Not what you think. Bike is 07 gsxr 1k. Problem is whenever I go over a rise in the track or the track drops away and the front end gets light the bike always either wheelies and lands the front end cocked sideways or gets light and pushes the front end. It makes for some fairly dramatic moments and I am not sure why it is doing it. Doesn't matter if bike is leaned slightly or straight up and down, it seems to always do it. My work around has been to either short shift to keep front down or to roll off the throttle. I haven't gotten around to trouble shooting but plan on checking the clip on angles and rear wheel alignment. Anyone else have any ideas of what to look at?
You think it is just you pulling or pushing harder on one bar? If you are riding in a straight line and take your hands off the bars, what does the bike do?
First thing I thought was rider input. I intentionally tried to make sure I was straight up over rises and still did it. It doesn't rule out rider error, but it seems to happen every lap. So I am not sure. I am away from track now and can't say what the bike does with no input. I just figured I would do some basic checks just to see if it is me or the bike.
Getting light and pushing over a rise sounds like normal behavior, to me. Landing down crooked seems to be rider input, but I suppose the clip ons may not be even, or the triples twisted, or the rear wheel cocked in the swing arm. All those things require measurement. If it were me, I would take it down the street in front of my house and get up to 30-60 mph and see how it coasts with my hands loose on the bars and then again with my hands off the bars. Does it seem to turn one way better than the other way? My frame straightening guy told me that can indicate a bent swingarm.
We had this problem with a Buell 1125. I "learned" to drag the rear brake, but I always felt I was leaving some seconds on the table. We changed form an Ohlins to a Penske rear shock and it went away. Our conclusion was the Penske has a longer "throw" than the Ohlins - enough to keep the front from rising up very quickly. It still will raise the front up, but slower and not as high because it's not as drastic... or we are better at adjusting the Penske....
Just watching MotoGP, don't their bikes seem to always land with the front wheeled angled one way from a wheelie?
On my R1, one of the things I do to help this is climb over the front of the bike as I go over the crest. The additional weight on the front wheel helps keep the front end down. Basically get your butt off the seat and lean forward. Usually I don't get a big scary wobble or anything, so it could be in your suspension or alignment as others have suggested. What I am trying to do keep the bike stable because I am coming up on a braking zone. If I don't climb over the front end, I have to roll off over the crest because I can't start braking hard with the front end of the bike still settling down from the "landing."
Im taking a shot in the dark here, but have you tried picking up the back end of the bike (and consequently increasing swing arm angle). IIRC the flatter the swing arm angle the more prone it is to wheelie. Again, this is a random guess that I am taking based on a distant memory about different setup quirks. Hope it can help you.
I used to get made fun of regularly because of the big stupid seat pad I installed on the bike to keep me from sliding backwards and putting input into the bars. Worked for me, but it was ugly.
Move the footpegs back 1/2" to weight the front. Raise the rear with the shock a couple of mm at a time. It sounds like weight transfer under power. Maybe add compression damping to the shock? One thing at a time. Good luck.
When you say you're sure you stood the bike straight up, how certain are you that your body is as well? Is it possible you subconsciously set up for the next turn body positioning wise?
These you do for sure to start with.. but you can only go so far to cure that particular spot on the track your're wheeleeing (sp??)...before it affects other parts of the track... so it might become a trade off.....as usual...if you get to point that there is no more adjustment (without losing time at other areas) , then you gotta drag the rear break a little...and lean on the front end.
Thinking out loud here....wouldn't feathering the clutch to keep the front down rather than tapping the rear brake accomplish the same thing? Seems like the OP is only having the issue occur in one area....don't get the sense that he is having setup issues across the board.... I remember Mladin talking about this before. He had mentioned using the rear brake kills drive and feathering the clutch will keep the front down.....
Thanks for all the replies, I somehow missed a lot of them. The biggest issue isn't the wheel coming up as I can manage that either through short shifting, clutch or rear brake. The biggest issue was the wheel landing sideways. I am not 100% certain that it isn't being caused by rider input (me) but I want to re out any mechanical issues that may be causing it.
Have you loosened everything up on the front and bounced on the bars a few times to settle the front before you torque it all down?
