What did you do to your FJ-tracer-gt today?

[SleepyC]

16 hours ago, ontheroad said:

Just got the FJ back from my suspension guy and the improvement is dramatic.More stable in corners and large and small bone jarring bumps are a thing of the past,its just a joy to ride now and money well spent.I have the K-Tech 20mm IDS cartridge kit and the Razor-R shock. Next will be my Hindle exhaust install.

My 15' FJ-09  came with Traxxion Dynamics AK-20 cartridges in the forks, Penske 8983 res shock in the rear - sprung for 235lbs.

In 35 years and probably 40 different bikes, I have never had "real" suspension. It's pretty amazing what we put up with, with the stock shocks... real suspension is amazing.

 

Congrats, I bet you are happy as a clam!

 

[keithu]

7 minutes ago, kilo3 said:

Urh, I hope it all melts this week.  Right now I have layers of leaves/snow/leaves/more snow and I even mowed right before the snow but there were two maples that were holding out. Snowed again yesterday.

Yep, pretty much exactly what Mom described. I don't know if this is unusually early, however. When I was a kid it seemed like about half the time there was snow on the ground when I went trick-or-treating. 

[kilo3]

35 minutes ago, keithu said:

Yep, pretty much exactly what Mom described. I don't know if this is unusually early, however. When I was a kid it seemed like about half the time there was snow on the ground when I went trick-or-treating. 

Mostly early, I usually judge by deer hunting. Love having snow on the ground for that.

[koth442]

6 hours ago, kilo3 said:

Mostly early, I usually judge by deer hunting. Love having snow on the ground for that.

If you're as bad a shot as I, the snow makes tracking easier. 

[Wintersdark]

On 10/24/2020 at 8:11 PM, SleepyC said:

Hello...

 

I traded my 2013 Super Tenere 1200 for a 2015 FJ-09 today!

I can't ride off road anymore.. to many bad joints, so this was a smooth transition back to a speedy road bike with a great riding position.

 

That's a big part of why I'm here on a Tracer, too.  Thought about going all ADV - my brother in law is hard into the whole thing, along with a local group - but my body just can't handle the punishment of offroad riding anymore.  I'm too much of a wuss now

On the other hand, I can go on street rides with them, and leave them in the dust while still fitting right in at stops.  The KTM SuperAdventures are awesome offroad, but they loose out on pavement

[keithu]

14 hours ago, koth442 said:

If you're as bad a shot as I, the snow makes tracking easier. 

But it's crunchy so it makes sneaking more difficult. 

[DaStray]

Getting back to the original topic, I took my wife for a ride today...the first time she`s been on it since we bought it new X 2 weeks ago!

This is actually a big deal here and she really enjoyed it. Gotta love it when a good plan comes together.

[kilo3]

1 hour ago, DaStray said:

Getting back to the original topic, I took my wife for a ride today...the first time she`s been on it since we bought it new X 2 weeks ago!

This is actually a big deal here and she really enjoyed it. Gotta love it when a good plan comes together.

I thought so too, took three rides before she wanted her own bike. Gets spendy fast.

[Stew]

Just home from having the new anti wheelie system fitted....

(I cannot wait to read the comments about this, but believe you me, I am as upset about it as anyone!

50grams, on each side of the rim!!!!!!!)

 

[HGP61]

Never known that amount of balancing needed for a tyre, does it ride ok? If it does paint them black and ignore.

[texscottyd]

28 minutes ago, Stew said:

I cannot wait to read the comments about this, but believe you me, I am as upset about it as anyone!

50grams, on each side of the rim!!!!!!!

Well, that would explain the vibration you were feeling.   Was this necessary to balance the new Michelin Road 5, and wasn't required on the wheel previously?   That sure seems like a lot of weight, and I might be suspicious that you'll have to re-balance it again as the tire wears. 

[Stew]

Shocking eh! The wheel was fine before, it's all tyre.

Vibration is all gone. The guy reckons that it was 2 things. 1 , the tyre is waaaay out of balance, and 2 , the tyre fitter made a right mess of it, and had balance weights in completely the wrong places.

Now I need to find a new tyre guy now.  Telling you, the pilot road 5's are awesome in the wet. I just am stunned that I managed to get one that is so out of balance. Such good feel, confidence inspiring, I mean look at the photo, the grey strip is the chicken strip, and it was wet and greasy most of today's ride

Oh, and I can confirm,  there is no vibration, although I only tested to around 130.

Oh and I can also confirm, 113 is when you hit the limiter in 3rd gear.

(kph on a closed private road of course officer)

 

 

[dazzler24]

1 hour ago, Stew said:

50grams, on each side of the rim!!!!!!

100gms!   First guy didn't leave something behind in the rim when fitting the new tyre did he????  Seems so excessive. Surely the new Michy wasn't to blame!

Interesting to see how it goes over time.  Good to hear that otherwise the vibration is gone at least.  Strange one..... 🤔

[Stew]

22 minutes ago, dazzler24 said:

100gms!   First guy didn't leave something behind in the rim when fitting the new tyre did he????  Seems so excessive. Surely the new Michy wasn't to blame!

Interesting to see how it goes over time.  Good to hear that otherwise the vibration is gone at least.  Strange one..... 🤔

The entire wheel was thoroughly checked, as the mechanic guy that did it (I dont have a garage and it is raining a lot) was as stunned as I was. He thought maybe some old slime or something, but he said everything was fine, just a badly fitted tyre, badly balanced. (Probably been sitting on a shelf for a while and got permanently out of shape or something along those lines)

And looking at the photo's , I think there may be 60 on the left and 50 on the right. It's pouring rain and dark outside , and the bike is undercover, but I will double check tomorrow.

It is horrendous though, But, as HGP61 said, I'll whack some black paint over them to try and hide the mess

 

[texscottyd]

1 hour ago, Stew said:

The entire wheel was thoroughly checked, as the mechanic guy that did it (I dont have a garage and it is raining a lot) was as stunned as I was. He thought maybe some old slime or something, but he said everything was fine, just a badly fitted tyre, badly balanced. (Probably been sitting on a shelf for a while and got permanently out of shape or something along those lines)

Are there weights anywhere else on the wheel?   I can’t tell from the discussion if your current guy actually dismounted the tire from the wheel to check everything out, but I would be very tempted to do so if not.   I’m usually not the paranoid type, but that just seems so unusual for a Michelin (assuming nothing else is going on).    My experience with Michelin has been that the weights actually balance the wheel, and swapping on new tires often requires zero (or very minimal) change to the existing weights...   odd indeed.  

If nothing else, I would be tempted to spin the tire 180 degrees on the wheel and see if it balances with less weight.   It could be random ‘tolerance stack’ that happened to put the heavy spots of the wheel and the tire together, but even then 100 g seems like way too much lead.