High Speed Front Tire Wobble

[stormchaser]

Anyone knows what causes the high speed wobble.  I used to have a low speed wobble around 40mph. If I took my hands off the handlebars front tire would shimmy. Took the front tire off balanced it and got rid of the shimmy. Still have the high speed wobble though. Seems to start between 95mph and 105mph.  Just like to see what the bike can do. Just rebuilt the engine. That darn wobble is like a speed govenor I got on my Mustang. I'm thinking small tire size or front forks. Curious what you folks think.

[TheGoodGuy]

bad balance.. or perhaps something with the bearing on the triple tee?

[commuterdude]

check the height of your fork legs in the clamps.  You can probably feel this as mismatch when inserting the front axle.   Axle should go through smooth and easy.

[joshr08]

not sure but im thinking 105 on a fresh rebuild is just asking for another rebuild.

[kml.krk]

geee, dude... slow down!

[stormchaser]

Not to be rude, but please no "slow down" responses needed. We all drive fast from time to time and want to know the limits of our cycle.  I commute on I-15 from San Diego to Temecula where the average speed of the traffic is 85mph(70 mph speed limit). So 95mph on my commute isn't that much faster.

[Chanse]

I can vouch for that, used to live in SD and oceanside, temecula, fallbrook. and camp pendleton.... 90mph is a very common occurence, I got passed by a turbo volkswagon bug at 110mph on I-5... I felt like jackass... lol damn rev limiter on sunfire... got rid of that car.

[kml.krk]

wow, here in NY the speed limit on a highway is 55-65 and it is enforced. if you go 10 mph more than limit it's OK, but more than that can get you in trouble fast!

also in some parts of NJ you can not drive/ride constantly in the left lane - it can only be used to pass the vehicles in front of you, but after the maneuver you have to go back to right lane.
I know a person who almost went to jail for not obeying this law...

PS. I did not mean to offend you guys, I am just not used to such high speeds 

[psyber_0ptix]

my nerves wont let me past 90.....


that and because the lack of fairings, things can get squirrely on wide open roads with gusts. Thats ~my~ excuse anyways

[Bridger]

I agree that most everyone does 100+every now and again, or at least once!  I went 100 on my new gs500f just a few days after i got it on a country backroad just to do it, just for a monent, then I slowed back down.

[dohabee]

my bike doesn't like to go much over 100 unless its downhill with a tailwind. I just rode my brothers zx9 the other day though.

holeeeeeeeeeeeee crap that thing gets up to 130 faster than my gs goes 0-60.

That bike is seriously fun but on the highway but turns like a tank and I would probably survive about 2 weeks after getting one.

[tt_four]

My bike only goes 95mph now with the gearing change, which is fine with me. As much as I enjoy going fast, I'll take the acceleration in trade, and try to avoid some speeding tickets by staying on back roads.

[qwertydude]

The combination of soft suspension and a lightweight front end on a sport-y bike does lend itself to some wobbles at high speed. But the gist of it is don't let go of your handlebars at speed. It's natural for sport bikes to want to wobble a bit when the steering geometry is more aggressive. You want a bike that's completely stable at speed you can get a cruiser. No speed wobbles there but they'll turn like molasses. The GS500 is actually quite stable, when pushed I don't ever feel like I'm gonna get into a tank slapper situation, whereas high in strung sport bikes the need for a steering damper is a must. In fact if you remember a while back the TL1000S was quite unstable and was called the widowmaker and the solution was a better steering damper. So I guess if you want to cruise around at 100+ and go "Look ma! No hands!" Get a steering damper and stiffen up the front suspension with springs and oil.

Oh yeah and about low speed wobbles sometimes I get that too. Usually happens on cheap tires or worn out tires, but can get worse with cheap tires that are worn out. Also check your tire pressure and make sure it's not too low. Basically when the tire carcass gets soft enough to allow it to wallow around you can get some headshake. The tires that don't do this were my cheapo Kings tires because they were about the stiffest heaviest tires you could imagine. In fact when I got a rear puncture on the freeway and lost all my air pressure I didn't realize till I got home that it was flat. The tire could support the bikes weight without air! Not very well but it would actually roll with it, turning was horrible so I thought I was just low on air and when I checked it it was 0 psi. So the stiff tire also prevented speed wobbles too since I know if I had low air pressure I'd get some wobbles.