Other Monster owners... high speed weave?

[jonjames]

Hello all,

I have just purchased a 2001 M600, my first ducati! had lots of jap bikes before and several years riding experience.
I have one question for other monster owners, Do these bike generally suffer from being very twitchy at high speeds??
I'm going to check all the necessary, tyre balance, front to back tyre geometry, and probably put a new front tyre on anyway, but I just wonder if this is a known issue??

70mph ok, 80mph still ok, 85 plus very twitchy and unstable, could easily go into a full slapper!
At slower speed it's great very pointy and changes direction really nicely, but that same set up amplified to high speed makes for a scary ride!!

Any feedback or help appreciated..

Jonny

[Grumpy]

Not a known problem on the 600 as far as i'm aware.
The S4 can be twitchy, this is cured with a steering dampener.
As you have listed, check the pressures, wheel line up, and the tyres match.

[Pedro]

If the tyres are a bit shonky it may weave and if the geometry setup is too high at the back/low at the front it may get a bit slappy

[Saint aka ML]

As pedro said, I have rather extreme angle on my bike (forks sticking our by 43mm well now I think 48mm) and it makes it very nice to change direction but at speed with no damper can be unnerving. On the other hand before I done those changes 110 was ok on my m900, light but still ok.

[Mr Gremlin]

check the headstock bearings, they aren't sealed and corrode badly. the slightest of stickyness will cause speed wobble. sarahs bike started to go into a tank slapper at 60mph, only after we had new tyres fitted.we blamed it on the tyres at first, but after extensive checking , the head bearings were replaced and problem solved

[Liz]

I never had any problems with my 600, apart from tyre pressures or 'squared off' tyres!

[Nickj]

Check the suspensions set up ok or more or less right. Tyres and pressures can make a big difference too.
Usually monsters are stable platforms and need a bit of rider input to turn, when you drop into a corner do you need the counter steer or does the bike just dive in??
If it just dives in then check the forks aren't too low in the clamps or the rear end isn't wound up a bit too hard/high. The front end shouldn't sag too much when your weights on the bike.

Just based on recent experience earlier today the basic package is quite happy at 120+ ... suns out what can you do??

[Pomp1]

What's the distance between top yoke and top of suspension?

[Phatty]

check the headstock bearings, they aren't sealed and corrode badly. the slightest of stickyness will cause speed wobble. sarahs bike started to go into a tank slapper at 60mph, only after we had new tyres fitted.we blamed it on the tyres at first, but after extensive checking , the head bearings were replaced and problem solved

Same on my S4. i had a steering damper so never noticed the wobbly. then the seal went on that and it felt awful. headstock bearing were completely rusted up and shot.

I have a set of new Koyo ones available if they are the same size as the s4?

[jonjames]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, it was as ever the very last thing I checked !! The headstock bearings have a remarkable wear ridge right in the centre position!!
Not had to change any before must of been lucky with my other bikes I guess ... bugger it not having a centre stand!! Thanks again everyone.. JT