If it didn't do it before the tires, it's probably the tires. Why did you loosen the head bearings? Just wondering, being loose usually brings on a wobble or head shake.

 

I would say its tires as well, and this is a pretty common thing with different tire and bike combos.

Same thing happened on my Bandit when I switched to Avon tires.

Relaxed grip and it would wobble. 2200 miles later it still does it. Not a problem above 40, or way above for that matter

My solution was to not relax my grip on the bars... works like a charm.

 

It's been a long time since I've had an out of round tire, but they do happen.

I just got a set of Michelin Pilot Roads. They're not yet mounted, and I liked the Trailwings -- just wanted to try something different.

 

My 1000 does that as well at lower speeds. I don't notice anything with at least one hand on the bars. Mine still has the TW's with 7K on them.

 

Avons had a reputation with Valkyrie owners. I had an out of round front tire on my Valk. It caused a slow speed wobble that was magnified if you released your grip on the bars.

After gaining speed, it was unnoticeable even at very high speeds.

The shop tried to rebalance the wheel but to no avail. They tried replacing the worn steering head bearings, but that too didn't help.

Finally, Avon replaced my tire and the wobble stopped.

 

Unsure why you would have the bearings slackened off, but I put a D607 on my Wee this summer and immediatly had a slight wobble, mostly under deceleration.

Putting my old Anakee back on cured it. I will be installing a new Tourance on the front.

Cheers!

 

I slackened the head races cos they appeared to be a little tight, I suspect they still have a tight spot....

Gonna get the tyres changed for Trailwings this week, see if that cures it.

Funnily enough I had the same problem with my BMW R1150GS and MetzTourances. Never did get that fixed, traded it in for..... KwakZuk.

Cheers

Nick

 

I had put a set of Avon Tires on my Concours about a year ago. Since then I have ridden the bike not a lot. Why? There is a very serious wobble - almost a headshake as the bike transitions up from 45 to 50 mph and also as the bike comes back down through that range.

I have done just about everything that is known to cause this problem, new head set bearings, new wheel bearings, disassmbled the bike and started setting all the fasteners at factory specs - etc.

The condition is still there, but not for much longer. I just purchased a set of Metzeler tires to replace the Avons with. Next weekend I hope to have my Concours back in the non-wobble mode!

My tire guy offered no help on fixing the problem. I no longer have a tire guy, I'm doing it all myself. Results are much better and the cost is a whole lot cheaper.

 

The original owner of my Strom had installed a front Anakee just before I bought the bike. The bike has always had a slight headshake upon deceleration if I lighten my grip on the bars, but not enough to go into a tankslapper. On every other bike I've owned, a decel headshake that got increasingly worse with every passing second meant loose steering head bearings, easily cured. Since the Strom's headshake just occurs but stays at a certain level, I'm convinced it's this tire. Had the same thing happen with a front Tourance on my old R1150GS, but only after about 8k miles. Nothing I can't live with, but it shouldn't do that. Sounds like the problem might even differ from tire to tire and bike to bike, and is not something that you can condemn one tread pattern or brand for altogether.

 

Same thing here on my Wee. Slight wobble when I slacken off the handlebar. My buddy has the same phenomena on his BMW R1150GS. I suspect it has something to do with the tire pattern on these bike. I ran with trailwing and Metzeller Tourance.

 

Well it's cured now...

new set of Bridgestone Battlewings has sorted it out....

just got to nip up the head bearings, soften the rear shock, and put the scottoiler feed back in the right place

Ta for all replies

Cheers

Nick