floaty front end

Hi guys .
My 2001 rsv seems very light on the front end mhen going into corners, seems as through the bike wants to slide away . Weird to explain the feelin in the front .Most bikes i have had in the past feel really planted but the rsv just feels strange . If you get my drift .I throught it was me but my friends have been out on her and say the same . If any body has had the same problem can u let me know what you have done solve it ..

thanks in advance:thumbup

when i first got mine it felt like the front end was on MARBLES..if that makes sense:dunno

but i think the tyre being worn didnt help...got new tyres now and has made so much difference...i have faith in the front now

A good set of tyres on the bike and check your pressures with a good guage.
Makkes a hell of a difference.

Ditto!

My front end was vague and had me in a panic coming up to a bend in the road. First thing I did was make sure all the front fork settings were at standard and then see if I could dial it out using the adjustments available.

Started with pre load then rebound and finally compression but nothing seemed to work.

I set about the forks with some spanners and eventually found that the front fork oil was like glue and was at different levels too! I cleaned out the forks internals by sloshing around some petrol in them and left them to dry out overnight.

The next day I added some 5W Silkolene Pro fork oil to the correct levels and rebuilt the forks. On road test it was immediately apparent that I had resolved my issues with corners, a little bit of fettling saw the front end sorted.

Before going down this route make sure you give yourself time to adapt to the bikes handling characteristics, they are different from Jap bikes.

Check that the tyres are not worn out or worn unevenly, the tyre pressures need to be spot on too.

Make sure that the steering damper isn't wound up to tight, 2 clicks should be adequate.

Check that the rear shock is operating correctly too, make sure that the rear end sag is spot on, it makes a hell of a difference to the handling. Make sure the rear shock link is not seized up and stopping the shock from operating correctly.

Loads to check out mate, if you're not technical then don't worry niether are most people on here, never be afraid to ask anything. I can't promise not to laugh or take the piss but I always promise to help. :biggrin

Mille front end is one of the best you can get, massively confidence inspiring - sounds like you need to take Alan's advice and do fork a service.

First thing to do is set your front and rear sag, get this right then alter your damping, once you have your damping to your liking you then need to look at weight distribution, if it does not turn quick enough raise the rear rather then drop the front, if it turns to quick drop the rear, you can also alter the ride height using preload, more preload will make it ride higher, less preload will make it ride lower.

I would not use preload though to alter this, use the preload to get your sag right and then the damping to get it damping to your liking then look at weight transfer.

Firstly though you need to make sure that all the bearings and linkages are good, tyres are good and at correct pressures, steering damper if fitted is good, if any of these are not good you will be fighting a losing battle.

Have fun:thumbup