Bad Font End Shake
 

I did some fairly high speed riding on I80 yesterday. When I'd go into either a right or left high speed turn I started to notice a little shake from the handle bars. Like the front end was out of balance. Nothing real bad, I just didn't want to push it any harder than I was. Coming home I took some back roads that were a lot more twisty. Whenever I'd hit any kind of bump in a tight turn (anywhere between 20 - 50mph) I would definitely feel the shake. Much worse that on the freeway. I didn't feel like the wobble you get when the back tire is out of adjustment either. This "shake" was not there the weekend before.

Heres where I'm at:

The chain adjustment is dead on.
All three rotors are flat as hell.
Rear shock and swing arm are tight as hell.
Took the tires in to have them balanced. Did the same stretch today and the problem is still there.
The triple clamp is tight on the forks and there's no wiggle when the front end is off the ground and you try to move the forks.

Maybe change the fork oil and see if it goes away? It definitely feels front end related although it still could be coming from the rear. Any ideas on what else to check?

saying it only happens after a bump sounds like suspension too me. maybe its too stiff or the rebound is too slow.

Might be time for a fork brace.

Sounds like the steering head bearings could be shot.....

did you follow the correct procedure for tightening the front axle? are your tires mounted on the rim evenly, that is are the little lines a couple mm from the rim edge/ tire bead even all the way around on both sides? Lift your front wheel, turn your wheel and feel your front tire surface carefully for imperfections. Pull your calipers and determine whether all the pistons are working evenly. Clean them up so you can see how they are working. If you're running 36psi in your front tire. lessen it to 30 and see how it feels, Check you sag front and rear, and make certain that when you bounce on the seat the front and rear are moving up and down evenly. Check triples and fork clamps and then bearings and races. you asked for ideas right.

Wow, then change your underwear cuz that could distribute wieght on the seat unevenly. Actually the only thing left out was wheel bearings. That would cause this. How worn are the tires. I had a similar problem that disappeared after tire replacement

I jacked the front tire off the ground and there doesn't seem to be any play at all, although I can't apply nearly as much pressure as when the suspension is under load. Is there a way to check them other than the "wiggle test"?

It occurs after a bump in the lower speed tight stuff and "just happens" at higher sweeping turns. Could old fork oil be causing this? Maybe gunk in the dampening valves? Does gunk form in the forks with old fork oil? I changed it last winter and I have about 4k miles on it this summer.

Talking about brain vapor lock, I didn't check the tire pressures. Dugh, that seems like a pretty obvious oversight. It wouldn't hurt to replace my pads now so I'll give the breaks a once over while I'm at it. I do like the ideas I get on this forum! A second opinion never hurts:D

I was thinking that also but if they were bad it should have been caught when he pulled the front wheel. Another way to figure out if it's the wheel bearings is if it feels like you need to pump up the front brakes when you use them. A wobbling front wheel will push the brake pads bad into the calipers.

As for fork oil, nope that isn't it. The stuff doesn't just go bad overnight. I'm not saying you shouldn't change it but I really don't think it's your problem.

I would still check the wheel bearings, lift the front end and see if you have any play in the wheel. Then to check the head bearings, put the front wheel against a wall, hold the front brake and push on the bike to see if you can feel them move.

Sorry for the encylopedic answer, but whenever you have a problem like this, you pretty much have to become a bit obsessive in terms of determination with the attitude that you will find the problem, and this means looking carefully at everything. Really you need to check all these things anyway for your own safety and enlightenment. I assume you don't have a forkbrace installed.

Headshake pretty much ruins the experience of turning/leaning which to me is pretty much everything. One thing to try after you adjust the sag is to stand beside the bike with your hands on the clip-ons, brake engaged, and push forks down firmly, and then lighten up and let them rebound. Can you feel any hesitation resistance on rebound? Both forks should be adjusted equally so it's best to start by adjusting in the rebound equally on both forks so that there is a definite slow rebound of the forks, keep pushing and adjusting less rebound til you feel a reduced rebound resistance. Once there is no more perceptible rebound, you're close. Now go the other way and adjust in more rebound a little at a time until you can fell/see a little rebound resistance and try this setting. that's where i like mine.

