slight wobble? Advice wanted please.

[BrettG]

By front end has always vibrated a ton (2001 Suzuki Intruder LC 1500). this morning a was unable to avoid a construction goblin (man hole cover). It did not effect my tire or my drive into work over the next 30 minutes. I went out to the bank at lunch and jsut for the hell of is lossened my grip on the bars and it really started to wobble. Of course I grabbed hold and was fine the rest of the ride.

As long as I am hanging on all is well in the world. But I am now wondering if I should see about getting this addressed and what it could be.

alignment? Tire rim issue (no visable damage)?

[Stoneman]

How old are the tires? An older, out of balance tire could easily cause that on a cruiser. It could actually be the rear tire too.

[SRTie4k]

Do you have one-piece wheels or wire spoke wheels? If wire spoke, you might need to true the wheel.

A bigger contributor to front wheel wobble that I think most people don't think about is proper geometry. Improper rear preload and incorrect fork height can both contribute to geometry that causes the front wheel to wobble at certain speeds. Some of that is also inherent in some cruisers, though, especially those with significant fork rake/trail.

[TheIglu]

And improperly adjusted steering head bearings.

My old Vmax was super sensitive to steering head bearing tightness. Too tight, it would wander, too loose, DEATH WOBBLE when hands taken off the bars.

[OreoGaborio]

A few things to check (in no particular order)

1: get the wheels off the ground with the bike solidly supported and spin them. Visually check the wheels for wobbles, out-of-round, or what have you.

2: check rear wheel for alignment. Measure the distance from the center of the rear axle to the center of the swingarm pivot as best you can using a length of wire or something that doesn't stretch.

3: remove the front wheel, replace the front axle in the fork legs and rotate it. Check that it turns freely and doesn't get bound up. If it binds, loosen up one of your fork legs and see if one's slightly higher than the other (or if the preload is different from one fork leg to the other.)

4: Also check the front axle to make sure it's not bent. Put it on a table and roll it. (I suppose you could check the rear as well but that's unlikely).

5: steering head bearings. With the front end off the ground, turn the bars... should turn smoothly. Also pull on the the bottom of the fork legs & make sure there's no front-to-back play in the steering stem.

Any one of these may or may not be a sole cause for a wobble... but they can also all be contributing factors.

Lastly... replace the tires or get them checked for proper balance.

if it still does it, bring it to a chassis/suspension specialist. I'd recommend GMD Computrack but Pete's moved on. www.Superbikeservices44.com would be the guy I'd go to.

[PurplePackage]

I have the same bike. It should be easy for you to adjust tension if nothing is bent.

[RandyO]

I had wobble on my SV650 a couple different times, first time was simply a warped brake rotor, second time was not even visibly perceivable bent wheel (in 4 places). I took it to McWheel when they were still in NH, they put it on the machine, and I watched the dial indicator as they spun the wheel.

[BrettG]

I cannot thank you all enough. I will start withe the simplest and then call my local garage for more help if needed. Not able to for a couple days. But I have been riding on and off all day with no concerns. No wobble with relaxed grip so likely will be ok until the weekend.

[boosten lebaron]

I just had this happen with my nsr. I tightened the stem, checked the pressures, check the bearings and even tried to rebalance the tire. I went online to look for other causes and I found one that mentioned to check the bead itself. Sure enough I found a small section that wasn't seated right and no amount of air would seat it. I ended up popping the bead and putting some tire lube on it and aired it back up. Presto, no more wobbles. I still have no idea how it happened. I've put hundreds of miles on it before the wobble started and suddenly one day it just started.

[OreoGaborio]

checked the pressures

Oh yeah, do that too... guessing you did already, but no one else mentioned it yet.

That's an interesting thing about the bead.

[boosten lebaron]

Yeah, totally weird. It must have slipped off slightly when I was turning around or something. I will say once I found it it was glaringly obvious to me afterwards.

[BrettG]

just wanted to update. As I got looking into it more and attempted the easiest first (air pressure) I discoverd that hitting that damn object seems to have busted the radials in the side wall. (disformed and created a peak when inflated higher). Going to replace the tire(s) this week and get back up and running.

Thanks for the advice and I have saved this thread for future referance.

[PurplePackage]

I did that once going over railroad tracks. The pavement was completely cratered around the rails, and it was like hitting a curb at 50 mph. You want to do a good inspection on your wheel for roundness.

[BrettG]

Decided if I am changing one I should change both of them. Got these tires shipped in last week and this Monday my guy put them on for me. What a world of difference. Not only did this resolve the immediate wobble I was concerned with but it seems to ride smoother over all and vertainly feels more responsive that it did perviously.

Thank you all for assisting.

[Stoneman]

I had a feeling it was a tire all along. These heavy, long pigs seem to be sensitive to tire condition - especially front tires. Keep those at the proper pressures and you'll get a good amount of happy miles out of them.