Hey, I get a pretty slight shake in the bars only in corners and only at speeds of around 130km/h. Was curious if this is somewhat normal due to everyone saying the suspension on the GS is so soft, or if something is wrong. Its not a major shake but it definitely freaks out my tiny duck.
And if something is wrong with it only happening in corners and at those speeds what do you think it could be?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
Loose steering head bearings or tire balance would be the first place to look, front tire cupping might be included also :dunno_black:
You can do a quick check on your steering head bearings by jacking up the front of your motorcycle. You might be able to accomplish this with the center stand and a friend to hold the rear wheel down.
Basically you need to get the front wheel off the ground. Then put your bars slightly off center and let go. If they "fall" to the side that indicates a loose or worn bearing. The handle bars should turn smoothly.
Then while the wheel is off the ground grab the wheel near the top with one hand and hold on to the bike near the top of the steering stem with the other hand. Apply upward pressure on the wheel, enough to compress the shocks slightly, and release. Repeat that while paying attention to the feeling in you other hand. If you can feel a clicking or clunking in the steering stem when moving the wheel up and down then that is another sign of a worn or lose bearing.
Tightening the bearings is a straight forward job with the service manual.
Thanks for the help, ive been using this site http://www.manualslib.com/manual/793090/Suzuki-Gs500e.html#manual for the service manual due to not having one but it seems to only cover replacing the forks.
But I imagine its just a throw it in the air, loosen the main nut tighten the what ever its called under the main nut slightly then re torque the main down to like 35 ftlbs?
On pages 155 and 157 it shows the torque specs.
There is a stem nut with four slots (not six sides) that gets tightened to a certain torque, turn the bars back and forth a bunch, then you actually loosen that nut a bit.
I didn't buy the special tool when I did mine,I just used a spanner wrench. I practiced using a torque wrench to get the feel for the torque I wanted on some other bolt and then tried to replicate that force on the stem nut.
Also could be forks that are low on fork oil. Are your fork seals in good shape? Have you noticed oil on the forks?