Push on Hard Corners

OK chassis guys ,need a little help here.82 kz1000 CSR,new Dunlops,correct tire pressure,Gixxer fork brace (set at 8/16),Tarozzi fork stiffner,rebuilt forks,started to pick up a small amount of "push" today on some pretty challenging(for me anyway) twistys.First time this has happened.Running a Gs1100 swingarm (new bearings and thrust washers)with GS 1100 rear shocks with preload set at 3 and spring tension at 3 as well.I weigh about 185.any ideas about the way the bike is set up and ways to change the set up to alleviate the "push".Too stiff maybe?Thanks.bj

I am not sure what you are calling the "push" but that bike has a leading axle front fork/wheel combination. The leading axle was designed to stabilize the bike for straight line riding. "Highway Cruising" Sport bikes do not have this feature what I did was to replace the front fork with a fork from a KZ1000-J, that allows for better maneuverability. Before I did that she wanted to through me off every time I went into a clover leaf to fast. She handled like a PIG. Once I replaced the front forks it completely changed the handling.

I take it the J bike has an axle in line with the fork? OK,thats a thought..Bike has been doing ok up to this point but today I was on a pretty challenging road with lots of lefts and rights . By "push" I mean that the bike felt like the rear end was trying to push the front end out of the "line" I had chosen to get the bike thru the corner.Not a totally out of control feeling but a this aint right feeling. Thanks for the input,O.bj

Well since I sure dont want to go to the trouble of changing the rake angle on my current forks, I guess the next task will be sourcing a set of J bike forks.Anybody got a set just laying around?Lol.bj

Any inline fork set with a 38mm fork tube. This means almost any bike with a "J" engine. Some of them however have holes in them for air "cross equalization". The simplest to use would be The 81/82 J1/2, 81 GPZ1100, Any of the J series Police bikes. If you get some of the others with the little holes in them (IE 82 GPz1100) you will have to also get the cross equalization manifold.

hocbj23 wrote:

OK chassis guys ,need a little help here.82 kz1000 CSR,new Dunlops,correct tire pressure,Gixxer fork brace (set at 8/16),Tarozzi fork stiffner,rebuilt forks,started to pick up a small amount of "push" today on some pretty challenging(for me anyway) twistys.First time this has happened.Running a Gs1100 swingarm (new bearings and thrust washers)with GS 1100 rear shocks with preload set at 3 and spring tension at 3 as well.I weigh about 185.any ideas about the way the bike is set up and ways to change the set up to alleviate the "push".Too stiff maybe?Thanks.bj

A push is when the front wants to go stait.
Loose(the opposite of push)is when the front has grip and the rear wants to strait and swings around,like the drift cars do.

Which tires?
Are you using the 19/16 wheel sizes?
The 130/16 will push a little more than a 120/18.
Do you mean Gixxer steering stablizer?
Tarozzi would be the fork brace
which rear shocks?are they new or aquired used?

IIRC, the rear ride height will be lower than stock with the GS shocks/swingarm. If so, this will have a negative effect on steering precision/quickness, slowing the steering of an already long, heavy motorcycle

This bike started out life as a 1981 1000CSR. The frame is still stock and so are the wheel sizes. I changed the front end to a "J" front end and a Tarozzi brace, and installed a GS1100 swing arm. With the CSR front end I could not dreg it into a clover leaf without major effort. Once I installed the "J" front end everything changed. Now I can go into clover leaves at 25MPH over the recommended limit, and have absolutely no problems. The engine is now an 1150 and has 11:1 with .420 lift cams. The frame still has the factory sticker calling it a KZ1000M.

I know what "push" is and thats what the bike wanted to do-front wanted to go straight when the rest of us was trying to go into or out of a curve.Tires:New Dunlop Arrowmax.Stock 19/16 wheels.Gixxer stabilizer,Tarozzi brace (sorry).Rear shocks are Suzuki,off a low miles wrecked bike that my mechanic buddy had in his shop-look new and seem to work well otherwise-adjustable preload and spring tension.Bike is big and heavy but no bad habits otherwise .The swingarm swap dropped the bike 2 inches and added 2 inches length axle to axle.Any other thoughts are very welcome.thanks to O,Nebraska,and mjg15 so far.Maybe I will just have to live with it but would like to eliminate it if possible.OR just start riding the Yammy Radian on the twistys and use the KZ for cruisin.Lol.bj

hocbj23 wrote:

I know what "push" is and thats what the bike wanted to do-front wanted to go straight when the rest of us was trying to go into or out of a curve.Tires:New Dunlop Arrowmax.Stock 19/16 wheels.Gixxer stabilizer,Tarozzi brace (sorry).Rear shocks are Suzuki,off a low miles wrecked bike that my mechanic buddy had in his shop-look new and seem to work well otherwise-adjustable preload and spring tension.Bike is big and heavy but no bad habits otherwise .The swingarm swap dropped the bike 2 inches and added 2 inches length axle to axle.Any other thoughts are very welcome.thanks to O,Nebraska,and mjg15 so far.Maybe I will just have to live with it but would like to eliminate it if possible.OR just start riding the Yammy Radian on the twistys and use the KZ for cruisin.Lol.bj

Ever see a "chopper" turn corners.
2"is a lot
you have increased you rake
might try raising your fork and/or longer shocks

to me a push =in my mind like what i also call "it wants to walk"...the front,without chatter ,just seems to kinda float wide and i at that split second feel,if i was to try and correct it by firm re-directs,well, it scares me a bit ,feels like it would slide the front out or "wash out"......


the number one thing that i check is tire pressure!!!!!!!!my front tires for agresive riding are at 36-34 and lower than that i get "push".... and bounce on freeways too with some tire brands....since otakar turned me onto avons...iget less of the other things tires can do...but i have little pushes if i'm doing 85 on an onramp....short of that one time...they do nothing but stop and go like no tire i've ever used...

...if it was not doing it before and you did not change anything also ....than something changed itself.....tire pressure... or increase front spring pressure and set the fork oil and play with preloading with spacers.....dont run dunlops .....are all things i use to improve front end feel......rear shock spring click settings also set the front tires leaned over grip ...


my 2 cents

Definitely, lowering the ass end along with the leading axle is detrimental for any kind of handling. This is why I used Goldwing shocks which are longer, to raise the ass end back to stock height,(or little beyond). Basically you made a "sled" out of the bike with the changes you made, and the way you made them. The bike with the leading axle has too much caster to begin with as I mentioned before. You made it even worse, by lowering the ass end.