Apologies in advance for posting twice in quick succession... When I put my bike on cruise control, no matter whether I have panniers installed or not, she continues to drift to the left when I let go of the handles. Anyone else experience this? It also happened on the new 1260 I test drove (even when I consciously try to move my body weight to the right - it's very obvious)?
Funnily enough I noticed exactly the same thing. I get a slight running from the front at very slow speed, seemingly from the discs. My dealer claims they’re straight and I get no vibration so I’m inclined to accept this. I was wondering if the disc spacers are sticking, as they’re full floaters? Could this be the cause?
I’m sure I’ve read others say the same on here. I remember one person going as far as wondering if his frame was straight
Found another thread on the same issue. https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/dvt-steering-or-handlebar-alignment.52293/
I'm so glad I'm not the only one! It actually gives me back aches on long trios... Are you all still on the original scorpions? Just about due for a change of tyre after 7k miles so thought there may be a relation there...
Still on the Scorpions but only 4000 miles and not too worn. They do weave slightly. I really don’t know if it’s the tyres? It’s never noticeable with my hands on the bars, but lift them off and it’s pronounced. The old thread didn’t really have a satisfactory ending.
Isn't the road chamber? I assume the tarmac should have a slight slope to the left for drainage. Did you try going in the opposite lane? I might be completely wrong here...but noticed the same in my car and bikes, sometimes barely pulls to the left sometimes more.
I've never noticed a pull to either side. I've only used cruise control on motorways. In the UK the motorways are so busy that you are forever having to go in and out of it which makes it of questionable worth, but on the continent I've had it active for long periods. However, as I said, I've not experienced an off-line pull, and I can't imagine why cruise control should induce it - it makes no sense unless there is an existing alignment issue that only becomes noticeable when you relax your hands on the bars? As for the Scorpions, I don't think they help one bit. I found the front tyre wore out before the rear one. Most odd, and the only time that's happened to me. My present tyres are Metzler Roadtech 0s1, and on previous Multis I've used Michelin PRs.
I don't think it is DUE to the cruise control per se but that's the only way I could test it without touching the steering wheel. Actually maybe I'll try again without gear and just let it roll to see if that helps?? I'm planning on going for the Metzler next as well - never take my bike off road anyway...
Yeah it also happened on the 1260 buy I'll ask my brother to take her for a ride and see if he also notices. Clearly it's also happening to others though...
It's the road camber. It's completely normal and in the UK every bike and every car will have a tendency to pull to the left to one degree or another. It can be more noticeable from one bike to another depending on both bike geometry and tyres, or even if you have a steering damper or not. I can understand why folk might be concerned and would notice it but if you happened to have had a misspent youth with a significant proportion of your previous motorcycles mileage spent either on just the rear wheel (or even just the front wheel), or a lot of time on track, you become very aware of camber and subtle changes to how road surfaces present themselves. In the UK we have a very pronounced and predictable camber on almost every stretch of road there is, which is a requirement due to our slightly damper climate compared to the rest of Europe. Hands up who's been riding on the continent in the rain and come across standing water on the road? I've seen it loads and it's worse in some countries than others - France being particularly bad. Within Europe the camber varies hugely and in many places there just isn't a camber at all and I've also seen it where camber can run to the centre of a carriageway because that's where the drainage is and because the farm that lies alongside the road already has it's own drainage challenges without adding several hundred square kilometres of tarmac water run-off. I've been barrelling down auto-routes in the rain where on more than one occasion I've hit standing water which wouldn't have been there had there been any camber at all, or if the drainage in the central reservation hadn't been blocked. For example, in the Netherlands you have some really nice roads but the camber is all over the place because run-off and drainage is a massive problem in many areas and can cause severe flooding. They have to plan it quite carefully, depending on the particular challenges that a stretch of land has. Add to that, that your tyres will have been run and scrubbed in on UK roads with their very obvious camber. I've also noted that where I've been doing a lot of motorway miles and squared off a rear tyre, when you look at it you notice that it's never squared off dead centre - it always seems to be slightly squared to the right of centre, which initially I thought was down to a bad riding habit until someone else suggested it was the prevailing road camber. UK roads with their camber cause your contact patch to be present on the right-of-centre. Now take that tyre and go ride on continental roads and you get some very weird and inconsistent feedback to what you'd be used to when spending all your time riding on UK roads.
