Upon one of my first rides on a '00 V11 Sport, (my good friend John T's. in CT) solidified the handful of concerns that John had verbalized to me via telephone. His comments to me were, that his bike seemed to develop a speed-wobble depending on body position and speed. After a five minute, ahem... spin, sure enough, the bike felt light on its feet at speed.
Without getting into all of the logistics of rake and trail (there is a great book avail. that discusses that here), most newer sport bikes have steeper steering rakes then most people are accustomed to. Especially those who have owned/ridden the venerable Tonti-framed Lemans or the likes. These lazier raked bikes of yester-year, offer sure-footed stability at any speed.
Increased rake on newer bikes allows the bike to "turn-in" quicker, though you loose considerable stability to do this... Hence the problem with the '00-on V11 Sport. Combine this with softer-adjusted/set-up suspension set-up from the factory, required for the general public to accept as a daily ride-able bike, and there you have it; Speed - Wobble.
Simply put, steeper steering head angles warrant stiffer suspension set-ups. Soft suspension set-up will often allow this wallow. So... the solution? It's all in the geometry/suspension set-up. Your weight is always a factor... but as a starting point with a 200#-ish rider aboard:
1, Loosen that steering stabilizer up first, ok? Overly tight dampers can compound this problem worse then one lightly set.
2. Support the bottom of the bike (i.e. Scissor-type jack) to allow you to easily/slowly raise the forks in the triple trees @ 3/8" - 1/2".
3. Increase rear spring pre-load using a spanner wrench or punch, (or if you're lucky, by physically grabbing the spring and rotating taking the keepers with it) clockwise 2 full revolutions.
4. Increase both compression and rebound damping to the top third of the range.
5. Do the same to the front forks with comp. and rebound settings. Be sure to set/verify your ride height... outlined below.
6. Take a ride... yes, you'll find the bike rides stiffer, but you'll mostly notice, with a little more turn-in effort required, the bike should be rock solid, at any speed. If the 'wobble' isn't completely kaput, finito... increase the rear spring preload, a half turn at a time.
Ever really checked your suspension ride height? Time to do it... To do this, have your wife/bud/significant other hold your bike upright. Lift up on the front (and rear seperately), then let it rest. Take a measurement from the floor to any stationary point (i.e. bolt on subframe or triple tree), then sit on the bike, fully, and have your buddy take the same measurement to the floor. You should have @1/2"-3/4" max. difference.
Enjoy the ride.
If you really want to spend big money to have your bike set up properly, I suggest visit GMD Computrack on the web. Be prepared to drop a handful of cash... however, you'll be rewarded with one of the best handling machines around. Period.
Feel free to give me a shout to further help you dial-in your V11 Sport.
Todd<at>GuzziTech.com
