Wandering Soul

[MSgtRick]

I’ve got a 2016 Tri-Glide with approximately 14,500 miles. Replaced the front tire with an Avon trike tire at about 13,000 miles.

Recently, within the past week or two, I’ve noticed a sudden “push” or wandering sensation similar to what you might feel if hit by a sudden gust of wind. Oddly, the sensation does not come from the front end but seems to come from the back of the trike. This feeling of sudden wandering only happens at approximately 60 mph or above. Oddly, it is not an oscillation with a specific frequency nor does it jerk the bars as you might expect while riding over rain grooves in the pavement. It’s more of a feeling of hitting a banana peel at speed with one tire, very quick and a bit sharp. I also took my hands off the bars for a few seconds to see if there was a tendency to wander one way or another and didn’t notice anything unusual.

Front tire pressure is 36 psi, rear 26 psi and rear shocks are at 20 psi. I put the trike on a lift and examined both the front and rear tires. No discernable wear or damage. Also rocked the trike as much as I could listening for clicks or clangs and any possible sloppiness in the rear end. I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. It doesn’t seem to matter what type of road, concrete, asphalt, country lane or interstate.

So, my thoughts are panhard rod or rear wheel bearings. I did read posts from this forum as well as a couple of others and this has been noted by others although no definitive answer has been offered.

Any thoughts, suggestions?

[Jack Klarich]

Grab the back wheel and shake the trike side to side

If you hear a lot of clunking the Panhard joints are noisy

Kevin @ D K Customs did a write up on his Triglide with the body removed Have a look at it

https://www.triketalk.com/forum/thre...otos-amp-Video

[DK Custom Products]

My experience with that tire is that it requires 40-42 psi to ride smooth.

I have an Avon Tire on the way to me. I've read the same, that it requires the 40-42 psi. Hopefully that will fix the wandering for you.

On the rear end...if you grab one of the rear tires at the side, and firmly/aggresively move it side to side...if you do not feel any slack/clicking/clanking/looseness in it, it is unlikely you have a rear bearing or panhard rod issue.

You can do the above with the tires on the ground, but it is much easier to do with the rear wheels off the ground.

Kevin

[PosseRider]

I also have the Avon. 40-42 ... Air in rear tires at 22. No air shocks. ProAction shocks,

[graygoat]

I am one who noticed and posted about this issue. Not everyone seems to have it. I now run at 40 - 41 PSI in the front. That helped but still there a little. Getting used to it and don't think about it much anymore. I have about 200 miles with Ride On (10oz) and wheel wts removed, that seems to have helped a bit also. I notice it more going into a stiff wind, so I think it might be a combination of the tread pattern and my LRS 10" flat top windshield (not enough of an issue to make me change it).

[MSgtRick]

Raised the trike about 2” off the ground and checked for any free-play or clunky-ness in the rear and didn’t notice anything. Raised the front tire pressure to 41 psi and went for a short ride. Hard to tell if it helped any because of the wind gusts. My gut feel is raising the tire pressure didn’t really help much. If the Avon was the culprit I’m wondering why it ran just fine from January until a couple of weeks ago. Haven’t hit any migrating armadillos or feral hogs so I’ve ruled that out.

Guess I’ll go to the Hunerd-Dollar shop sometime this week and ask their gurus for their opinion. I’m sure they’re going to want to change every bushing and bearing between here and El Paso.

[PosseRider]

Raised the trike about 2” off the ground and checked for any free-play or clunky-ness in the rear and didn’t notice anything. Raised the front tire pressure to 41 psi and went for a short ride. Hard to tell if it helped any because of the wind gusts. My gut feel is raising the tire pressure didn’t really help much. If the Avon was the culprit I’m wondering why it ran just fine from January until a couple of weeks ago. Haven’t hit any migrating armadillos or feral hogs so I’ve ruled that out.

Guess I’ll go to the Hunerd-Dollar shop sometime this week and ask their gurus for their opinion. I’m sure they’re going to want to change every bushing and bearing between here and El Paso.

