steering question .. kinda

Janx101 · October 13, 2013, 03:28:43 PM

was out riding on the weekend... felt some slight tremors through the bars occasionally .. but some of the roads were a bit ordinary....

was nearly back home and on a relatively smooth flat suburban backroad... lifted both my hands 'just clear' of the bars on purpose .. cos the tremors had me curious... 40km/h ... all fine for about... 15m or so ... then a sudden sharp headshake and bars wiggling around by about 10 deg either way of straight ahead... so a 20deg overall shake... slapped hands back down and eased the shake out... no harm no foul! ..

possible reasons/causes though? ... a normal thing? .. a bad thing?... most likely a road surface thing?... a tyre wearing thing? .. a shock thing? .. a head stock bearing thing?

... thoughts or similar issues please!?

slipperymongoose · October 13, 2013, 03:44:57 PM

Maybe have your steering stem tension checked?

Soloratov · October 13, 2013, 04:10:00 PM

I would say, if you didn't hit anything, and the head itself seems tight, could just be a wheel balance issue. Otherwise, I'm with Slippery.

fetor56 · October 13, 2013, 04:18:36 PM

Try it again on a good condition,perfectly flat road,no cars,no obstructions....no nothin & see how it reacts when u can concentrate solely in the bike.

Janx101 · October 13, 2013, 04:37:14 PM

it was about as good as its gonna get for testing... wasnt filming either... just thought of it at time and decided to test/try ...

but yeah .. i'll check the balance weights are there and check out the steering stem....

.. now where is that bloody torque wrench?!

slipperymongoose · October 13, 2013, 04:40:13 PM

You'll need the special head adapter wrench for your steering head

Janx101 · October 13, 2013, 04:40:46 PM

whats that then?

slipperymongoose · October 13, 2013, 04:41:50 PM

It's got a 1/2" drive and 4 pins to fit in the slots on the steering head nut.

Janx101 · October 13, 2013, 04:42:37 PM

yeah .. just looked it up ... might be quicker to take it to the mech man!

slipperymongoose · October 13, 2013, 05:01:44 PM

That be my advice it's a 5 min job to check the tension

mustangGT90210 · October 13, 2013, 05:43:42 PM

I used a flathead and a hammer to tighten down that 4 sided nut thing on the head. It takes a good bit longer, but when you're a broke college student, it works perfectly lol

slipperymongoose · October 13, 2013, 05:49:45 PM

Yeah that can work but you can over tighten, crush the bearings and cause bigger problems. It sucks not having the tools or access to them for these specialist jobs. Might add this to ask me how I know thread but that steering stem bearing change was the second time I changed the bearings from over tightening the first ones.

Janx101 · October 13, 2013, 06:47:23 PM

hrrrm.. yes.. the mech is the bloke i go to for bits and pieces anyway... friendly chap... even it it costs me $20 for 5 mins... thats ok.... it costs me a hell of a lot more in the swear jar at home when a bike repair goes poorly! plus it takes longer!

adidasguy · October 13, 2013, 10:02:21 PM

You should look for (as well as balancing the tire) loose bolts. Any fall out of the fork brace? Loose axle? Floating spacer at bottom of right fork tight? Triple clamps tight? Sphincter tight?

Steering stem nut: I use a big ass wrench and gently grab it. Snug but not too tight. Loose and things might move a little but not what you describe. That's more like out of balance tire, bent rim or loose bolts somewhere along the steering column.

Janx101 · October 13, 2013, 10:21:15 PM

my bike has a sphincter as well as a pet chicken? ..

but yeah .. had a short look over the bolts soon as i got home... only 600yds later .. nothing visibly loose.. but will sit down and check it all... cos the bloody exhaust hanger bolt DID go awol last week...

the balance thing... i dunno... i'll check it still .. but thinking about it overall... i didnt feel any balance like issues... a few tremors yes... but they different feel than a tyre balance.. not as regular..

got a pipe wrench/stilson !! .. but i still think ill drop past the mech and get him to check the steering stem one and tighten if it needs it?... i can check all the others with my sockets and torquey and manual

The Buddha · October 14, 2013, 07:25:40 AM

That steerning neck lock nut - easy, but I do Hand tight with socket made to fit it and back out 1/2 turn if its new. If its used, 1/4 turn.
Cool.
Buddha.

gsJack · October 14, 2013, 08:37:22 AM

Had a similar low speed head shake on my old Nighthawk 650 at about 40 mph only when letting go of bars and mostly when coasting down. A new front tire got rid of it for a while and new taper roller steering head bearings fixed it for good, old ones had a notch at straight ahead position it would bounce on. Never a problem with my GSs that come with taper rollers, Schwinn bicycles had better head bearings than those old Hondas had, actually same type.

gsJack · October 14, 2013, 08:42:54 AM

Forgot to add, a few years ago there were several stability problems reported over on the EX-500 forum from riders with Demon front tires. Haven't seen any there for a while now though.

RossLH · October 14, 2013, 09:22:07 AM

I have noticed a very slight shimmy coming out of a right turn, never really bothered me enough to do anything about it.

ohgood · October 15, 2013, 09:22:20 AM

Quote from: Janx101 on October 13, 2013, 03:28:43 PM
was out riding on the weekend... felt some slight tremors through the bars occasionally .. but some of the roads were a bit ordinary....

was nearly back home and on a relatively smooth flat suburban backroad... lifted both my hands 'just clear' of the bars on purpose .. cos the tremors had me curious... 40km/h ... all fine for about... 15m or so ... then a sudden sharp headshake and bars wiggling around by about 10 deg either way of straight ahead... so a 20deg overall shake... slapped hands back down and eased the shake out... no harm no foul! ..

possible reasons/causes though? ... a normal thing? .. a bad thing?... most likely a road surface thing?... a tyre wearing thing? .. a shock thing? .. a head stock bearing thing?

... thoughts or similar issues please!?

nice things to check while looking for the real cause, by suspending the entire bike, both wheels off the ground and pull the chain off too.

then you can check for a hump in the front and rear tires by spinning them slowly.
check for worn wheel bearings.
check for bent rims.
check for warped disks.
check for misaligned rear wheel, or badly bent axles (loosen axle nut, rotate axle, watch for the wheel side/side movement).
check for fork slider damage or differences in height on fork triples.
check for worn/loose steering stem bearings.
check for broken stabilizer (between fork tubes).

my bet is simple and easy:
a worn tire, with an out of balance condition, multiplied by misalignment of the rear, and worn/loose stem bearings. a hop from the front almost always means the tire is bad, out of balance, both, or about to desentegrate.

the cool part is this: if it does what you're describing, even a little, it's WRONG. something is definitely wrong, and not to be ignored. imagine that same wrong thing multiplying it's characteristics when you really don't want or need it to, like heavy braking to avoid collision on a bumpy road, in a turn.

find it, fix it. then ride n grin.

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steering question .. kinda