We tried to rebalance those worn tires and it made little difference. Only putting on a new tire and balancing it would take out the shake.

Don't for a second think that a new tire will fix a shake, it may, but usually there are other factors. Sometimes we would find only one factor to a shake (Wobble) but usually it wasn't so simple

These stories of how one had a wobble, or didn't is interesting, but they are one data point only. We literally had thousands of data points before we felt that we were getting close to "the answer" in how to fix a wobble (shake).

You should always be riding on good quality tires that are balanced. The balance is often very important in a wobble.

[chasbmw]

The Michelin pilot actives on my 90/6 seem to be really good at resisting squaring off, they have about 5000 miles on them and seem to be about as good as new, much betters than the Mtzs I had back in the day who would start white lining in the wet after about 1500 miles.

Im just coming home after a 1500 mile trip down to Portugal, back roads almost all the way, 200/250 miles a day only, but 6-8 hours riding, some seriously bendy roads with good surfaces and very little traffic. See if you can find the N1 road heading north from Loule near the southern cost in Portugal, take a look on google its is really riding heavan. Currently arriving home and it's raining.

[Airbear]

See if you can find the N1 road heading north from Loule near the southern cost in Portugal, take a look on google its is really riding heavan. Currently arriving home and it's raining.

Chas, I couldn't find the N1, but the N2 north of Loule looks pretty curly.
Must be good to get home to some proper English rain.

[chasbmw]

Airbear, you are right, the N2. Coming from the North, I pretty well followed the Spanish / Portugese border, it's very bare uninhibited country, some bits very like Auz, gypsies with horse carts etc etc