| Author | Message | ||
     Snakedriver |
I had my 08 XB12S w/ 520 miles on the clock today and was amazed that the steering started to go ballistic around 90 MPH on the concrete highway. My 04 was much better behaved. Any Ideas? Leo | ||
| Steve_mackay |
Take it back to your dealer and have the steering head bearings re-torqued. Also, have you set your suspension setting properly to your weight? | ||
| Sgthigg |
Before you go back to the stealership, and they over torque something/ f it up. Ensure your front wheel balancing weight is on the ROTOR side. Trust me it makes a difference and it is in the manual for it to be this way. I had the exact same problem. Found it in the manual and moved the weight directly to the other side. Problem gone. Hope this helps. | ||
| New12r |
Sound like tire balance to me. But checking the steering head bearings, axle, brake caliper and related bolts will not hurt. | ||
| Saintly |
I doubt it's the head bearing because the bike is an 08' with only 500 miles on the clock. However, If it were me, I'd jack up the bike, loosen the pinch & top stem bolts. Slide the stem down slightly, and apply neverseize to the bottom of the stem and to the inside diameter of the top bearing. Then re-asssemble & set bearing pre-load (drag) per spec. These XB steering stems oxidize & seize to the bearings much the same way that the axle shafts do to the wheel bearings. Both my XB's came from the factory "dry" in these areas. I had a wobble on my 03' that I tried to eliminate by re-torquing the stem. It wouldn't budge, so I tried turning with great force. Rather than the bearing sliding down the stem & pre-loading, the top aluminum tree cracked in half. The moral is: an ounce of prevention...... you know the rest. | ||
| Tailspining |
The highway wasn't grooved? | ||
| Clutchless |
I find that alot of bikes that are under the 500 mi. mark need the steering head adjusted. At least H-D's that come in the shop have this problem, brand new I should say. Its from squeezing those suckers in at the factory and tourqeing them, in thru shipping it vibrates and jiggles and helps settle those bearings in because they are so new. Thus, resulting in a loose setup. (tank slapping at high speeds is one sign) Take it back to your servicing dealer and they should adjust this for you free of charge and funny looks. If they dont ask you how much you weigh then they arent setting it up for you personally. They should also check the balance and tires pressures/ quality. These are all no-brainers if your dealer has anyone worth their stripes there. if not, they are many many people on badweb who would probabley perform this procedure for you. And do it right! (Message edited by clutchless on January 08, 2008) | ||
| Buellrcr |
check your tire psi | ||
| Sub65chris |
also make sure your grip on the bars isnt the death grip. I had afriend with a 2006 xb12s i think and he swore it had head shake at 80mph when I rode it it had none mabye it was just him but he was holding the bars like he was going to fly off the back of the bike superman style. Just a posibility  | ||
| Adrenaline_junkie |
I just went for a ride and was reminded of another cause for high speed instability......a jacket that is to loose. I've been wearing my old bomber jacket because it is loose and has room for several layers of sweater and sweat shirt under it, but it is warm this evening. I only had a t-shirt under it and I could barely hold my bike on the road above 80. Should have been wearing my tighter riding jacket. A bunch of flapping leather attached to your body and arms that are attached to the handle bars can do bad things. | ||
| Midnightrider |
If this only seems to happen when you accelerate sharply, make sure your front wheel is on the ground | ||
| Snakedriver |
Thanks Everybody. I think Ill just start with the path of least restance...First tires and weights then onward from there. The shake is present regardless of the surfacing, under a steady cruise or acceleration. Leo | ||
| Bombardier |
If you are sitting to the rear of the seat it will take the weight of the front and be more prone to tank slap. | ||
| Midknyte |
If you are sitting to the rear of the seat... These bikes reward/respond to proper body positioning to the extent that they really require it... Which is not a bad thing. It'll make a better rider out of you. | ||
| Beebbop |
Thanks guys! 41,600...40k...60k miles awesome! all my concerns are gone now.. after doing a bunch of reading here I changed the oil,filter and gear oil yesterday (mobil 1 synthetic 15w-50... mobil 1 filter..valvaline 75w 90 syn geal oil...couldnt find mobil...hope thats ok) looking to get 100k+ out of her now.. | ||
| Sgthigg |
So what happened with the front wheel snakedriver? |
