Head shake???

[bombadillo]

I was out riding on one of the random nice days the other day, and my tire pressures were pretty low after not riding a few weeks straight.  I pumped them up and ran them at 36/36 cold.  I had noticed that my brakes are really spongy and need the fluid changed as well as a stainless line installed soon.  As I was riding, when I braked, it felt as if the front end had some movement in the head somehow like a bearing going bad or a loose head bolt or something.  Just curious if its soft springs, bad brakes, loose head bolts or combo of the bunch.  It isn't tire pressure and I've played with different pressures and 36/36 seems to just work where I'm at.  I'm on sport demons by the way.  Thanks

[GSnoober]

Most likely, the steering stem nut needs tightening / adjusting. With the front wheel off the ground, grab the ends of the fork legs and try to move the forks backwards and forwards. If you feel / hear ANY movement of the fork legs, the steering stem nut is loose, and you'll have to adjust it. This can be done with a hammer and punch, or a hammer and a flat-bladed screwdriver, but you have to be careful not to damage the nut, and not to overtighten it. Too tight, and the steering will be affected, not to mention, you'll be crushing the steering stem bearings.

You should be able to get a basic idea of what you need to do from reading this:

http://www.dansmc.com/steering_bearings.htm

Of course, your BEST option would be to buy a Haynes or Clymer manual (or an actual Suzuki shop manual), if you don't already own one. IIRC, you'll have to loosen the steering stem bolt first (the big shiny hex-headed bolt between the handlebars and the gas tank), then look BENEATH the steering yoke to find the adjusting nut (which is notched). CAREFULLY tighten the nut with the hammer and punch/screwdriver enough to keep the forks from moving back and forth (FRONT to BACK), but not so tight that you affect the lock-to-lock (SIDE to SIDE) travel of the front end. If you make it too tight, back off on the nut, and try it again, until you get it right.

After that, you'll have to re-torque the steering stem bolt to the proper spec, but I don't know what that is right now, because I've loaned my Clymer manual to a friend, and I'm still waiting for him to return it.

After reading about all of the mods you've made to your GS, my best advice is to buy a manual and keep it handy. You've invested a fair amount of money in your GS, so now you should be willing to invest in keeping your GS safe and functional.

Good luck with this; if you're not sure how to deal with this, try to beg or borrow a manual (your local public library might have one you can use) to get a better idea of how to perform this adjustment.

[ohgood]

sit on the bike and rock it forward and backward slowly with the front brake applied fully.

you'll hear a 'tink' from the head bearings or a crunch. tink means time for grease and adjustment, crunch means time for replacement.

while you have it apart, you'll see if they're shot.

[bombadillo]

Wow, heck of a write-up there gsnoober, thanks.    I'm going to be doing some work on the bike anyway, so I'm gonna have to throw the center stand back on and get it up in the air.  I'll check all the things mentioned above, and I have also heard it could be the alignment of the front wheel.  Any validity to that?

[ballyhoo]

Besides the stem bearing, you should check the front wheel for looseness, bearing play, and also if there's anything on the brake disk like grease or brake fluid that could cause it to chatter or slip. Definitely get the brakes fixed, motorcycles with iffy brakes are truly dangerous. The front wheel tends to go out of alignment every time you turn it.