Steering Wobble

[dll]

I had the same issue at only 5000 miles, front tire was scalloped, new tire = new bike ... I put a dunlop roadmaster on.

 

[ML-FJR13AE]

Mine wobbles more than most. It wobbles on a slow accel and on decel, especially between about 35 and 55 mph. I've checked everything I know. I have BT 021 up front which is a stock tire. It has about 4K miles on it and I already have I some slight cupping on the tire. I'm thinking thats my problem but not sure.

My bike has the exact same problem no matter the tire (I'm on my 5th set in only 22.000 miles because they cup). I just installed Avon Storms because a friend of mine has them on his 08 FJR. I rode his bike and it was awesome. Mine shales like crazy between 35 and 55 mph. I can barely hold it with both hands!

I'll post something later in this thread, which is very interesting.

 

[ML-FJR13AE]

Here's what I have been dealing with since 2006 when my AE was bought as new. I have the exact same problem with wobbling and wiggling. I went so far to sure the crap out of Yamaha who claimed they couldn't feel a thing riding my bike (everybody else who's been riding it could feel in noticably). All of the below in an effort to resolve the problem:

- Replaced Stearing Head Bearings and had them adjusted. (all by a Yamaha Mechanic)

- Replaced Pivot Shaft and Bearings

- Checked all Wheel Bearings

- Checked front brake calipers weren't dragging

- Gone through 5 sets of tires in 22.000 miles (Metzler Roadtec, BT016 and now Avon Storm ST - the latest SUCK on my bike; it's now ten-fold worse.

- Replaced front fork springs to Ohlins

- Replaced Rear Suspension to Ohlins

- Checked Front Fork Assembly (included stearing head coloumn)

- Checked Swing Arm

- Had the bike measured in a Computrack

- Checked motor mounts

- Checked Wheel Alignment

- Checked wheels are within spec

- Checked, checked, checked, checked, checked for 3 years now and still not found a solution.... It was 90% solved after I installed $3000 worth of Suspension.... It got 10 times worth when I installed Avon Storms :-(

BTW: don't even consider riding my bike with the trunk case or a passenger unless you want to crash.

All in all my bike have cost me apprx $28.000 - anybody who wants to buy it for $10.000 as is?

 

[dcarver]

You guys are killing me. :rofl:
A. This isn't your little sister's Schwinn. Stop taking your hands off the bar like you're going 10 mph.

B. A Dunlop Qualifier? That's enough, you don't need to say anything more. That's a SPORT tire. However it feels to you now, in 3k it won't matter because that tire will be toast or nearly so. Might as well go by a FZ-6 is that's all the riding you do.

C. BT-021 - It's been very well documented that the front 021s suck completely and wear poorly, cupping and uneven. Yes, it will wag the bars, especially in decel during the 55-35 mph more pronounced. The tire sucks.

D. If you must post about whiny crap like this, at least do a complete job the first time. Tire brand/type, psi in both tires, mileage on tire currently, load on the bike, two up or solo and how long you've had the bike in miles ridden.

BTW, if you take your hands off the bars long enough, you'll crash too. Is that a problem with the bike? Ding, ding, ding! No, it's a problem with the rider.

But I like taking my hands off the bars at 35-55 to take pix of the beautiful scenery.

Sometimes, even of You! :lol:

Most wobbles can be eliminated if you are willing to change suspension settings. I'm becoming less tolerant of this approach, as I have CrZy8 set up to ride on rails and shred tires. Example? I just ran a front PR2 front to the cords and sure it handled like **** for the last 500 miles. So what? What do you expect? Avon Storms are the handling cat's meow just plan on replacing them every 3,200 miles. No shake. Other tires have issues too.

I guess I should say that tires are not the only culprit. If you have loose/worn steering head bearings/rear linkage, tired fork bushings, clapped out stock OEM shock, then of course.. just sayin'.. :****:

 

[terrebandit]

I have not been here in a while but I ended up fixing my front-end wobble problem. First I tried to rebalance the stock tire and that didn't fix it. Then I bought a new tire (Shinko Raven) - still didn't fix it. Dismounted/reassembled the entire front end and suspension - still didn't fix it. Then I bought a PR2 with a totally different tread pattern, problem fixed. What a pleasure this bike is to ride now. Should have tried the new tread pattern first. :angry:

Dave

 

[RaYzerman19]

Agree with Carver, try dialing up the preload on the forks and put the stock rear shock on hard, tweak your compression/rebound settings as well (stiffer than the stock setup), especially if you weight more than 175. See if it goes away or is reduced. Tires are definitely a contributing factor, and should be inflated to at least 40/40. I don't think there's much advantage (from all I've read) to going with tapered head bearings, but whatever you have, make sure they are properly adjusted.

 

[garyahouse]

Thought I'd put in my two cents worth. I recently changed out my PR2 with 16k on it to a new PR3.

Now check this out: Immediately, and with absolutely no other changes to the bike, I have a side-to-side wobble from 39-45 mph. Outside that range, it's fine. The tire is smooth at any speed up to 85 mph (I rarely go over that speed). This issue here is the PR3. There was no shake with the PR2. Within minutes of installing the PR3, I discovered the shake. The service man that mounted and balanced it swears it was properly balanced, but he did put quite a bit of weight on the rim to get it right.

How bout that??

Gary

darksider #44

 

[Bounce]

They probably didn't work to get the high spot on the tire opposite the high spot on the rim. that's seldom something others will do for you but if you do it for yourself you can often balance the tire with little or not weights.

 

[GPRIDER]

I remember some head shake from the old Avon Azaros, but the Avon Storm ST tires I'm running now don't do that. My 95 Vmax had some low speed head shake with the ME880 tires. I replaced the front with a new ME880, but went from a 110 to a 100. Now the slow speed head shake is gone, but it now starts into a high speed wobble around 100 mph. The old tire was steady as a rock at that speed. Wierd stuff.

GP