MZ/MuZ Riders

My Baghira ,for the most part, makes me smile, however it has an alarming tendency to develop a rather disconcerting, and at times scary weave. This starts at around 85 and gets progressively worse where i have to back off at 90ish. I've tried the old 'riding through it' bit, ie giving it more gas, but it just gets worse. Any tips ? Tyre pressures, suspension settings ? The head bearings are not tight. It's an 04 with only 4k mls and the tyres are newish conti sm's.
Advice appreciated, Thanks.
Ian

Hi dozzy,

I had a Baghira a few years ago (I've worked my way through most of the range one way or another). It was at a time when I was into trailies, I had a Yam XT660 and a Kawa KLR650 around the same time too. I don't know how many 600-ish trailies you've had, but I always found that the ones with the high front mudguard tended to pick up a lot of air under them at high speed - making the front go light and "weavy". I never went at much over 80 on any of the trailies for exactly that reason - and the 600-650 singles tend to get a bit wheezy up there anyway.

Does your Baggie have the 21" trailie front wheel or the more normal sized road wheel setup? If it's the 21" setup it might just be "they all do that, sir" - try finding smaller, twistier, bumpier roads and enjoying the bike as it's designed to be enjoyed - it's never going to be the world's best motorway cruiser... If it's the normal road-wheel setup, there might be something sinister going on - I had a Mastiff as a courtesy bike for a day once and that handled "straighter" than the Baggy in most road conditions. That was half the fun of having the Baggy, persuading it to behave itself! A steering damper might help, but I never tried that.

I used to have the same problem. make sure your tire pressure is correct. Let me ask you this are you gripping the handle bars too tight? I used to experience head shake that way. When i started to lightly hold the handle bars and learn to steer with my foot pegs, hips and thighs It went away. According to my speedo I'm doing over 100mph I've seen it bouncing around 115 and on the New jersey turnpike there are a lot of obsticles to weave through.

...and sit your arse up there on the gas tank, gripping it with your thighs. I agree to be light on the bars, but put some weight up forward to help keep the front end down. Also, I swapped out the front fender with a slimmer Acerbis model, and I don't get as much lift on the fender at high speeds. Also agree that nearing triple digits (indicated--no way that bike in stock form is doing an actual 100mph when indicated--more like 85-90mph) is going to create a loose-ness in the front end that won't get helped much at that point without maybe a fork brace and stiffer springs...

Trust me Spew That S.O.B goes over 100MPH

ahhh grasshopper.....I said indicated. I've had my speedo well north of triple digits, but I also had my wife pacing me in her Acura with the GPS, and our MZ speedo is nowhere near accurate. I do realize I suggested it couldn't do 100mph "in stock form" and in retrospect that's not what I intended to say. You are more than right Mr. Panther--our bikes are easily capable of that mark, but we're really not there until the speedo is pushing 110mph or better (after you convert from kilometers).

Cheers!
Flip

I used to get a weave at higher speeds but dumping the stock front guard in favour of a smaller acerbis SM type, sitting with my spuds right up against the tank and relaxing my shoulders / grip on the bars (easier said than done with 100mph wind blast right in your chest ... a 6 pack like a Spartan from 300 would help) made it go away. Now rock steady at all speeds but I still avoid motorways if possible. The bike is much better suited to A and B road blasts .....more fun too.