Just got a TE 630 not too long ago. Still in the honey moon period (less than 600 miles break-in). Decided to take a quick ride behind my house. On tar road everything felt good. Couldn't resist going on dirt, since this is going to replace my DRZ400S and KLR650. It actually felt great on dirt. Easier to pickup than the DRZ400S and give me more confidence too! That's until I got on the freeway going back home. Going above 60 mph raised my heart rate about 2x. When I got to 65 mph, I literally was praying; praying that I will see my wife and kids again. The bike wobbled so bad, my life was flashing in front of my eyes. The sad part was I was pass by two dual sports going may be 70-75 mph while I life was flashing in front of me. But I was in such fear, I didn't make out what kind of bikes they were; small displacement (not the big BMW) but not sure which. So, the question is... Please tell me is the tires! Or something I can 'fix' easily. I know my DRZ400S with Kenda K760 and Dunlop 606 has similar issues, and but not as bad. They 2008 KLR with stock tires never felt like that, but on dirt, that's a different story. I was going to get a TE310/TE449 for a plated dirt bike and a KTM 990 ADV for commuting and some dirt. The price on a TE 630 was just too good to pass up. Now I felt I might have to go back to plan A, and have an odd bike in the stable. Personally I don't think you can have too many bikes, but wife felt a bit different. Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.
Set your sag properly and all should be good. How much do you weigh? From the factory the rear is too high and stiff for most non-overweight riders.
Make sure the tires are aired up to street pressure, set the sag on the rear end, balance the tires, check the headshaft bearings for proper preload and put the forks at the lowest level in the triple clamps. While you are lowering the forks you should pull the front axle and go throug the procedure of making sure that they are are parallel, don't just go by the scribed lines on the forks, they aren't always accurate. The same goes for the rear, you should make sure sure the chain is adjusted correctly and that the rear tire is in line with the frame. Past that it is something with the tires, the bike itself is really quite stable at hwy speeds.
I'm 6' and about 185 lbs right now, was close to 200. According to my Doctor, I'm over weight, and should be ~170. Not sure what chart he is reading. Any how, can this be done by one person? I skipped the section on suspension in the manual. I remember reading some where before you need at lease two people.
Yeah, just as a quick double check whenever I adjust something, I'll take a scale or set of calipers and measure the rim-to-swingarm distance on both sides, or rim-to-fork in the front. I also spin the rim to make sure it's not warped before doing this.
Just looked at the shop manual. It says 90mm sag, is that correct? My fork sits almost on top of the triple clamps. There might be about 1-2mm of the 'black' tube showing. Is that what you mean by the 'lowest level'? I'll check all the alignments and chain slack this weekend. As for balancing tires, they are not balanced. But I was going about 65 mph on tar road and it felt fine, just the rain grooved freeway, I-15 near Cajon Pass, to be specific. Thanks for all the feed back.
I get the same thing. I think those tires are bad news on grooved pavement, it wobbles back and forth and tries to follow the grooves. I'm going to MT21 or D606's as the karoo is crap in dirt anyway. I can deal with the rear but when the front washes it's a giant PITA. You will also get some headshake over 65-70 if your sag is too high, shoot for about 4". And yes, drop the forks flush with the top triple clamp. That should give you just enough rake to stabilize the front end for high speed. The other suggestions are all good as well although I have done none of them. The biggie is backing off the rear preload and getting the rear to settle where it's supposed to with your rider weight. I've hit 78mph on the trip computer, it is kind of twitchy at high speed and would like to get mine dialed in as well for comfort at 80. That should do it. BTW, 90mm = about 3-5/8". I think that's barely enough. Actually I think the shop manual says 90-100, would have to look again for sure. 3-3/4 to 4" will improve high speed stability. There's lots of travel back there and I don't think anyone is gonna be doing 70mph whoopdies with it anyway.
Yeah, yeah... you go speed racer. The SMS is setup quite a lot different and with taller gearing - tires, suspension, steering geometry, etc.. The TE is like a giraffe in comparo. At 75 it starts to feel like it's gonna spit you off!
Actually the SMS and TE have the same 1-4 gears, and the TE has a taller 5th and 6th gear. Yeah, explain that one... Give the street bike shorter top gears...
Hmmm...that's not what the shop manual says. Maybe with the final drive sprockets they are more similar, I dunno. Final ratios (TE) 1st gear.................................................................................................... 17.163 2nd gear................................................................................................... 11.894 3rd gear...................................................................................................... 8.859 4th gear...................................................................................................... 7.159 5th gear...................................................................................................... 6.016 6th gear...................................................................................................... 5.048 (SMS) 1st gear.................................................................................................... 15.529 2nd gear................................................................................................... 10.762 3rd gear...................................................................................................... 8.016 4th gear...................................................................................................... 6.477 5th gear...................................................................................................... 5.679 6th gear...................................................................................................... 5.225
You're looking at final ratios which include sprockets. The gearbox ratios are identical for 1-4, and then the TE has taller 5th and 6th gears. See how the 6th gear on the TE is taller (lower numerically) than on the SMS? That means in 6th you will be turning fewer RPM's than me at a given speed. The lower the final drive ratio, the taller the gear.
Might check out the balance of the wheels as well. Out of balance combined with ALL the other stuff mentioned above will definitely make her hop like mad. The more the forks stick up above the upper triple clamp the twitchy-er it'll be for sure.
I had the same issues with the serious weaving on grooved pavement. I was too lazy to change the sag on the rear so I just rode as is and tried to stay away from the highways. Not too long ago, I changed tire pressure to 20f, 25r (from the factory recommended 17/22). I think that and the suspension "breaking in" (ie. more laden sag) combined to eliminate the weave entirely. Same highways, 70-75, no more issues. On a different topic, the rear karoos certainly wear out fast. 1500 miles and I'm guessing I have only 200 more miles on them before the center blocks wear away completely.
Setting the sag should be among the first things you do when you get a bike in the first place. The manual calls for 85-90mm of rear suspension sag. My bike is very stable at 75mph. Much more so now that I've ditched the Karoos for Mefo Exlorers front and rear. I balanced both the front and rear when I mounted the Mefos. The bike is noticeably smoother now. No excitement at 80 mph.
I've had my TE as high as 92 on the 60 fwy. Definetely gets nervous as speeds over 85 mph, but these bikes are pretty stable up to around there. It's about setup, so you'll likely have to work on sag and fork height. I dropped the tire pressure down to realistic levels and that seemed to help some. It's also a possiblility that your tires could be out of balance, in which cas any amount of say and fork height adjustment will do no good. Let us know how it turns out?
It is totally a function of the grooved highway. Half my commute is on smooth pavement, the latter half is grooved with the slits about 1 cm apart. I routinely drive 85 on the smooth part and drop to 65 on the grooves. It is really nasty, especially if it is windy. On BMI, if you are athletically built you can chuck that chart right out the window. It isn't designed for people with any muscle mass. I'm 6'1" 190 pounds with a 32" waist. Chart says I'm overweight...
