Front wheel wobbles

[nomadwest]

I noticed more recent that my front end has the wobbles if you try and let go of the handlebars for a second or two. In fact it gets so violent that I'm sure the bike would go down if you did not hold on to the bars tight. It feels good tho if you hold on tight. My tire is up to 32 psi and everything feels tight. Is this normal or do I have something serious wrong? Less than 5000 miles on her.

[formikec]

Well, personally, I wouldn't ride it until I could jack it up and check it out. You only got two wheels, if you lose one, there is no such thing as a unimad.

[jussmatt]

Nomad....sounds like a couple of possibilities to me.... 1... Needs to be balanced. You might have lost a weight or something. You can also look into the Dyna Beads since they seem to be the best bet right now. 2.... You might have some cupping started. 32psi is a little lower than what some of us are running. I've still got the original Bridgestone on the front, and I'm running 40-42psi. So far, it's still got some life left in it and I just turned 11K.

Put in a couple more pounds of air and see if you notice any difference. Check and see if you lost a balance weight. That would be where I would start....

[refugio]

Like JussMatt said

[macmac]

Get 38/40 psi. 32 is probably too low, and if you run a hand over the tire, feel for scallops.. Stones make scallops fast. Bump up the rear tire to 40psi as well.

In the USA most roads are crowned too, which will wear the center left faster than the center right of a tire. This can set up balance problems. You could try Dyna Beads. (I am, and like them) There where to buy is White Horse Press, unless you can find them cheaper than 2 box a bag).

The head bearings might be dry (no grease) loose, worn, etc.. the wheel bearings are sealed, but I suppose might be worn, but that isn't very likely. Still they should be checked out, if you find no problem with the tire after setting psi.

My bets are on the tire being junk in the first place.

[cactusjack]

By any chance, do you have aftermarket risers on your bike?

I usually run 40/40. Seems to work well. I agree 32 is a little low. That may be part of the problem, and like jussmatt said, check your balance weights.

IMO, once the front tire is cupped, it's going to do this until you change the front tire.

Also I think Nomads are prone to this a little because of the long bars and the large weight of mirrors and hydraulic cylinders out there on the ends. I think they actually vibrate, and that causes the front end to shake just a tad, which vibrates the bars harder, which shakes the forks a little more, etc.

It builds up like a feedback loop until it screams out of control; yet a tiny bit of damping prevents this.

Try this: Make sure the axles and pinch bolts etc are all nice and tight. Set the tires to 40psi/40psi cold. Get the bike out on a smooth level road and stabilize the speed about 55 MPH with the throttle lock.

Remove your hands from the bars except for one index finger tip and thumb tip holding on the very end of one bar. Is it steady enough not to build up a wobble with just that light touch? OK, now release the fingers and it'll start to shake. Put the fingers back quickly before it builds up. Did the shake stop as soon as you put a tiny bit of pressure there?

If so, there's probably nothing to worry about.

[ringadingh]

Mine shakes also and it never used to. I installed a new tire, 40psi balanced it, checked everything out and it still shakes. Im suspecting a bad tire also.

[flavor]

I was running about 32 pounds in the front tire and I noticed that if I let go of the handlebard doing 50MPH and let go of the handlebars when the bike slowed down to about 35 I started to get the left right left wobble. I checked the weights and couldn't tell if I threw one. I was on a trip so I didn't bother to put more air in and was considering pulling the tire when I got home after checking pinch bolts etc., but put 36 lbs. in the tire first. The wobble didn't go away but it seems to have gotten better, to the point where it's more than mangeable. The dealer doesn't like the stock tires after asking him about the issue. He talked about the scalloping in the tires. I didn't find any irregularities in the tires. Since the wobble is vertually gone I've decided to wait until next year when I'm going to throw elite III's on the bike as I've had good luck with them on other bikes I've owned.

[classic1]

My 06 wobbled at 40 mph pretty much from day 1 if I took my hands off the bars. The service dept checked the steering bearing and everything was ok but still wobbled. He contacted kawasaki but they didn't want to do anything. He also said don't tell them that you take your hands off the handlebars. He said at least now there was documentation on their file of the problem. Had the wobble until I changed the front tire to Metzeler. Has been fine ever since.

[spirello]

I never had the wobble until i put the new me880s on. Just had to replace my steering head bearings and now it feels worse than ever. I am thinking front wheel bearings? Im going to replace them and see what happens>

[Kawhead]

So from what I read the Dyna Beads are something I can install? I have Metzelers fore and aft with 38psi and 3 inch risers and the shaking occurs at 85 mph. Do I have something to cry about?

Ya know my front Metzler is a little cupped and has some miles on it. The bike has 32,000+ miles, and though I've smeared some fresh grease on the head bearings & tightened them a couple times, the wheel bearings are original.

I hadn't tried this in a while but I got it up to 50 MPH this AM and let go and it tracked as straight as an arrow until it started to slow down a bit. It didn't take much either. A tiny change of wind or road surface that caused me to drop 1 mph and the bike wanted to start to wobble. I tightened the Vista Cruisa a notch, opened the throttle a little and let it accelerate hands-free.

Again, it was arrow straight. The bike ran uo to almost 60 MPH, leveled off (so to speak) and cruised fine with no hands until again it started to slow just a tiny bitand then it wanted to start a wobble.

Thinking back, this is how it has been since new, and I've never made a habit of riding no-hands on the Nomad. Back then I thought about putting a Scotts Rotary Steering Stabilizer on it (high $$ accessory & the best made in the world IMO, but would have required custom mounting on a Nomad) but I never ever felt even a hint of a wobble as long as I had even one finger on the bars.

And no matter how fast I ride the steering is always rock solid as long as I don't let go.

I quickly forgot the need for a stabilizer after the break-in miles when I was finally able to go out and Break the Ton.

100 MPH? Rock solid.

Originally Posted by Kawhead

So from what I read the Dyna Beads are something I can install? I have Metzelers fore and aft with 38psi and 3 inch risers and the shaking occurs at 85 mph. Do I have something to cry about?

Unless it shake when you're holding he bars, I doubt it.

To install Dyna Beads, you just let the air out of the tire, remove the valve core, & funnel them in through the stem. That's about it.