Kind of a wierd steering problem..

[autocrossjake]

The bike has a very unstable feeling to it this morning which I @ first attributed to possible greasy roads (since it was raining most of the night) but while leaning I dont notice the problem.

When I go to stop or doing really slow cornering it feels very notchy as if the head bearings were bad or something.  However I put the bike on the centerstand get the front wheel up and it moves just fine.  No play, no notchyness, feels fine.

So I guess my questions is, what could this be?  At higher speeds I don't really notice a difference except it feel like the front end feels a little less solid than normal (that could just be my head messing with me)

Is it the road, me, or the bike?  I haven't ridden the bike in a couple of days and cannot see why it would be any different.

[Onlypastrana199]

check your tire pressure?

[domas]

+1 on tire preasure. At least the first thing to try.

[dgbernstein]

I've had a similar experience, bike would feel a little wiggly went riding through city streets. I dutifully checked the tire pressure, but it was fine.

In my case the problem wasn't a problem with the bike at all. Just riding over crosswalks and other painted markings on the street caused it to "feel" loose. With it being wet, I would imagine it could really feel loose.

[autocrossjake]

first thing I checked was tire pressure.. it is right one to where I have always kept it.  I will check it again with another gauge to be sure.

I know the front tire is still balanced because I have a thing with wheel weights and I know there was only one on the front and it is still there.

And it wasn't wet out, road was dry but rained the night before. 

I rode the bike some more and it is very random.  It will do it more on some roads than others, but will sometimes not even do it on the same roads.

Seems to do it more while I am slowing down, I find this very strange as nothing should have happened while it was sitting.  My first thought was someone knocked it down because it has this wierd feeling like the bars are bent.  But they look straight and there is no signs of anyone knocking it over (cover looks fine, no scuffs on anything)

Any ideas or should I just try and ignore it right now.  I am going to check everything over here in a little bit since I have today off, but other than that I am lost.

Like I said this is just wierd, I ride these rodes everyday and I have ridden my GS 1000 miles since I have had it so it isn't a new bike, or a new road really.

[Reddog787]

I had a major problem with this a while back.  

It's in your front tire.  I had a old tire (with lots of good tread) which has sat for some time on the bike before I bought the bike.  On a cold morning the shake was so bad it caused a tank slapper.  Tire presuure was perfect though.  Once the tire warmed up, the shake went away.  When I put a new tire on I never had a problem again - until - the new tire became worn out.

If you take the tire off and rebalance it will help - but not fix the problem until you put on a fresh tire.

[Reddog787]

Actually it doesn't hurt to rebalance every 3,000 miles.  I have gotten 7,000 miles out of a front tire - and needed to rebalance it half way through its life.

I noticed the most problems when slowing also.

[hmmmnz]

check that one of your seals hasn't gone, or that your wheel bearings are ok and your steering head bearing is fine, if allb of those are ok it only leaves sticky caliper, dodgy wheel, stuffed tyre
good luck

[autocrossjake]

I will have a shop check out the tire I presume.

I will check the head and wheel bearings better now since my g/f is home to put some weight on it.

I thought it might have been a sticky caliper too but I was able to spin the wheel easily with no problems even when lightly applying the brakes.

The fork seals were done when the PO did the progressive springs, and the tires have around 4k miles on them.  So I will have the front tire rebalanced to make sure.

oh and Reddog787 I have ridden the bike pretty much nonstop since I got it, and has not done this till today.  It only sat for like 1.5 days and it started doing it, so I doubt it was due to the bike sitting.  But could be the tire.

[scratch]

Make sure the steering head is tight, both the nuts on the collar and the bolt on top.  That's all I can think of.  Everybody else has pretty much covered everything else.

The only other thing I can think of is suspension set-up.  Do you have enough weight over the front tire?  Maybe dial in a notch of preload on the rear shock, or slide the fork through the triples.  www.peterverdonedesigns.com/introduction.htm

[corndog67]

Point it into a wall.  Engine off.  Pull the front brake hard with the wheel against the wall.  Rock it back and forth against the wall (Straight in).  Is there a noticeable click?  If there is, steering head bearings are loose.