| Author | Message | ||
     Kakimoto |
Hey guys i've got bar wobble, at 80kph (50mph). I have the bars twitching constantly then it goes away as i speedup or slow down. My Uly has under 4k and am still on the ori dunlops. Tried rocking backwards and forwards to see head bearing is the cause. Seems tight. Suspension is on standard soft mode. I suspect tires but they still have many many miles left. Can anyone suggest a reason and better still a cure. The dealer is fully booked for the week and i'd like to know what to expect so i don't get ripped off! Many thanks | ||
| Swampy |
Tire pressure? Tires cupped? Steering head bearing adjustment. Look in that order, alot of times a if you run too little pressure in the front you will cup the front tire. | ||
| Ourdee |
Look at the 2 bolts on the lower left fork to make sure they are still there. That's the bolts that clamp the front axle to keep it from coming loose. remember the front axle is left hand thread. 4k and 5 years old are plenty of miles and age to have a tire problem. Is it left for extended cold periods on cold concrete? | ||
| Alchemy |
My first Uly came from the dealer with the bars slightly off center of the forks. You might want to be sure the bars are absolutely centered. I think it is 4 bolts to loosen and then carefully center and tighten to torque spec for your bike. I am not sure this is your problem but it might help short of changing front tires. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
You are on a 2006 and they came with Dunlop D616 tires of which that front tire is known for notorious cupping. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Dunflops. | ||
| Yamafreak |
Alchemy... Off center right or left? | ||
| Pontlee77 |
bar end weights solved me the problem with the dunflops. | ||
| Rwcfrank |
I had a similar problem with mine, I fixed it by wearing my non ventilated jacket. Believe it or not the puffy sleeves of my Firstgear "light" jacket caused enough flapping to cause a slight twitch or wobble at high speeds. Then one day I took out my old leather jacket and ran the bike up to 90 on a windy day and its was smooth as silk with no twitching. Dont take my word for it, give it a try. | ||
| Alchemy |
Yamafreak, That was in 2007 so I can't remember. The bars are crosshatched at the clamp point and it is pretty easy to get them centered by balancing the amount of crosshatching visible at each edge of the clamp. It is probably his tires as others have suggested but it just takes a second to check that the bars are centered. | ||
| Etennuly |
Mine did that when new. Never did it again after changing from the D616 front tire. | ||
| Gunut75 |
My 12R did it with the oem tires. Changed the tires, and WALLA! No more wobble. | ||
| Kakimoto |
many thanks for advice. i reckon tyres maybe problem. bike stood too long as i hardly had time to ride it on a few occassions, long stretches extending to a month at a time. i will change tyres to Pirelli ST's ? Also read about the Dunlop sportsmart which sounded good, tyre choice will on local suppliers in bahrain. thanks again. | ||
| Etennuly |
When my bike did the wobble with the then new Dunlop D616 front tire, I just learned to live with it after viewing things like what you have read here on BadWeB. As long as I knew what the problem was I could get comfortable with riding around it. I ran that tire to around 14,000 miles when it was squared off enough that it was stupid to have it on there. The wobble stopped happening for me at about 6,000 to 8,000 miles I guess when tread wear changed it's road following pattern. My point is, unless it is feeling terrible, or it makes you feel un-easy riding, it did not seem to hurt anything except that feeling at that speed. I would, and did run it through it's tread life with no ill effects. I know you are facing limited availability there, but here is the changes I made. My first tire in place of it was the Pirelli Scorpion Sync. It was a great tire that worked well all around and never wobbled at all. After two of these front tires at about 10,000 miles each, and I was getting about 6,000 on each rear, I switched to Michelin Pilot Road II tires. I paid about 20% more but got twice the mileage out of them. Their profile is different than the Syncs and I found that they turn in easier also. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
My first front tire (D616) got so badly cupped that I bounced all the way to one of the Homecomings and then back (1200 miles). Pure torture. When I finally changed it the bike seemed like brand new and I wondered why I had let my self suffer for so long. Actually just looking at that crappy tire it would seem that it had a ton of tread left on it, but under closer inspection you'd see the terrible cupping. (Message edited by electraglider_1997 on April 19, 2011) | ||
| Kakimoto |
Etennuly & Electrglider_1977, Many thanks again for your advice. I will have to live with this for a while as I need time to hunt down the tyres suppliers. At least now I have a few options from your valuable comments here. Have signed up for a group trip to Oman labour day weekend with the local HOG chapter. The roads there have a few more curves and if I get a chance to breakaway, some spirited riding will bring the joy back temporarily and make me forget about the wobbles. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Julian, Have a good time. | ||
| Uly_man |
My bike came with Scorps, always did it at around 80 mph and was a bit scary. I dialed most of it out with suspension set-up and was able to live with the rest. I then went on to Corsa 3s and it came back big time. Nothing I did was a help. I then took the hand guards off and it went away. I have had no problems since and the bike is a steady as a rock at 120 mph. I think the hand guards are creating a "wing" effect that makes the front end go light. Proper tire/suspension set-up is also needed as well. Give it a try it is free. The only hard part is freeing off the, cheese, mushroom bolts. They are mostly for show anyway. | ||
| Ourdee |
Could have altered the angle of attack for the hand guards. |
