So my bike is a 2022 I bought about 5 months ago. It is in excellent condition and had about 1,200 miles -- had been sitting for a while in a garage/barn in VA and I had it shipped to TX. Went through it pretty thoroughly using the shop manual (I've been working on my own bikes for 30 years and have technician training but wouldn't call myself a "master" mechanic). On receiving the bike noticed the front tire was very low (like around 12 psi or something), filled it up and it would slowly leak over several days, but never back to 12 psi). Checked all the usual suspects, wheel straight/no bend, valve doesn't leak, etc.
The reason I bring this up is because when I'm ... riding in Mexico ... and hit about 120-130 or so the bike starts getting a nice vibe that feels exactly like the other front end/unbalanced tire vibes I've experienced over the years. I throttle down and it goes away. Every time at that speed, vibe comes back. Steering stem/bearings all seem to be in spec and operating as expected. The PO did tell me he added Ride-On to both wheels for "puncture insurance." I've had that in some of my bikes and never had issues, but also never got to ride them ... in Mexico. Also, both wheels have the OEM clip-on weights on them, as well.
After thinking it through, my hypothesis is the front tire may have developed a flat spot or slight deformation from sitting in the cold for a few winters with an extremely low front tire. This may alse be why it was so low -- slow leaking through the bead/rim area. At normal speeds the defect doesn't show up, but at Mexican highway speeds the defect produces enough harmonic or cyclic force to show up as a vibration. Note, it isn't a tank slapper or the beginning of one. I've had tank slappers, this isn't that.
I've bought a replacement set of tires (Battlax S23 Hypersports) -- I had planned to replace the OEM tires soon anyway since they're four years old and were obviously hot/freezing cycled for a few years. Also, they had major chicken strips on both sides that were still waxy/hard from the factory. I don't use this bike for scratching (I do corner quickly just not interested in "getting my knee down" anymore). Problem is, my Ninja 1100SX needs tires (at least in terms of tread depth) more than my ZX-14R and I could spoon them on that bike while wearing out the crappy OEM tires on the ZX-14R. I guess I could just look at the front-end vibe as a built-in speed limiter. Ha.
Any thoughts on this situation from the OGs here?
* Last updated by: bmw111 on 10/30/2026 @ 12:32 PM *
