Avon Cobra White Walls Wheel Wobble WTF ?

R3 Touring, Cobra whitewalls - the bike is absolutely rock steady. I sometimes amuse myself by riding some twisties one-handed.

Before I switched out my worn-out cupped Metzelers, the front end started shaking pretty **** bad as soon as I let go with just one hand, to say nothing of both.

Headstock bearings, an insufficiently torqued down triple tree are both options to look into if the front end shakes also. Or most likely - an incompetent mounting of the tire, or an incompetent balancing of same, or possibly a defective tire somehow, those all strike me as possibilities.

All I know is my R3 Touring has zero tendency to shake if I let go of the bars since I mounted Cobras.

Also - Triumph mounts these tires OEM on the Thunderbird LT bikes (that's why WWW in this size even exists) - so how bad can they be?
 
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Mittzy said:
I recently put a cobra on the rear from my other bike and think it is the worst tyre for the R3R, it will break traction and smokes through first gear (just on throttle only) and can be skate around in second, I can wait to get my wheels back from powder coating so the new Bridgestone can provide the grip. Cobra up front is great tho.
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The Cobra is a long-distance tire - in the US there's a 15000 mile guarantee - so it stands to reason it has a bit harder rubber down the middle than tires that last half that. Usually tires like these are dual compound, they're softer on the edges to facilitate decent cornering capability and harder in the middle to resist highway miles, so it would make sense that you can smoke the tire easier with enough power and throttle application. I haven't found it objectionable, but then I rarely do drag race type starts from a standstill either.
 
warp9.9 said:
Just in case have you guys checked your head stock bearings? I read a thread yesterday where it eliminated the wobble problem.
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I checked it when all this started with the Avon. Had to tighten it up ever so slightly but is still didn't make a difference.

I vote steering damper should be standard equipment for the Roadster
 
cr0ft said:
The Cobra is a long-distance tire - in the US there's a 15000 mile guarantee - so it stands to reason it has a bit harder rubber down the middle than tires that last half that. Usually tires like these are dual compound, they're softer on the edges to facilitate decent cornering capability and harder in the middle to resist highway miles, so it would make sense that you can smoke the tire easier with enough power and throttle application. I haven't found it objectionable, but then I rarely do drag race type starts from a standstill either.
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OK Yep That makes good sense.
 
I had a wobble problem with my Speedmaster back in the day that turned out to be related to the rear suspension pre-load being too soft. Of course if you change the tire and wobble is gone it cannot be that...

The second time I had that problem was with a Continental front tire gone bad so there are many reasons for the wobble but fortunately haven´t had that with my R3T.
 
I just started drinking and I still should service my Suzuki DR650 today. Well, those never break anyways so why not service it drunk as well....

P.S. Dry white wine in a beer class works **** well... quess I´ll have a bad shakes day after tomorrow or so... Still a long way to be like Lemmy but I`m doing the best I can.
 
uforocket3 said:
Just had Cobra white walls fitted today on the 3T and let go of the bars on the way home and f**k me the bars where having a seizure !! Assured the wheels were balanced ..
Is this normal for white walls ?
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BTW, and just a HEADS UP, but I'm seeing folks weighing in with comments about "this brand" and "that air pressure", and "mine only lasted X" and "mine wobbled at such and such", etc., but if you'll notice, the original poster is riding a Touring, and some others weighing in are riding Roadsters, etc.... These are ALMOST TWO DIFFERENT BIKES, frankly, with differing wheelbase length, forks, etc. and especially ENTIRELY DIFFERENT TIRE SIZES. Not trying to say that all the comments aren't interesting, because THEY CERTAINLY ARE if only for the sake of conversation, but COMPARISONS REGARDING TIRES need to be evaluated first via all BEING ON THE SAME MODEL and of the same size, etc. "Just saying".... lol...
 
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Opinions are great, but if the problem started when the tire was installed I think I would contact either who you purchased it from and/or Avon and request a replacement. Seems that by putting the Metz back on you verified something is not right with that tire.

I run Avons on my America and I have found that they like to run a couple pounds of air more that spec.

My Rocket is new and the Metz 880s seem to be fine so far, but the dark side is calling me. Things may change over the winter.
 
OldNorthState said:
BTW, and just a HEADS UP, but I'm seeing folks weighing in with comments about "this brand" and "that air pressure", and "mine only lasted X" and "mine wobbled at such and such", etc., but if you'll notice, the original poster is riding a Touring, and some others weighing in are riding Roadsters, etc.... These are ALMOST TWO DIFFERENT BIKES, frankly, with differing wheelbase length, forks, etc. and especially ENTIRELY DIFFERENT TIRE SIZES. Not trying to say that all the comments aren't interesting, because THEY CERTAINLY ARE if only for the sake of conversation, but COMPARISONS REGARDING TIRES need to be evaluated first via all BEING ON THE SAME MODEL and of the same size, etc. "Just saying".... lol...
Click to expand...


when u have a problem that might kill u i would want and appreciate all all opinions even if some one wrote about a go cart. to me they r all worth reading.
now my problem solved but i still like read the thread just for knowledge.
 

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