I’ve just bought a V50 Mk3 similar to a friends Mk 3. Mine seems a bit wobbly or unsettling at slow speed around slow corners or roundabouts, whereas his feels confident. Both have Dunlop Roadrider tyres and both showed 33psi on the front. We have checked for head bearing play and wheel bearing play but all seems good. The only difference we can see is that his bars sweep back behind the steering rotation and mine are slightly in front. Is that really likely to account for the difference?
tyre pressures first and foremost
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Go through the bike and check the wheel bearings, the swing arm, damping front and rear, check the wheel alignment with a long straight edge.
It could be one of many things.
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Head bearing tightness causes low to medium speed instability (and high speed crashes). Looseness is a minor issue
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The steering head bearings on V50’s are a weak point - they get worn and overtightened
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I’d also check the dates on the tyres ( after everyone else’s excellent checks ). They do go off by about 10 years, and would give the sort of feel you describe.
Your 'bike may have been laid up for a while, or not done many miles in the last few years.
If you can’t find a date code, then they’re waay too old.
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Thanks for all the replies. No one has mentioned handlebar position, so I guess that may not be worth changing. I’ve checked alignment and all bearings, tyres are 4 years old and look good, so it’s tyre pressures and shockers left to play with. The suspension is very hard, can anyone recommend softer rear shockers?
A lot depends upon your weight. I am a fat bloke, and the suspension on my 750T has always seemed pretty hard. However, when I had to fix an indicator issue (dont ask!), I saw that the rear tyre was merrily rubbing its way through the rear plastic mudguard near where the indicators mount. So when I checked, my weight was causing a large proportion of the available suspension travel to be used up, so that only the stiffest part of the springs and the bump stop were actually in use. It was doubly bad when I added any camping gear etc. This is with the original Koni shocks. I have now opted for Hagon shocks built to suit my weight - much better.
I also had a similar issue with my two KTMs. KTM assume a rider weight of 75Kg for their road bikes and use springs to suit that. No good for me, so I fixed that too.
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Have you ridden both bikes?
Yes and the difference was obvious to both of us.
I have now fitted some pattern bars similar to original, bringing the grips higher and further back, and that seems to have made all the difference. This was the only factor that was different from my friends bike, and sure enough mine now feels more sure and relaxed at slow speeds.
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