Steering Damper

I'm running 42 psi cold & it still does it.

[rhunt4]

Steering head bearings cause most wobbling, not all of them. I don't know what beaings are used in in the nomad,but on my last bike a gl1800 I replaced then with all steel tappard bearing and it did the trick. I have heard or tried it with my nomad yet but so far I have not had any wobble

The Nomad has Timken style tapered rollers stock, just like the ones you put in your Goldie. They are very stout.

[redjay]

I bought a new set of tapered roller bearings from the dealer before I took the forks off the bike to get the forks reworked. I never installed the new ones as I could not get the old outer races out. There is almost nothing to hit when trying to remove the outer races from the steering head. There is a Kawasaki tool in the Kawasaki Manual that you need to get the races out of the frame unless you can fabricate one yourself.

[dogdoc]

if the bike is within specs why would it wobble/shimmy without holding the bars?? i tried that on my 1600 '05 and it went smooth as silk. just pondering.

[rewindgy]

You lucky lucky bast-rd!!!

[ells]

I got a pretty good low frequency wobble on last weekend's ride with both hands on the bars. Pretty steep and sharp downhill curve at around 30 mph but with lots of lean remaining. Was difficult to overpower it but did. Never experienced it before or since, no obvious tire cupping and tire pressure good, 880s all around. Have heard (Audiogooroo told me) that has been known to happen to others. Was a little unnerving but not too close to major problem.

I can clearly make mine wobble, but I tried making it go into a tankslapper this AM, and it never would. I tried altering throttle up and down, and even added to the wobble a bit manually, but when I relaxed my efforts it just died down.

I think I could have induced a tankslapper with the old Bridgestones on it, as it didn't seem to damp out as easily, but they're long gone and we'll never know. Also, since I shimmed the swingarm tighter, I think the bike has gotten more stable. I never did get it shimmed perfectly, and te plastic shims I used are probably building up some slop in the past couple thousand miles.

As for being "within specs" my feeling is that the Nomad specs are pretty broad in relation to chassis geometry and build up of tolerances in the full assembly. As the swingarm bushings wear I think I'll see increasingly more wobble.

[gustafsondh]

Hello,
I'm over from the Delphi forum. I had wobble that was getting progressively worse and changed out the steering head bearings. Haven't had the problem since. I had to cut the bearing races out with a dremel tool.

Gus

[rewindgy]

Did you do the work or a Stealer? IF you did it they are probably torqued slightly tight ( not a bad thing!) The Stealer claims they torqued mine ( under Warranty) but I get the feeling that it was a load of BS! We can't trust most of the Kawi Stealer's around here as there have been too many things stated that were done but after inspection, Nada!

[ridemslow]

I've caught myself recently letting go of both hands a couple times, and I did not get any wobble or vibration. I have a Dunlop 404 on front and stock 'stone on rear. 40 psi in both. ;)

Originally Posted by Ringadingh

A lot of Nomads including mine will go into a wobble when you let go of the handlebars for a couple seconds. Its something that bugs me, but I havn't been able to stop it from happening as of yet. Im wondering if a fork brace would help ?