[Sflynn]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Check the easy stuff first;

1. Check tire pressure
2. ****Check chain slack****
3. Bounce the bike to look/listen/feel for suspension movement
4. Lift the wheels and give them a spin checking bearings, for missing wheel spacers and overall tire condition
5. Check for a dragging front brake, rotors for warping and leaky fork seals while you got the front wheel in the air
6. Check rear rotor for warping and swingarm main bolt while you got the rear in the air
7. Check top and bottom motor mount bolts
8. Check steering stem nut and general triple clamp tightness
9. Put a zip tie on your upper fork leg and check for bottoming out and proper travel

Now the hard stuff or stuff that will cost you more time and/or $$$.

1. Check fork legs for straightness
2. Check for proper fork oil consistency and level
3. Check spring rate (front and rear)
4. Check rear shock
5. If all else fails, get a new set of tires if they are even remotely close to suspect

Hmmmmmmmm, gut feeling here. On left side, while only at lean.... Has the bike been sitting on the side stand for a long time without moving it? Outside? With 0/low tire pressure and in the cold? aka, check for flat spots on the tires.

Welcome and good luck, please don't forget to follow up when you solve the problem. Pay it forward ya know.



EDIT: Has the bike ever been down? And if so, what side?

Hmmmmm the cold theory does make sense. We had a brutally cold winter up here with a few weeks where the temperatures rarely got above -20°C although the tires always had air in them and whenever it was above -10 if the roads were dry I would take her out to keep things from sitting. Hell one day out of a ram 1500 and Kia Soul the only thing that would start was the ninja. Otherwise the suspension feels okay, front brake could very likely be dragging and the swing arm linkage has probably seen better days even though it feels like it’s still working properly. It has been down twice on the right side, both times at a standstill in the driveway when I was first learning but it’s been shiny side up for well over a year and I haven’t noticed this until much more recently.
I will torque all the major bolts and see if that helps at all.