| Author | Message | ||
     Advoutlander |
I have been experiencing an odd shaky loose feeling in the front end. It has been on and off for the last 1500 miles. I can normally feel it on rough tarmac and especially in the corners when the bike is leaning. The bike is at 21000 miles. At 20k I did the 20k service apart from replacing the fork oil. I can not see excess oil on the forks to indicate blown fork seals. I have lifted the front end and shook the wheel from left to right and there is no play. The axle is straight and was torqued to spec. Tonight i visually examines the wheel bearings and they are fine. I regreased the axle, remounted the front wheel and torqued to spec. I did notice however when the front end was off the ground and I rotated the wheel freely the brake pads would touch the same part of the rotor making a rubbing sound. Im wondering if the rotor is warped. The brake pads look good and no uneven wear. The tires are tkc80s and have plenty of tread left, however every other knobbie is wearing down at an angle. Pics to follow. Any ideas? | ||
| Advoutlander |
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| Brother_in_buells |
Those funny head bearings maybe  | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
The front rotor is a floating design. Sometimes a bunch of grime and crap build up in the little pockets and make it jam. Perhaps you could remove the disk, clean everything, and reinstall? | ||
| Mark_weiss |
Axle pinch bolts are not missing? | ||
| Advoutlander |
No the pinch bolts are still there. Ill chexk the head bearings. When i remove the rotor from the rim do I have to replace the mountinf hardware or can it be reuses with no problems? Its hard to explain what the problem feels like. Its not always there, I usually feel it on interstate entry exit ramps where they have sharp turns. | ||
| Arry |
I know this is obvious, but those tires must give the bike an "odd shaky loose feeling in the front end" even if everything else is OK. | ||
| Advoutlander |
There really not as rough as they look. They were not like this when first fitted. They have around 3500 miles on them. They are definitely cupped, im not sure if a wheel weight has come off and in turn has caused the cupping which may explain the feeling. | ||
| Hdxbones |
Check the rear tire as well, problems there are frequently felt in the handlebars also. Cupping will definitely cause a squirrelly feeling in a sweeping turn. Verify your tire pressures, I've minimized/eliminated some minor cupping in the past by running a few hundred miles at max inflation pressures | ||
| Etennuly |
Odd shaky loose feeling can be a combination of warped rotor with loose steering head bearings. On my '06 I had to re-torque the steering head bearings at about 8,000 miles and again at about 35,000. I felt mine mostly in transition from on throttle to off throttle as it would pass through a "no load" part of the transition. Sometimes it was noticeable going over a rise to a down hill, just as I was starting to apply front brake. It would also do it during no load transition in a corner. Almost always I was starting to brake with the front. "06-'07 bikes had a rotor issue. I believe they were supposed to have been fixed by '08. I had my original rotor off a couple of times prior to installing the EBR 5mm rotor. When I removed the front wheel from the bike I cleaned all of the rotor mounting hardware and holes in the rim with a pressure washer, soaking the parts with Simple Green for a few minutes. Never had any issues with reuse. Don't use Brake Cleaner on the rims, it will melt into the powder coat. | ||
| Advoutlander |
Hdxbones that is the description "squirrelly feeling in a turn". My pressures are correct 34/36. Ive just scotchbrited my front and rear pads and rotors and it still is doing it. Ive not done the steering head bearings yet. Ill do that today. It could be the rotor, im hoping for 9000 miles on the front rotor yet. | ||
| Nobuell |
I bet it is the tire. I've had shaking from worn regular street tires. I would think the knobbies are worse. | ||
| Pontlee77 |
Maybe the EBR rotor bolt kit could help, i had a friend with a heavy pulsing and the EBR bolt kit was the answer to the problem. | ||
| Etennuly |
My Uly had the very heavy pulsing problem, but only when applying the brake. Get back to us after you have re-torqued the steering head bearings. There is a specific procedure. I hope you have a Service Manual. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Vern Mike's on his way up here, I have the books for my 09, his is 08. Same bearing procedure? Zack <edit> Nevermind, we got the screw remnant out of the fork leg and Mike's on his way home. (Message edited by zac4mac on December 29, 2013) | ||
| Advoutlander |
 Ok. Correctly torqued the axle, pinch bolts, steering head bearings and there is no change. I boasted tire pressure to 45 front, 50 rear. I dont feel it in straight lines but in some rough corners I can still feel it. Hopefully it is the tires deforming. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
50 psi seems extremely high. What pressures were you running before? I would not be too surprised if you are not getting a bit of sliding. Those tires are really best used on soft surfaces. | ||
| Advoutlander |
Before I was at 34/36 as the handbook states. | ||
| Zac4mac |
A couple of years ago, Froggy was actively hyper-miling. One of the easier ways he was making better mileage was running the tires at 50psi when commuting. It definitely makes the tires last longer, no cupping up front either. A trip to the mountains or a track, obviously drop the pressures for grip. I suggested Mike up his pressure and see if the ride stabilized. Zack | ||
| Jim2 |
Balance the wheel and tire | ||
| Panhead_dan |
The handbook states pressures for stock tires. The pressure for your tires is on the tire, listed for max load. It's possible that you may have run those tires at the wrong pressure so long that now they are going to give you handling problems. | ||
| Hdxbones |
Running at a higher pressure for some time may be enough to wear down the high spots on the cupped treads. Inflation pressure can be reduced afterward to a level that provides reasonable ride and traction, but inhibits additional cupping. This has worked for me in the past on softer compound, big tread block street bike tires- Avon and Metzeler. Afterward, maintaining pressures that were about 10-15% above the sidewall stamp seemed to work best for me. |