The reason for the tire pressure in front is to keep it from cupping.

[TG Bob]

I have been running the Avon for 3,300 miles now and I know what you are feeling. At first when on the freeway it would act like it was hunting/wandering back and forth. First it would go to the left then shift and go to the right. Not a lot - just a slight drift to the left for a few seconds and then a drift to the right and so on. After reading about the tire pressures for this tire I upped it to 40-41 PSI and this made a significant improvement but the wander was not completely gone. I thought maybe this tire had more grip than the stock tire and was following any small irregularities in the road surface. I also noted that this wander did not happen on all high ways. Then one day while on the high way with several 18 wheelers ahead of me I noticed a lot of wander going on.

Now trucks leave a lot of wake turbulence behind them (even a long ways behind them) and I thought since trikes are not very aerodynamic maybe that was the cause. As soon as I got past all the trucks the wander stopped. Since trikes have a lot of body work and wind can really try and grab them along with the added traction of the Avon over the stock tire I figured this could be the cause. Once I got onto another high way with no trucks there was no wander - steady as a rock.

I will say that it has gotten better with miles as the tire scuffs in and the tire takes a more flatter profile. The stock tire tread must have a lot more squirm in it and thus does not react to these forces like the Avon does. Anyway, this is how it went for me.

[DK Custom Products]

ACK! Now I am wondering if I made a mistake ordering the Avon and if it is going to wander (pun intended).

Guess I'll know soon.

I had no wandering with my American Elite rear reversed up front.

Kevin

[MDO]

MSgtRick, sorry to here about your problem.

Are you under warranty? I also wanted to mention the Avon tire has a warranty, in case you didn't know.

I'm curious, is this the trike specific Avon or the regular Avon 71 front tire?

[1dn5up]

I have 200mi on mine set at 40psi. No wander , and a lot smoother than the Dunlop. Just sxpect it to skip a little on rough twisties. With the high pressure it’s expected , also road section lines are more noticeable.

[leonard]

I ran a avon trike tire on my 14 trike. Had to replace it with a stock one because it wandered to bad had 40 lbs of air it had a flat spot on it. Will not use one again. It had about 3500 miles on it and I was traveling out west had to run it all the way home about 2500 miles.

[MSgtRick]

Are you under warranty? I also wanted to mention the Avon tire has a warranty, in case you didn't know.

I'm curious, is this the trike specific Avon or the regular Avon 71 front tire?

The trike warranty expired in February. Had the Cobra AV71 Cobra Tire for Trikes installed in January when the dealership did a complete inspection of the trike prior to the warranty expiration date. I know Avon warranties their tires for failure but the tire still looks good and handles well. A couple of weeks ago I rode TX 130 for about 60 miles at the posted speed, 85 mph. Other than averaging around 28 mpg the trike sucked it up with no problems at all.

It's really windy right now with a chance of light rain but I do plan on doing some more testing when conditions improve a bit.

[Firewrench22]

Fear not Kevin, you will like the Avon. I had one for a while before I got the 21" front wheel. I thought it handled great, never noticed any wandering.

[prariepilot]

ACK! Now I am wondering if I made a mistake ordering the Avon and if it is going to wander (pun intended).Guess I'll know soon.

I had no wandering with my American Elite rear reversed up front.

Kevin

The polished aluminum wheel with the reversed American Elite you sent me is still on the bike. I have no wandering problem with it.

Now you have me wondering if I should put the Avon you recommended, Kevin, on the powder coated wheel. Still sitting in the garage unmounted. As an afterthought, have any of you with "wandering Avons" checked to see if they are mounted in the proper rotation? Just a thought....

[DK Custom Products]

Fear not Kevin, you will like the Avon. I had one for a while before I got the 21" front wheel. I thought it handled great, never noticed any wandering.

My Avon arrived last night.

Likely I will pull the front wheel this weekend and get the tire installed.

Should be able to report next week on my initial impressions.

