So my last post was five years ago, asking for advice on a remodel of my '11 DL650. Life and supply chains being what they were at that time, I managed two of the items on that list: LED turn signals and new tires.
The tires I ordered were yet another set of Metzler Tourance. The tires the garage installed were Metzler Tourance NEXT. I was not happy, but I had meant to try them anyway, and I wasn't in the mood to argue in the early plague days. But I was not a fan of the NEXT. It was fine on pavement, but terrible on anything loose - even just a typical gravel road.
Before I could swap rubber again, I got a chance to buy a bucket list bike at a bargain price. I kept the Wee while testing the new purchase, and in back-to-back rides, I learned that the pavement experience wasn't great either. Specifically, when initiating a turn, the lean-in wasn't smooth. I'd start to lean, and then the lean would suddenly accelerate, and I'd catch it to finish the corner. How long had that been the case?
I began reading through a number of posts here, and learned of the bearing test: with the front wheel off the ground, start the steering at one lock and move it slowly to the other. It should move smoothly the whole way. I started at one lock, and just a few degrees off of center, the handle bar pulled away from my finger, falling into a notch solid enough to feel like the detent on a tool's adjustment knob. That pretty much settled it: my steering bearings were shot. I'd love to blame it on the same shop that put on the wrong tires, but my real guess is that it happened slowly over the bike's nearly 70,000 miles, and I just adapted to it until it was nearly unbearable (unbearing-able? (sorry)).
I followed advice in additional threads on finding new bearings, and made the decision to upgrade to tapered roller bearings. I ordered them, got distracted for a year, and then finally got around to installing them this week. My Wee drives great again. We're having a bit of a wet spell, so I haven't re-tested the off-pavement performance, but on pavement, all of the non-linear lean-in is gone - it drives just great once again.
Major thanks to @Brockie for archiving Black Lab's guide to replacing these bearings. I have the official service manual for this bike, and it was still incredibly helpful to read someone's independent review of doing the work at home.
I also have a few notes to share from my own experience:
First, in regards to the tool for removing and installing the castle nuts on the steering stem. Making the tool from a bit of pipe worked, and was cheap. But if I were going to make it again, I'd try to find a deep-well 32-33mm socket. It was really annoying to not have an easy way to check the torque on those nuts. I did some math and juggling with a monkey wrench and a spring scale. Cutting up a socket might double or triple the price of the tool, but that would still be half of what Partzilla lists the correct MotionPro castle nut socket for.
Second, for removing the lower inner race from the stem, skip the chisel and go straight for the Dremel. I ground two notches in mine - one inline with the stem, and the other 30-ish degrees across the first. While I was deciding whether I needed to cut more or stick something in to pry at the cuts, I heard a "ping". The race had cracked right along the cuts, I'm sure as it cooled and shrank after the grinding. It slid of with just a little light prying after that.
Third, in regards to the tools for bashing the races and bearings into place. None of the pipe bits described in Black Lab's guide worked at all for me. Hammering on the end of any significant length of cylinder like that just wouldn't move the bearing at all beyond a certain point. What did work for me was tapping around the race/bearing. For the new races in the steering head, I started them using a block of wood as a drift. When they got down far enough, I grabbed one of the old races, flipped it over, placed it into the recess, and set the drift against it instead. For the new bearing on the stem, I went directly to setting the old race against it. The narrow end of the old race was well inside the cage holding the new bearings. In both cases, the old race ended up stuck on/in, but just a light tap dislodged it.
Fourth, setting the steering tension was a matter of luck. Without the ability to follow the prescribed torque settings, and reading many comments about how those settings are probably wrong for this style of bearing anyway, I did it this way:
1. Tighten the steering tension nut a just little over hand-tight (technically hand-tight because I was using my hand, but I was working at it). Rack the steering back and forth several times to spread grease and set the bearings. I did this a couple times, because while racking the steering, I thought I could see the nut loosen.
2. After the last hand-tightening, loosen the nut just a bit. I think I went less than 1/8 turn. The manual says loosen 1/4 turn after an initial set of, iirc, 32.5ft.lbs. I'm sure I didn't get it that tight to start, so I didn't loosen it that much.
3. Install the lock washer and lock nut. Check tension with a scale, as described. I ended up on the high end of the spec, closer to 500g to initiate turning. This seemed better than too loose to me.
4. Torque the lock nut. This seemed to raise the force needed to initiate a turn just a bit. A little over 500g instead of a little under. I decided to proceed with a test ride before fiddling with my poor tools any longer.
On the test ride, I was completely surprised that the steering didn't feel heavy at all. Maybe my hands still remembered what it felt like to push out of that notch, but if anything the steering felt light. Not sloppy or loose, though, so I proceeded with more testing. As far as I can tell, it's great. No wobbles at any speed. No stiffness in turning.
And so, my Wee is back on the road. In fact, after sitting untouched for over a year, it started right up without any fuss at all for the test ride. These are such great bikes. Now I just need to wait for the rain to stop, so I can go find out how Tourance NEXT are supposed to feel on gravel.
