Honda Rebel 250 & 450 Forum banner

Varied shaking at 45MPH+

2K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  flitecontrol 
#1 ·
Replaced back tire on my 07 Rebel a few weeks ago. Went down the road, hit 45 and my bike shook so bad I could barely see. Took the bike back, they determined it to be faulty and replaced the tire.



I've put roughly 150-200 miles on the replacement tire. I still have a shake above 45MPH and when I lean to either side (more noticeable on the left side, or I'm just taking a lot of left curves). It's not constant shaking, almost feels like every third beat.



This WASN'T the case before I replaced the tire. I live up in the mountains of Western NC and I took the bike all over curvy, mountain roads the weekend before and she was as smooth as butter.



Could this be a suspension issue, or still a tire issue? I'm tired (ha-ha) of dealing with this service department at this point and I can't feel like my luck would be bad enough to get two bum tires in a row.
 
#2 ·
Make sure the rear tire is properly aligned. https://www.hondarebelforum.com/f28/adjusting-chain-tips-15439.html

If it is, the tire could be out of balance. From the factory, there are usually conical wheel weights on the spokes. These should be removed and either moved to new positions as needed for the new tire, or kept for future use. Quite possible the shop tech missed them.

It isn't difficult to balance a tire yourself; lots of Youtube videos on the subject. You don't need the fancy stand with rollers, just place the axle between two saw horses the same height.

Alternatives are beads DynaBeads Tire Balancing Beads
and RideOn Tire sealant https://www.facebook.com/RideonTireSealant/http://innovativebalancing.com/ which automatically balance the tire. RideOn also provides some protection against flats.
 
#5 ·
For what it's worth, I've had trouble getting a good balance on some wheels using the axle across stands method as described by flitecontrol above. Depending on how free spinning the wheel bearings are, there may be enough drag that the wheel doesn't always spin to the heaviest point. I've been considering investing in a balancing stand with its own dedicated bearings for this reason.
 
#6 ·
Good news, my wheel is balanced just fine.


Bad news, my rim is bent.


I'm pretty ticked at the service department for this one. I've had the bike for a year, I've never hit anything questionable, and I'm a lightweight female. The problem didn't present itself until immediately driving off the lot, so I'm wondering if they didn't bend the rim while changing the tire. I haven't accused them of it yet, but we'll see. They're keeping the bike for another day to "figure out a solution". Interesting.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top