Ditto.I had it happen to me on the Strom Gathering ride. I can only blame myself as I'd had the bike apart to do repairs and straighten the headlight frame. I could have sworn I'd Loctited them back in.
This is a known issue that has been discussed several times previously. It happened to me as well, just as you describe. Another forum member DID have the loose bolt jam into his steering stem! He safely got the bike to the side of the road.On a recent trip I noticed my windshield wobbling. When I stopped, I found that the whole front fairing assembly had a bit of play. It took a while to find what was wrong, but WOW, watch out.
There are two bolts on the front of the steering head to which the main fairing assembly attaches. On my bike (2008 650) one of these had fallen out, and the other one was only finger tight! What's worse, the one that had fallen out, had lodged itself in a place where it limited the range of motion of the steering! Could have been a disaster.
Maybe someone at the factory forgot to put Loctite on these, :thumbdown: or maybe the prior owner had removed them and not installed them with Loctite. If it's the former, then this could be a problem on other Strom's, too.
Man, this exact thing just happened to me this afternoon on my 2011 wee. This is REALLY messed up and REALLY dangerous. In my case the bolt fell into and jammed the steering stem, preventing me from turning left. It was very unnerving. My fairing has never been touched so it is definitely a factory issue flaw. Not only did one of the bolts completely back out and jam the steering but the other bolt was way loose. If this had happened last weekend while cruising various notch roads in the White Mountains, it could have been devastating.This is a known issue that has been discussed several times previously. It happened to me as well, just as you describe. Another forum member DID have the loose bolt jam into his steering stem! He safely got the bike to the side of the road.
Here are the two bolts that are the problem. Suzuki does not use threadlocker on them. ALL DL-650 owners SHOULD remove them and apply threadlocker to them!
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You aren't the only member here who had that same situation happen to you. Do you remember, "Graywolf", (Not GrEywolf)? He had the same EXACT thing happen to him. The bolt dropped out, and into the stem area, preventing him from turning the bike.Man, this exact thing just happened to me this afternoon on my 2011 wee. This is REALLY messed up and REALLY dangerous. In my case the bolt fell into and jammed the steering stem, preventing me from turning left. It was very unnerving. My fairing has never been touched so it is definitely a factory issue flaw. Not only did one of the bolts completely back out and jam the steering but the other bolt was way loose. If this had happened last weekend while cruising various notch roads in the White Mountains, it could have been devastating.
Definitely check the bolts -- frankly, Suzuki should consider a recall on this since death could be a likely outcome of this type of negligence.
pmk
I'll try that the next time I do a service. I did check the bolts a few weeks back when replacing the spark plugs and TPS.I remove these anytime I am working on the bike, it allows you to remove the fairing in one piece