Kevin

[DK Custom Products]

Ok, I've ridden a bit now with the Avon Trike front tire. About 300 miles so far...75 of them in the rain.

The real test will be over the next 10,000 miles or so, but below are my first impressions.

I have not experienced any wandering, like some have. It is rock solid. BUT....

It has a very different feel to it. The best way I can describe it is that it feels light, like it does not have good contact with the ground. But this is not true, it has great contact with the ground. It has better front tire traction than the stock front tire, or the rear tire reversed I've run (American Elite). It just feels like it's not.

Having a hard time describing it, maybe it will feel more like a regular tire when it flattens out a bit with some wear.

After scrubbing it in, one of the first things I did was turn the front wheel sharply (at lower speeds) to see where it would break loose. Surprised the crap out of me, instead of the front tire breaking loose, I broke both of the rear tires loose. This was on dry asphalt.

This was not an anomaly. After my initial surprise, I then did it another 15-20 times, at varying speeds (all slower, I don't want to tip over), flat, uphill, downhill, in a curve. Amazingly, I can break the back tires loose at will, on dry asphalt, and the front tire just sticks.

In addition to riding it on backroads and interstate in dry conditions, I had a chance to ride both while it was raining. It handled the light (but steady) rain just fine.

After I get more miles on it, in a greater variety of condition, I'll report more.

Kevin

[MSgtRick]

Ok, I've ridden a bit now with the Avon Trike front tire. About 300 miles so far...75 of them in the rain.

The real test will be over the next 10,000 miles or so, but below are my first impressions.

I have not experienced any wandering, like some have. It is rock solid. BUT....

It has a very different feel to it. The best way I can describe it is that it feels light, like it does not have good contact with the ground. But this is not true, it has great contact with the ground. It has better front tire traction than the stock front tire, or the rear tire reversed I've run (American Elite). It just feels like it's not.

Having a hard time describing it, maybe it will feel more like a regular tire when it flattens out a bit with some wear.

After scrubbing it in, one of the first things I did was turn the front wheel sharply (at lower speeds) to see where it would break loose. Surprised the crap out of me, instead of the front tire breaking loose, I broke both of the rear tires loose. This was on dry asphalt.

This was not an anomaly. After my initial surprise, I then did it another 15-20 times, at varying speeds (all slower, I don't want to tip over), flat, uphill, downhill, in a curve. Amazingly, I can break the back tires loose at will, on dry asphalt, and the front tire just sticks.

In addition to riding it on backroads and interstate in dry conditions, I had a chance to ride both while it was raining. It handled the light (but steady) rain just fine.

After I get more miles on it, in a greater variety of condition, I'll report more.

Kevin

There’s a really tight left turn near the house that I enjoy taking at a bit above posted speeds. With the stock Dunlop I could detect a chattering or skipping when pushed hard. To me, this was probably an indication of the front tire losing traction. After a couple hundred break-in miles on the Avon I took the turn and was a bit surprised to notice a lack of chattering. In fact, the front end stuck like glue and I really, really had to hang on tight!

I do have one question. You do have the lift kit installed so I’m wondering what effect that may, or may not, have on the handling of the trike with the Avon given the center of gravity is probably tilted a bit more toward the front.

- Rick -

[DK Custom Products]

There’s a really tight left turn near the house that I enjoy taking at a bit above posted speeds. With the stock Dunlop I could detect a chattering or skipping when pushed hard. To me, this was probably an indication of the front tire losing traction. After a couple hundred break-in miles on the Avon I took the turn and was a bit surprised to notice a lack of chattering. In fact, the front end stuck like glue and I really, really had to hang on tight!

I do have one question. You do have the lift kit installed so I’m wondering what effect that may, or may not, have on the handling of the trike with the Avon given the center of gravity is probably tilted a bit more toward the front.

- Rick -

Yes, I have a Comfort Lift™ kit which has a few benefits, besides having more clearance for the pipes, and a bit smoother ride quality, it also makes for a bit easier steering, plus it puts more weight on the front tire...both for traction in the curves and for front wheel braking.

Kevin