Quad road instability

[Rob Young]

Hi all.  

New to the world of quads. Recently got a Basham 200cc.  

I am expecting a problem with road stability. When I get up to anything above 30mph on any road the bike will randomly pull either, into the left or right and I have to constantly fight to keep the thing straight. It’s totally unpredictable and have had a couple of close calls. I have checked play in the steering, ball joints, wheels, tyre pressure etc. Can’t figure out what’s causing it. I’ve speculated that the road camber May have something to do with it but like I mentioned I’m new to the quad world and maybe this is normal but any advice anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated as at the moment I’m too nervous to take it out on the road. 

Thanks. 

[Frank Angerano]

When you say road are you referring to asphalt ? 

Quad stability on open roads like asphalt are not really in my opinion stable in any circumstance.  Nothing is high speed balanced like a car tire would be.  So in my experience bikes I’ve ridden on asphalt always have pulled one way or another.  

Your bike however may have a lighter front end which results in the front end coming up a bit when you accelerate. 

Try to swap the front tires and see if the condition reverses and pulls the other way. Is one tire worn more then the other ? 

Take a good look at the frame to see that it was never crashed and repaired like welding work done etc.   look at the shocks and see that there’s are compressing properly.

Things perform differently at higher speeds. 

 

[Rob Young]

Thanks for the advice dude. 

[JacobSlabach]

sounds like wheels bearings to me- both sides.  they are binding up causing a drag randomly on one side of the quad or the other.

[Freezeman]

you might also try a front end alignment, stringing the rear end square to the front end with 1/8" toe out for the LF and RF.