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Front Wheel Wobble

1K views 15 replies 13 participants last post by  Wolfman 
#1 ·
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Hi.

A stupid question......... should I be able to take my hands off the wheel on my bike and bike should go straight............. or is a wobble normal?
 
#2 ·
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It should not wobble.

Things that can cause or contribute to thewobble (roughly in order of probability):

- Scalloped, bulging (knot) or otherwise out-of-round tire

- Out of balance tire/wheel assembly

- Forks need servicing/rebuild

- Loose triple tree bearings
 
#3 ·
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bob1945 wrote:
A stupid question......... should I be able to take my hands off the wheel on my bike and bike should go straight............. or is a wobble normal?
Well, I can and do ride hands-off...often, whenever I need my hands for things like zipping my jacket, or fixing my gloves, etc. But the other philosophy among many bikers is to keep your hands on the bars.

Personally, I think that wobbles are not "normal"...a wobble is indicative of something mechanically amiss. Motorcycle wobbles are, however, quite common.

Many knowledgeable people claim that new tires will likely be afix. I have found this to be very true, on many cages where it greatly improves handling and driveability, temporarily. But, unless you fix the alignment, balance, or suspension problems the tires will again wear prematurely and unacceptably.

Others, rightfully so, blame the steering head bearings, or swing arm bearings. These things need close attention whether you ride hands-off or not. Fork issues can contribute to wobbles, as well as the anti-dive featuremis-adjusted on the 1200s. Warped brake rotors may also aggravate the problem.

Wheel bearings have also been found guilty. You will have to thoroughly inspect your bike until the possible causes are found. Motor mount bolts must be tight, and the frame must not be sprung or otherwise weakened (like by rust-thru). If your wheels have wire spokes, they must be adjusted for tension and wheel trueness.

The thing that "cured" mine was correcting the wheel tracking. I have yet to find a flat-four 'Wing with wheel alignment better than .022"/ft. I have begun to wonder if they are engineered that way,but all I can find by "experts" on the subject agree that motorcycle wheels should be tracking in-line. :waving:
 
#4 ·
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Yeah, wobble are fairly common.

Do a search on "wobble" and you will see all the posts.

Everything tied into thefront and rear wheel can attribute and aggravate the problem. The notorious wobble occurs around30 mph, but I will let you do the research. New tires tend to mask the problem, and cuppingis definitely a culprit.
 
#6 ·
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FenderHead wrote:
bob1945 wrote:
A stupid question......... should I be able to take my hands off the wheel on my bike and bike should go straight............. or is a wobble normal?
Well, I can and do ride hands-off...often, whenever I need my hands for things like zipping my jacket, or fixing my gloves, etc. But the other philosophy among many bikers is to keep your hands on the bars.

Personally, I think that wobbles are not "normal"...a wobble is indicative of something mechanically amiss. Motorcycle wobbles are, however, quite common.

Many knowledgeable people claim that new tires will likely be afix. I have found this to be very true, on many cages where it greatly improves handling and driveability, temporarily. But, unless you fix the alignment, balance, or suspension problems the tires will again wear prematurely and unacceptably.

Others, rightfully so, blame the steering head bearings, or swing arm bearings. These things need close attention whether you ride hands-off or not. Fork issues can contribute to wobbles, as well as the anti-dive featuremis-adjusted on the 1200s. Warped brake rotors may also aggravate the problem.

Wheel bearings have also been found guilty. You will have to thoroughly inspect your bike until the possible causes are found. Motor mount bolts must be tight, and the frame must not be sprung or otherwise weakened (like by rust-thru). If your wheels have wire spokes, they must be adjusted for tension and wheel trueness.

The thing that "cured" mine was correcting the wheel tracking. I have yet to find a flat-four 'Wing with wheel alignment better than .022"/ft. I have begun to wonder if they are engineered that way,but all I can find by "experts" on the subject agree that motorcycle wheels should be tracking in-line. :waving:
This is a very good post.....I tried somewhere to tell folks about how to line up the rear with the front....I honestly do think out of line tracking is at the base of 99 percent of the wobble. Ever watched the idiots at the shops handle the Wings? I saw them lifting them with a forklift one time......drag the rear tire sideways.....might just stress and bend the swing arm. Maybe the rim of the wheel......I think handling in shipping in one way or the other.......does get the rear out of line on some of the bikes. Kit
 
#7 ·
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My '85 would do it at 35 MPH, but with hands on the handlebars you would hardly tell it might happen.

John
 
#8 ·
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My 1100 develops a slow, gentlewobble at 80 mph, but I am pretty sure that it is aerodynamic in nature (fairing related), because the speed at which it develops is less when riding into a headwind. To me, it does not feel like someone is wobbling the wheel back and forth, it feels more like someone is wobbling the fairing back and forth.
 
#9 ·
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GSMacLean wrote:
My 1100 develops a slow, gentlewobble at 80 mph,
I had a '74 Moto Guzzi (bought new) that would do that. Really bad in curves. It wasn't so much a wobble as it was a "wallow"...I finally decided the frame needed to be re-engineered or something. I got shed of the grief by selling it to a Guzzi faithful!! ;) That's when I bought my first 'Wing, a new '77, and was introduced to the infamous wheel wobble! :shock:
 
#10 ·
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FenderHead wrote:
GSMacLean wrote:
My 1100 develops a slow, gentlewobble at 80 mph,
I had a '74 Moto Guzzi (bought new) that would do that. Really bad in curves. It wasn't so much a wobble as it was a "wallow"...I finally decided the frame needed to be re-engineered or something. I got shed of the grief by selling it to a Guzzi faithful!! ;) That's when I bought my first 'Wing, a new '77, and was introduced to the infamous wheel wobble! :shock:
My 1500 developed the wobble you describe at 100-105 (closed course, professional driver :cooldevil:). It also wallowed bad in curves. The only way to curb the wallowing was to hang way off the bike like a cafe racer. It was doing all this bad with less than 30K miles.

It now has well over 50K miles, I've done the RaceTech front fork upgrade, the 416 Progressives in the rear and a SuperBrace. It's now rock solid at any speed and in any conditions. It's not even the same bike.
 
#13 ·
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GSMacLean wrote:
My 1100 develops a slow, gentlewobble at 80 mph, but I am pretty sure that it is aerodynamic in nature (fairing related), because the speed at which it develops is less when riding into a headwind. To me, it does not feel like someone is wobbling the wheel back and forth, it feels more like someone is wobbling the fairing back and forth.
Have you checked the fairing mounts especially where the frame bracket bolts to the frame? I had a bit of fairing wobble on the 1100 I'm riding at the moment, turned out to be loose bolts on the front fender skirt and the two bolts that hold the ears on the fairing frame. The whole bike didn't wobble but I could see the fairing wiggling sideway on bumps. I'd suspect that wouldn't have helped much at speed. After tightening things up I've buried the needleon the 80mph speedometer and she's solid on the road.
 
#14 ·
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thessler wrote:
Hi my 1100 will wobble real bad at 35 mph if you take your hands off. so I don't.
Not unusual, so far I've had three Goldwings two 1100s and my 1500 (twice) that had the 35mph wobble that were cured by new front tires.
 
#16 ·
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I had one on my 1200. I could never take my hands off the handlebars. I asked about it at my dealership once and they said, it was really common, most people on wings couldn't get away with taking their hands off.

A couple years later, I had to replace my stearing head bearings. After I torqued them properly, I didn't have a wobble for about 3 or 4 years. Eventually the wobble started to come back, and I planned to readjust the bearings, but I never got around to it.

I'm starting to notice one on my 1500.
 
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