1995 ST1100 Heavy steering

[Freddyk56]

I have a quick question regarding a 1995 ST1100 low speed steering, i have just purchased a 1995 ST1100, just love this bike except at low speed it feels like the front tire air pressure was low, i dont know if this is normal as i am coming from a 2015 Harley Road Glide that was doing this same thing if the front tire pressure was low, any ideas or maybe the bike is designed that way?

 

[Ron]

Low air pressure will cause that sluggish feeling. I think Honda says 36 f and 43 r air pressure.

 

[Freddyk56]

Low air pressure will cause that sluggish feeling. I think Honda says 36 f and 43 r air pressure.

Thank you will check and let you know

 

[Larry Fine]

Freddy, welcome to the forum.

First, are the tire treads nice and round, with good tread depth, or are they beveled with a flat center?

Second, the majority of us 1100 riders go for 42F and 44-46R, depending on your riding weight.

Third, you should adjust the rear suspension. The higher the rear, the quicker and easier the steering.


When I first got my first ST, it handled really poorly for me. It resisted steering effort and fought being leaned over. Plus, the tires were very interstate-worn, very flat in the middle. But it did come with a Traxxion Dynamics built fork and a Progressive shock/spring. (Thanks, Robbie!)

As I weigh more than the previous owner, I raised the rear suspension about 1/2" on the shock body, which translates to about 3/4" at the rear axle. The steering improvement was immediately felt and was dramatic. It leaned over and came back up with gentle counter-steering.

Then I put on new tires (Bridgestone T-31s). It was so twitchy and unstable that I was sure I would have to lower the rear end back down a little. But, by the time I got home, I got used to it, and never re-adjusted it. It still responds predictably to light steering effort like a dream.

 

[TerryS]

If the back tyre is the easily-obtained but non standard 160/60 profile rather than the standard 160/70, the rear of the bike sits 16mm lower making the steering slower and making it harder to put onto the centrestand.

 

[dwalby]

one other thing that's not as likely, but could also explain it, is if the previous owner mis-adjusted the steering stem bearings and they're too tight.

 

[Roger]

Bike on thr centre stand - get someone to sit way back on the saddle so the front wheel is in the air. Swing the wheel side-to-side and see how the stem bearings feel. OEM balls may have got 'notchy', roller bearings may be tight.

 

[Upt' North]

I don't know what tyre you're running on the front but I suspect that may be the issue?
Once you've done all the above, if you're not running new radial rubber then a swap to Bridgestone T32's should sharpen things up. Personally I always ran standard pressures on the latest available tyres with no issues until the tyres got worn. Once worn they could get slow.
Upt.

 

[ST1100Y]

I think Honda says 36 f and 43 r air pressure.

Considering the OP is from Canada, hence not in the medieval system, 2.5 & 2.9 Bar F/R seems more informative...

Besides worn, wrong, underinflated front (and rear!) tire I'd also check:
- head bearings
- wheel bearings (if badly worn they can cause weird issues...)
- fork bushings and bottoms (frequent fork oil replacement is often neglected...)
One can check all of above by placing bike on main-stand, asking someone to lean on the carrier stay so the rear wheel sits on the ground, and grab/shake/swivel the front end...

Also setting/condition of rear shock will affect handling...

And I'd post what make/model/dimension of tires are on...

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Considering the OP is from Canada, hence not in the medieval system, 2.5 & 2.9 Bar F/R seems more informative...

Not to any Canadian whom I know or have ever met. Most would have no idea how much pressure that is.

 

[STFlips]

I prefer units of bar over that damned kilo/pascals. Bar is a simple conversion to psi. (and besides, Pascal's closed years ago )

 

[Sadlsor]

With all this good info, I'll just drop in to say Welcome from Alabama, Freddy.

You're in the right place to find out about your ancient iron. (And rubber.)

 

[Slydynbye]

Tire shops will routinely put 36 psi in the tires which is not enough. Minimum 38 front 42 rear

 

[Al st1100]

If your tire pressure is good and your not used to the bike , maybe thats the way it is. It's a heavy bike that's a bit top heavy but once your rolling there should be no problem.

 

[TerryS]

I prefer units of bar over that damned kilo/pascals. Bar is a simple conversion to psi. (and besides, Pascal's closed years ago )

1 Bar = 100 kPa so not a tricky conversion, and 1 Bar = 14.5 psi. As a metrically-inclined human, I still don't have a feel for tyre pressure in Bar and will probably continue to show my age with psi.
Don't get me started on the terrible metric/imperial confusion that is tyre sizing: width = mm, diameter = inches! *****?

 

[Larry Fine]

I know how to convert temperature between F and C.

 

[St-Gerard]

Grow up using SAE measurements,of course in about 82 Canada went Metric! Found it's safer to stay with either system and not try converting from one to the other, and I only buy duel Measuring tapes.

 

[Oldbikefixr]

I know how to convert temperature between F and C.

Engineering/physics classes fixed that for me as well. Had one prof who would mix units in his test problems.....no notes permitted. His point was that we would likely cooperate with other nations on projects, particularly aerospace, and we didn't need to be seen as the problem.

 

[STFlips]

Grow up using SAE measurements,of course in about 82 Canada went Metric! Found it's safer to stay with either system and not try converting from one to the other, and I only buy duel Measuring tapes.

I think a lot of us older folks are stuck between the two systems. I set my house thermostat in C but my oven in F. I travel in kilometers and people ask me what MPG I get. Sigh..

 

[dwalby]

I agree with St-Gerard, if you just use one system and forget about the other system entirely, in a fairly short time the new system feels comfortable and the old system is no longer needed. The problem is most people don't seem to want to do that, and the countries who have converted to metric over the last 50 years have only done a partial conversion (or in the case of the US, no conversion at all). I experimented with this many years ago with Celsius temperatures. After a month or two I could walk outside and "feel" the temperature in Celsius and didn't need to do a conversion from Fahrenheit to get there.

a 10 year old kid anywhere in the world can speak a language fluently, and understands the metric system. A 50 year old trying to learn a new language and convert from Imperial to metric is confused.