Wheel alignment.

[kawasuki]

maybe thats the reason my one slides around left handers?

[jzbusa]

Surely misaligned wheels would effect a bikes handling ?

Why would every superbike team (for example) align the wheels if it had no effect ?

[steventh]

Hi Jzbusa,

You are probably correct but I would think they would have to be way out of alignment for most to notice. If you are Rossi or Stoner who tune their chasis, suspension etc for each race and different tracks / tyres you would probably notice.

I think that having incorrect tyre pressure would probably affect performance more than a slightly misaligned back wheel. As I mentioned earier, my experience is that I did not feel a lack of handling on my HD (no jokes that they dont handle anyway) even though the back wheel was significantly out of alignment. I do a lot of riding - 30,000k last year so I have plenty of opportunity to notice any difference.

Looking through the Owners Manual, Suzuki warns about incorrectly inflated tyres and other things affecting handling but not rear wheel alignment. Suzuki only mention that the alignment is to keep the rear and front sprocket aligned.

My comments really are about the small impact (my experience imperceptable) of a slightly out of aligned wheel. I dont know how many degrees "slightly" is.

IMHO unless your wheel is massively out of alignment your handling would be affected more by tyre pressure and suspension setup and most would get better return on their effort by getting these correct

Cheers

Steven

[Maj]

Its easy to get used to the feel of your bike , if the marks are not accurate but you always use them the feel will be consistant .but if you intensionally put the rear out of alignment you will notice it...just as if you correct a misalignment the bike will feel better
I use a tremmel, and measure from the swingarm pivot to the axle on each side.