2020 RT. New w/unbalanced wheels

ramble said:

It could be the engine, I just completed a 2,300 mi ride and numb hands from the vibes. I had no problem with that on my 2014 RT except when the tires were new but they broke in within 500 mi. I guess the best start would be checking the balance.

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Never in my 37 years of riding have I ever had an out of balance front tire could vibration that was numbing, and I've had some front tires that were out. It's almost like a shimmy or throbbing. That doesn't mean it can't happen I reckon. Like PGlaves said, if you pull in the clutch at the speed the vibration is at it's worst, and the vibration persists, then something is very wrong with the front tire or wheel.

An out of round wheel or rim will not cause vibration like this in my experience. I damaged three wheel on some of my old oilheads so bad that you could feel it in the bars. Nasty potholes + oilhead soft rims. The result was not so much a vibration as it was wobbling handlebars. Take your hands off the bars and you can see the wobble in the bars.

I have a 2019 R1250RT and it's the smoothest bike I have ever owned by a wide margin. I have owned R100s, R1100s, a R1150, K100 and a hexhead R1200 (previously my smoothest ever). If the motor is causing a vibration that is numbing you hands, I would say something is wrong. The 1250s are a quite a bit smoother that the 1200s they replaced from what I hear. Since I've never ridden a wethead 1200, I don't know form personal experience. My 1250 has it's own sweet spots where it is nearly dead smooth like a K1600, but in the other spots, the engine vibration never, ever comes close to being numbing.

Unbalanced Michelin Tires

Michelin has recommend for years that you do mot have to balance the tire because they are perfectly balance from the factory. I confronted them at a rally and they said the same thing. I explained that I had use Michelin tires for years on my RT and every tire I changed required a different weight to balance it. So the rim didn't change? They still are saying the same thing but I don't believe them at all so I switched manufactures.

105258 said:

Michelin has recommend for years that you do mot have to balance the tire because they are perfectly balance from the factory. I confronted them at a rally and they said the same thing. I explained that I had use Michelin tires for years on my RT and every tire I changed required a different weight to balance it. So the rim didn't change? They still are saying the same thing but I don't believe them at all so I switched manufactures.

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I have balanced wheels without tires mounted. When I do this I mark the "permanent" weights with a distinctive marking - usally a dot of red paint. These weights stay on the wheel. Then when I mount new tires very often I do not need to add any corrective weights. Sometimes I do though, and occasionally it seems like a lot of weight. My mind doesn't do grams well so I can't say for sure.

Michelin Road 5’s set up a very significant vibration in my 2016 RT if that’s the tire you’re running. I recommend balancing your current tire, and going with Dunlop Road Smart IV’s or Perrelli Angels GT’s in the future. I’ve had very good luck with either of these tires.

Got the wheel balanced at an old reliable independent tire shop today. It needed weights. .75 I really haven't noticed an improvement in the vibration, so it must be the 1250 engine vs the smaller different engine on the 2014 RT that I rode 20k+ miles. going with new gloves and watching the posture/wrist position.