[twisty]

imported post

dave t. wrote:

HEY WINGERS , I have a question on the steering head of my gl1200I, i have been rideing this limo for two years now , it is the first wing for me , what i am asking is should you ne able to let go of the bars with both hands and have the bike ride straight mine will not, it will head off to no mans land right quick, i had never thought much of it just keep hold of the bars , but a buddy of mine bought an 87 aspy on my recommedation and he has really gotten on me saying the bike is junk cause he can not ride with out holding the bars with both hands , myself i always keep at least one hand on the bars just makes sense to me , but if not can i tighten the steering head up so he can let go of them and ride , thanks for any help

Dave, do to the early Wings front end geometry to allow easy low speed turn in they do tend to wander slightly if not all is right.

In my experience, the biggest contributor to front end lead is the tire wear. They seem to follow the road crown more & lead off in one direction or other as the front tire starts to wear the edges.

Other contributors are: not sitting centered on the seat, legs not positioned the same on both sides, more weight in one side bag than the other, amount of air in the forks, road crown, wind direction,etc.

My personal 1200 goes pretty straight & I can easily keep in in lane with foot pressure on the pegs & hip movement.

An even bigger problem with riding the older Wings "no handed " is their tendency to occasionally go into a pretty severe front end wobble at 25-35 MPH on slight down hill or light rear breaking. (that will get you attention quickly).

Twisty