Well while this is all well and good, he did say in his first post that the bike didn't have this problem last week. So unless he went out and tweeked the adjusters in that time, I wouldn't think suspension adjustment is causing his problem.

So IMHO it sounds like you either had a wheel bearing or the steering head bearings go bad.

I presume that you have considered what you are doing as well? If you are putting too much weight on the bars through your wrists, it will unsettle things.

Don't also forget to check front to rear alignment.

For me, I got mild headshake with a combination of having the rear squatting too much on hard acceleration and me getting nervous and gripping the bars too hard.

A local Honda dealer has a set of front bearings / dust covers in stock. I'm gonna replace them tonight and give it a whirl. Kind of expensive ($60) for what you get, but if it solves the problem cool. If it doesn't then a future problem averted.

Just as an FYI my tire pressure was a little low. Pumping the tire up helped a little (very little).

Well just throwing parts at it before you figure out the cause of the problem really isn't a good way to go.

Do you have a front end stand? If so put the bike on the stands and firts see if you can rock the front wheel. Also when you loose a front wheel bearing it can and usually feeling like you have a lot of brake fade as the wobble of the wheel causes the pistons to get pushed back into the calipers and you have to pump them back out for the brakes to work.

If the wheel feels good, grab the bottom of the forks and try to pull them to you and also push them back to see if there is any movement, if there is tighten them. Also, if you have the stock steering head bearings, the steering will feel a bit notchy around the center if you have damaged the races.

If everything looks and feels good, check the rear wheel bearings.

It's always best to know what is wrong before you replace any parts. ;)

I had a bit of front end 'loosness', I noticed it in lowspeed turns and when I went over little bumps like you are, I checked the front tire pressure it was only 25, so I filled it to 37, and now I don't feel the looseness. And I really didn't notice it until after I had added air to the rear tire to get to proper psi.

My two cents. :)

I'm with you on that. The bearings seem like the might be kinda hard critters to get ahold of so I grabbed them. I'll give your tests a shot before I replace the bearings. Oh, I do have a front wheel stand too.

all you have to do to check the wheel bearings is remove the wheel, stick your finger in the axle hole and move the bearing back and forth. If it is bad, you will detect roughness, if it is good it will be free and smooth. Check both sides. Buy bearings from All Balls who also have steering head bearings. But like 8541, I agree that it's unwise to start buying shit before you know what's what, and that's why you should take this opportunity to check everything so you can learn what's what and for future reference safety-wise.

That's exactly the point. We don't what he did or didn't do because many things are lost in this type of communication. It could be a single problem or a combination of factors. When you have a problem like this, you may as well use the opportunity to check your bike over real good and learn how to maintain, adjust, and set components up. If you're unable or unwilling to try to understand how these things work, then it's time to take it to someone who does.

Get new tires. Take two aspirin - report back in the morning. Balancing spent tires is only balancing spent tires.

I followed your instructions for checking the bearings and when I move the left side bearing back and forth it does feel rough as hell. I'll throw in the bearings I bought and see what that does. Hopefully all will be well in hawkville by tomorrow night.

well that's something that needs repaired anyway, huh. If you don't have a manual, you can download one. Over-tightening the wheel can waste the bearings, so torque to specs and follow the correct procedure for aligning the forks.

I replaced the front bearings last night and took the bike on the same roads as I did on Sunday and the problem has gone away. Thank God. Wobbles can remove all confidence in a hurry. I want to thank everyone that participated in this post. The help was invaluable.. I now feel like I have a Phd. in superhawk handling problems and their remedies. Now as they say... I need to go forth with my knowledge and make the world a better place:)

Yes grasshopper, but you should still get the all balls tapered roller head bearings & put them in. Really improves front end feel & really shudda been in as stock.

I know you wite boy. That's on the list for this winter fo show. :D