Mike

My Scura should now be charged with attempted murder. This is a cry for help, so I'll cry and hope someone will help. My 02' Scura tried to kill me on Saturday. I've had it a year and 6k. It has 10.5 k on it and Bridgestone Battle Axes. I have turned the dampner up, way up. Logically, it cannot be from the dampner. From the get go I thought it was twitchy but I liked the quick steering. As I ride it harder, I noticed that on a hard upshift it would shake its head a bit as the front got lighter. I did not like this. Saturday, I was working through the gears on a slight up-grade and when I shifted into 5th or 6th, at about 110 mph, on a clean two lane Ontario road in the country, it began The Royal Tank Slapper. I mean a real one. If you have never experienced one of these, you really can't imagine how much fun they are on a public road with fence posts utility poles, traffic... I followed the Code method of resisting "survival" responses, kept my hands super light on the bars, - no help - I added a little throttle - no help and a sense that the famous last words ("oh shit") might be coming, I rolled off a bit worrying that putting some more weight on the front would make things worse and I'd be pitched off for sure, but it calmed down. The first words inside my helmet were something like "you m-f piece of ... I am killing you and selling what's left", but... I really love it... I also notice that on on and off ramps it wobbles in and out, like others notice. Has anyone experimented with dropping the clamps to allow some more fork tube on top? I don't see this as a dampening problem so much as it seems that across the board the bike squirms in turns unless you are super smooth and your steering inputs are made with your weight way forward. I do wonder about the tire selection. First - my sense is that the instability problem on V11s is that the front end is too light. Other people have written that they get the best handling by balls to the tank and I notice the same thing, and placing your head about over the switch gear while leaned over, better to steer more with the body than overt countersteer. Compared to my 93 Ducati 900SS, the Scura is a scary, nasty and unstable bike. I can't believe there is not some fundamental thing wrong here and hope someone has cured this problem. mike lebow

First - my sense is that the instability problem on V11s is that the front end is too light. Other people have written that they get the best handling by balls to the tank and I notice the same thing, and placing your head about over the switch gear while leaned over, better to steer more with the body than overt countersteer. But please read on - as my Scura should now be charged with attempted murder. This is both a reply and a cry for help, so I'll cry and hope someone will help. My 02' Scura tried to kill me on Saturday. I've had it a year and 6k. It has 10.5 k on it and Bridgestone Battle Axes. I have turned the dampner up, way up. Logically, it cannot be from the dampner. From the get go I thought it was twitchy but I liked the quick steering. As I ride it harder, I noticed that on a hard upshift it would shake its head a bit as the front got lighter. I did not like this. Saturday, I was working through the gears on a slight up-grade and when I shifted into 5th or 6th, at about 110 mph, on a clean two lane Ontario road in the country, it began The Royal Tank Slapper. I mean a real one. If you have never experienced one of these, you really can't imagine how much fun they are on a public road with fence posts utility poles, traffic... I followed the Code method of resisting "survival" responses, kept my hands super light on the bars, - no help - I added a little throttle - no help and a sense that the famous last words ("oh shit") might be coming, I rolled off a bit worrying that putting some more weight on the front would make things worse and I'd be pitched off for sure, but it calmed down. The first words inside my helmet were something like "you m-f piece of ... I am killing you and selling what's left", but... I really love it... I also notice that on on and off ramps it wobbles in and out, like others notice. Has anyone experimented with dropping the clamps to allow some more fork tube on top? I don't see this as a dampening problem so much as it seems that across the board the bike squirms in turns unless you are super smooth and your steering inputs are made with your weight way forward. I do wonder about the tire selection. Compared to my 93 Ducati 900SS, the Scura is a scary, nasty and unstable bike. I can't believe there is not some fundamental thing wrong here and hope someone has cured this problem. mike lebow