Front Wobble

[Fred W]

Dave sells himself short. Within a little 1 hour's ride he can be in the Berserkshires of Western MA, Green Mountains of Vermont, or White Mountians of NH / ME.

Them are more curvy and bumpy roads than the Allegheny foothills of Western PA.

Now whether he choses to make that trek often or not, that is a whole 'nother question.

 

[russperry]

I've had the front end wobble on my '08 since i got it with the worst being during decel between 50 and 35 or so. Nothing seemed to fix it - bearings, new tires, re-balancing, air pressure, etc.... Last year I got the forks serviced (yes, I'm sorry to admit that Jason's fork adventure convinced me to never try that myself) and since then the wobble is nearly completely gone. I don't have a technical explanation or logic behind it - I just know that i can go hands-free in the previous bad zone and the bars stays steady. All they did on the service order was refresh fluid and replace seals so there' no clear indicator, but I'm happy that its gone.

 

[SLK50]

Proper component assembly and installation is paramount to

good handling. The kind of assembly you get after a rebuild

where each component is carefully aligned and properly

torqued by a conscientious installer.

This goes a long way to eliminating front end wobble.

 

[redneckj]

My Wobble story. I bought my 2010 brand new in August of 12. I took it back to the dealer several times for the wobble issue. The dealer finally took off the stock tires and put on a set of PR3's. Wobble gone. When the tire was getting about 1/2 wore out the wobble started to return. I have fought the decel wobble for quite some time. After the pr3's were used up, i went to Angel GT's The wobble was no better and no worse than with the PR3's. At this point with my Angel GT front at about 7000 miles the Wobble has gotten really bad on decel 50-40 mph.

Today, I replaced my stock head bearings with the All Balls tapered head bearing kit. I left the wore out Angel GT tire on the bike to see if the head bearings would fix my issue. BINGO, NO MORE WOBBLE!!!! Finally its gone. Even with a wore out Angel GT on the front. What a relief.

Now I can move on to another tire test. The Metzeler Sportec M7 RR.

https://www.metzeler.com/site/com/products/tyres-catalogue/Sportec-M7RR.html

 

[Queensland Ken]

It's the best $45 you can spend !

 

[Fred W]

This wobble thing is way overblown in importance

I understand it is annoying when the bars shake so much that you can feel it in your hand(s) during deceleration. That was how it was for me with the budget ContiMotion front tire on my '05 last summer. I removed that tire with more than 1/2 of its life remaining and put on a 1/2 worn BT023GT in its place. (by the way, that Conti sits in my storage shed for anyone that wants the thing)

But, if the only time it wobbles is when you take your hands off the handle bars, which is how it tends to be with 1/2 worn / scalloped tires, there is a very simple solution; keep your friggen hands on the bars! That's why they call them handle bars.

 

[rbentnail]

My Wobble story. I bought my 2010 brand new in August of 12. I took it back to the dealer several times for the wobble issue. The dealer finally took off the stock tires and put on a set of PR3's. Wobble gone. When the tire was getting about 1/2 wore out the wobble started to return. I have fought the decel wobble for quite some time. After the pr3's were used up, i went to Angel GT's The wobble was no better and no worse than with the PR3's. At this point with my Angel GT front at about 7000 miles the Wobble has gotten really bad on decel 50-40 mph.
Today, I replaced my stock head bearings with the All Balls tapered head bearing kit. I left the wore out Angel GT tire on the bike to see if the head bearings would fix my issue. BINGO, NO MORE WOBBLE!!!! Finally its gone. Even with a wore out Angel GT on the front. What a relief.

Now I can move on to another tire test. The Metzeler Sportec M7 RR.

https://www.metzeler.com/site/com/products/tyres-catalogue/Sportec-M7RR.html

Mine was the same way- 1/2 tire wear = wobble. It eventually got to the point that replacing the tire didn't make the wobble go away. Replacing the steering bearings did.

It's the best $45 you can spend !

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