The tires I ordered were yet another set of Metzler Tourance. The tires the garage installed were Metzler Tourance NEXT. I was not happy, but I had meant to try them anyway, and I wasn't in the mood to argue in the early plague days. But I was not a fan of the NEXT. It was fine on pavement, but terrible on anything loose - even just a typical gravel road.
Before I could swap rubber again, I got a chance to buy a bucket list bike at a bargain price. I kept the Wee while testing the new purchase, and in back-to-back rides, I learned that the pavement experience wasn't great either. Specifically, when initiating a turn, the lean-in wasn't smooth. I'd start to lean, and then the lean would suddenly accelerate, and I'd catch it to finish the corner. How long had that been the case?
I began reading through a number of posts here, and learned of the bearing test: with the front wheel off the ground, start the steering at one lock and move it slowly to the other. It should move smoothly the whole way. I started at one lock, and just a few degrees off of center, the handle bar pulled away from my finger, falling into a notch solid enough to feel like the detent on a tool's adjustment knob. That pretty much settled it: my steering bearings were shot. I'd love to blame it on the same shop that put on the wrong tires, but my real guess is that it happened slowly over the bike's nearly 70,000 miles, and I just adapted to it until it was nearly unbearable (unbearing-able? (sorry)).
I followed advice in additional threads on finding new bearings, and made the decision to upgrade to tapered roller bearings. I ordered them, got distracted for a year, and then finally got around to installing them this week. My Wee drives great again. We're having a bit of a wet spell, so I haven't re-tested the off-pavement performance, but on pavement, all of the non-linear lean-in is gone - it drives just great once again.
Major thanks to @Brockie for archiving Black Lab's guide to replacing these bearings. I have the official service manual for this bike, and it was still incredibly helpful to read someone's independent review of doing the work at home.
I also have a few notes to share from my own experience:
First, in regards to the tool for removing and installing the castle nuts on the steering stem. Making the tool from a bit of pipe worked, and was cheap. But if I were going to make it again, I'd try to find a deep-well 32-33mm socket. It was really annoying to not have an easy way to check the torque on those nuts. I did some math and juggling with a monkey wrench and a spring scale. Cutting up a socket might double or triple the price of the tool, but that would still be half of what Partzilla lists the correct MotionPro castle nut socket for.
Second, for removing the lower inner race from the stem, skip the chisel and go straight for the Dremel. I ground two notches in mine - one inline with the stem, and the other 30-ish degrees across the first. While I was deciding whether I needed to cut more or stick something in to pry at the cuts, I heard a "ping". The race had cracked right along the cuts, I'm sure as it cooled and shrank after the grinding. It slid of with just a little light prying after that.
Third, in regards to the tools for bashing the races and bearings into place. None of the pipe bits described in Black Lab's guide worked at all for me. Hammering on the end of any significant length of cylinder like that just wouldn't move the bearing at all beyond a certain point. What did work for me was tapping around the race/bearing. For the new races in the steering head, I started them using a block of wood as a drift. When they got down far enough, I grabbed one of the old races, flipped it over, placed it into the recess, and set the drift against it instead. For the new bearing on the stem, I went directly to setting the old race against it. The narrow end of the old race was well inside the cage holding the new bearings. In both cases, the old race ended up stuck on/in, but just a light tap dislodged it.
Fourth, setting the steering tension was a matter of luck. Without the ability to follow the prescribed torque settings, and reading many comments about how those settings are probably wrong for this style of bearing anyway, I did it this way:
1. Tighten the steering tension nut a just little over hand-tight (technically hand-tight because I was using my hand, but I was working at it). Rack the steering back and forth several times to spread grease and set the bearings. I did this a couple times, because while racking the steering, I thought I could see the nut loosen.
2. After the last hand-tightening, loosen the nut just a bit. I think I went less than 1/8 turn. The manual says loosen 1/4 turn after an initial set of, iirc, 32.5ft.lbs. I'm sure I didn't get it that tight to start, so I didn't loosen it that much.
3. Install the lock washer and lock nut. Check tension with a scale, as described. I ended up on the high end of the spec, closer to 500g to initiate turning. This seemed better than too loose to me.
4. Torque the lock nut. This seemed to raise the force needed to initiate a turn just a bit. A little over 500g instead of a little under. I decided to proceed with a test ride before fiddling with my poor tools any longer.
On the test ride, I was completely surprised that the steering didn't feel heavy at all. Maybe my hands still remembered what it felt like to push out of that notch, but if anything the steering felt light. Not sloppy or loose, though, so I proceeded with more testing. As far as I can tell, it's great. No wobbles at any speed. No stiffness in turning.
And so, my Wee is back on the road. In fact, after sitting untouched for over a year, it started right up without any fuss at all for the test ride. These are such great bikes. Now I just need to wait for the rain to stop, so I can go find out how Tourance NEXT are supposed to feel on gravel.
