New Rider - Took her out on the highway - Feeling of Floating ?!?

[talljoker]

So I got my baby about 3 weeks ago and I have been riding ever since. Doing the crawl before walk before run phasing in. Around town I feel comfortable, but not cocky. I experienced my first oil slick when putting my foot down yesterday. Anyways to get to it I decided that I wanted to open her up so I went on to the highway. Little traffic but I wanted to get a feel for her at speed since I never had her up over 65 constantly.

I get up and I check my mirrors all the good things and I started to notice that it felt like the bike was floating on the road. Just a slight feeling of it getting light while at speed. Idk if it was me getting used to the wind but it was giving a little pucker of the butt factor. I stayed at 65 and started doing runs up to 85 to get a feel for it and the "Check yourself jared" voice came in.

Could it be mechanical or is it most likely me getting used to the wind and speed...

[stopintime]

...............

Could it be mechanical or is it most likely me getting used to the wind and speed...

Most likely you, but what bike and mileage are we talking about?

If it's brand new and you're not very heavy (making the suspension too soft), it might just be you getting tense and making steering inputs that come from a tense body. If so, try leaning forward a little and make sure your shoulders are low and elbows are loose.

[talljoker]

Sorry to add that..

'02 M750 with close to 21K, in good condition, and I'm 6'2 215lbs...make a perfect air brake sometimes...but I feel comfortable on the bike but it was just a weird slight drifting..

[stopintime]

The air pushes you backward, pulling on the bars, making the front light and feeling a little unstable,
That's a normal Monster issue. You, weighing the bike down on it's rear wheel makes it more so.

If it's not done, you can have the rear shock's spring preloaded more, to suit your weight. That will help.

Other things to look into: are the tires nice and round? Wheels aligned? Swingarm, steering head and wheel bearings ok?

It can and should be very stable at speed, so I think you might have some things to look into. That is, if it's not only your riding position and steering input that needs work.

[talljoker]

Everything looks good. I am thinking it might be the rear spring and my heavy ass. My girl rode the bike home and said it was fine with her when she took it to speed but she is also 111 out of the shower.

I'll take her out and focus on getting my weight over the bars a little bit more. I guess I didn't notice it around town b/c it was slower speeds.

I am thinking about getting a bar with a lower rise so as to help with the weight on the front and also a rear shock. Any recommendations?

btw first bike and I am bite...

-jared

[OT]

FWIW - I've found that I constantly need to be aware of 'sitting back' in the seat and letting my arms carry some weight.

Getting weight forward (or off the rear) helps a ton, as does getting all weight off the arms so they can hang naturally and feel the bike thru turns.

Getting weight forward for me is all about bending from the hips over the tank, not sliding forward  

At 215# plus gear, your bike's not gonna handle as if the rider is 160#...

[ducpainter]

I'd have the steering head bearings checked at 21K, but it is probably your input giving the unstable feeling

[Twizted]

When at speed correct tyre pressure can make a hell of a difference. 33 front - 36 rear is usually what you should be running.

[bdub]

I run 40 rear 38 front on Angles. Doesn't running lower pressure harm your tires?

[hillbillypolack]

All good comments so far.  Also on the first gen Monster frames, they had a tendency to feel light at the 'bars.  Knowing that, and its tendency to (sometimes) get a tank slapper you have to actively do something when riding the beast. 

This happened to me, coming home late (midnight) after riding 8 hours.  I was coming into a headwind, sitting normally and the bike felt light, a little wobble at the bars.  Bike had 7600 on it at the time, standard 'bars.  I had to fight normal freeway 'wind' and get my weight onto the front a bit more.  Not drastic, but shifting the weight forward I felt the bike talking to me more.

This may (or may not) be what you're feeling.  Next time when you're at freeway speeds, shift your weight forward and back to normal to see how that affects your impressions of the 'floating'.

[CDawg]

I run 40 rear 38 front on Angles. Doesn't running lower pressure harm your tires?

40 and 38?  That seems to be the max recommended pressure.  I don't know which bike you have but for the S4RS, factory recommends 32-33 for the fronts and 33-34 for the rears.

[bikepilot]

I would guess that everything is fine and you just aren't used to riding the bike yet, but if you are concerned maybe get an experienced rider to take it for a spin to verify that all is as it should be.  Lower bars certainly wouldn't hurt as the monster doesn't carry quite enough weight on the front wheel.  Still its a long way from floating off the road

[HotIce]

The monsters are front light. When I switch bike and I get my Bandit 1200, seems like I am steering, bare arms, an M1 Abrams tank 

[bdub]

40 and 38?  That seems to be the max recommended pressure.  I don't know which bike you have but for the S4RS, factory recommends 32-33 for the fronts and 33-34 for the rears.

I used to run 36 front an 38 rear then bumped it up to make them last longer. Is not that the way to increase tire life? I don't ride hard. I run a 900.

[CDawg]

I used to run 36 front an 38 rear then bumped it up to make them last longer. Is not that the way to increase tire life? I don't ride hard. I run a 900.

Different strokes for different folks.  I will say that a couple of PSI makes a world of difference in handling on the S4RS.  If longevity is the goal then have you consider running harder compound when you decide to replace tires?