Tire or bearing noise?

[Guest Shady]

I have a 2006 RSTD with 5K miles on it. When I corner or weave the bike on a straight road I hear a roar from the rear of the bike. Your help would:confused24: be appreciated.

[Freebird]

It could very likely be the tires. I've had that happen many times....even on my RSV...when the tires get a little wear on them. Some brands are worse about it than others. I have the Michelin Commanders on my bike and really like them a lot but the only small complaint that I have with them is that they are a bit noisy when leaning through a curve or weaving just a bit the way you describe.

[Redneck]

Yep what Don said. buy avons end of problem.

[Jerry Cochran]

I agree with GITRDONE. Get rid of the tires you have and change to Venoms. I had Dunlops and the noise was real bad. Venoms are nice and quiet.

 

Jerry Cochran

[BradT]

Had same thing on my first gen and the second gen, both tires were Bridgestones.

 

Brad

[BOO]

Be sure the air pressure is okay also.

The good thing about the Avon's are if you have "water on the knee" they will also cure that as well.

Jerry

[Monsta]

Might wanna run your hand over the edge of the tire and see if there is cupping. It is usually cupping that causes the sound* (*"roar" as described by you. ). Cupping is a symptom of suspension and possibly bearing problems.

 

Don't be fooled. Using Avons will not cure everything, just like using Sea-Foam won't fix everything...although there certainly are a lot of folks here who think both are true.

[GunnyButch]

I've had some of the noise from my Avons but not until I had about 10k on them, once the center of the tire starts getting a little flat it seems they make a little noise when you get over on the sides. I've been using the max cold pressure found on the sidewall and not had any cupping since, I think the bike handles better too. My original Bridgestones cupped some and the pressures were kept at the Yamaha recommended pressures. From my experience cupping has been caused by under inflation.

[SaltyDawg]

I'm not so sure his problem is the tires. It could be dry splines. I wouldn't rule out the rear brakes either. If you are heavy on the rear brake then you could have worn one of the pads down by now. Check your rear brake pads for wear and before I would pay to replace a tire, I would grease the rear splines.

 

I had a something almost like that on my first 99, loud groan but only in the corners. Checked the splines and they were actually rusted. Cleaned them up and greased them, noise went away.

 

On a tire note, I prefer Michelin Commanders also. I have tried Avon's, Dunlops, and another off brand and the MC's lasted the longest and really stick to the road. They also seem to absorb the road better.

[BOO]

I don't know about the bearings. I had a real bad bearing on the rear of a first gen and didn't find it until I was putting new tires on.

Actually the back were really bad and one of the fronts was beginning to

get rough.

80 some thousand on the bike when this happen.

Jerry

[Stoutman]

I had the Bridgestone on my 05 RSTD new. When I switched to Avons the silence was deafening. Take the Bridgestones off now and throw them away. Don't think of it as throwing away perfectly good tires, because they are not good tires. Think of it as treating yourself to the comfort, safety, and ride quality that you deserve.

 

I took the Bridgestone tires off my bike at 5,000 miles and never looked back.