Front wheel shimmy?

My NC700X has about 3000 miles on it now. I bought it used with 1700 on it. I have noticed for some time that the front end will shimmy a bit when I take my hands off the bars. Has anyone had this problem? If so, what did you do about it? I had a similar problem on a Moto Guzzi California that I bought used. I picked it up in Chicago and rode it back to Atlanta and I couldn't take my hands off the bars for fear off wobbling off the road. It didn't help that I encountered 30 mph winds most of the way back. I later determined that the front tire was badly cupped and a new tire cured it. When I visually inspect my present front tire I cannot see an indication of cupping but who knows. It was shimmying at a little over 2000 miles so the tire was not that worn. Anybody got ideas?

GT928 said:

My NC700X has about 3000 miles on it now. I bought it used with 1700 on it. I have noticed for some time that the front end will shimmy a bit when I take my hands off the bars. Has anyone had this problem? If so, what did you do about it? I had a similar problem on a Moto Guzzi California that I bought used. I picked it up in Chicago and rode it back to Atlanta and I couldn't take my hands off the bars for fear off wobbling off the road. It didn't help that I encountered 30 mph winds most of the way back. I later determined that the front tire was badly cupped and a new tire cured it. When I visually inspect my present front tire I cannot see an indication of cupping but who knows. It was shimmying at a little over 2000 miles so the tire was not that worn. Anybody got ideas?

Click to expand...

I can't speak for anyone else, but I noticed straight away, that my NCX will ever so slightly wag it's bars if I take one or both hands off. [insert standard: "Well don't take yer hands off the bars, then! phrase, here, lol]

It just surprised me a little, because the NCX has (for me) a really long wheelbase, and very conservative rake. My little CBR125R is as twitchy a bike as I've ever had, but it is ultra, ultra, rock stable and steady with no hands on the bars.

this spring to mind
[video=youtube_share;dYhsCU-5K1g]http://youtu.be/dYhsCU-5K1g[/video]

GT928 and LBS i agree. Mine is at +6.000 miles and have done this since new ? I have the Z8 tires, Z8 might be the problem ?
Anyway not a major problem and new tires will be Michelin Pilot Road 3. Hopefully they will solve it.

Vescol said:

GT928 and LBS i agree. Mine is at +6.000 miles and have done this since new ? I have the Z8 tires, Z8 might be the problem ?
Anyway not a major problem and new tires will be Michelin Pilot Road 3. Hopefully they will solve it.

Click to expand...

I forgot to add, that it still does it with my brand new TKC80 tires installed. Funny, I would have almost expected it if the bike came with knobbies in the first place, or at least been of that frame of mind, not being surprised by it. I've not owned too many bikes that did the handlebar wag right from new.

It's not a big deal anyway though, (IMHO) as I've hit some great cracking bumps, pot holes, gee-outs, etc., at some fairly high speeds, and it doesn't continue into any fear of tankslapper syndrome. I can ride with no hands for as long as I choose, and it never turns from gentle wag to a pronounced weave or shake/wobble.

Thanks for the replies. It is really not too bad, but my Guzzi would coast down from 60 to a near stop with no hands on the bars (after the new tire), even when braking. I'll just keep an eye on it and see if there is a difference when I change tires. I might try to slide the forks tubes up a bit to see if that helps.

GT928 said:

My NC700X has about 3000 miles on it now. I bought it used with 1700 on it. I have noticed for some time that the front end will shimmy a bit when I take my hands off the bars. Has anyone had this problem? If so, what did you do about it? I had a similar problem on a Moto Guzzi California that I bought used. I picked it up in Chicago and rode it back to Atlanta and I couldn't take my hands off the bars for fear off wobbling off the road. It didn't help that I encountered 30 mph winds most of the way back. I later determined that the front tire was badly cupped and a new tire cured it. When I visually inspect my present front tire I cannot see an indication of cupping but who knows. It was shimmying at a little over 2000 miles so the tire was not that worn. Anybody got ideas?

Click to expand...

On all Honda Goldwings this is a maybe problem. Honda uses ball bearings in the front end yoke at the triple tree. I don't care how many times the dealer retorques the triple tree, with hands off bike some fronts wobble and some don't. I personally think this is caused by weld heat movement at the yoke, but it does not matter as Honda will not honor this as a warranty issue. Why you may ask, because you are not suppose to take your hands off the handle bars.




Tires, tire air, tire balance, and tire pressure, as well as improper toque of triple tree or front tire bolt can also cause this problem. But I would almost bet every time they are not the cause. I've just seen this problem so many times, and yes it is a sometimes problem.

There is a fix, but you got to pay for it. Replace the stock yoke bearings with ALL BALL tappered sealed bearings. I recommend you have your dealer do this, and should cost about $250.

















i

This has come up here and many other forums.........can be alot like an oil thread.........

Complete link......Read this:

http://nc700-forum.com/forum/nc700-general-discussion/2513-steering-damper.html


One response....


Hands off the bars "head shake" sometimes started by a bump of the bars or a bump in the road can have a many causes...... sometimes can be a very normal condition. Think that is where the comment comes from do not remove hands from the bars. Some new riders experience this head shake for the first time while zippering a jacket etc and are surprised.

This has been written up on many forums and many different bikes........the keys are hands off the bars and deceleration. High speed wobbles and high speed weaves is a whole different senerio and should not be combined as one size fits all.

Things that play a part and make it more obvious:
tire inflation
tires (tread and wear)
steering head bearings adjustment
swing arm bearings
huge wind screens
handle bar mounted wind screens
high weight in the rear trunk
suspension changes in bad way
simply moving forward on the seat can change this condition

or back to the start do not let go of the bars beleive it or not your hands and arms are part of the steering system.

It would be an error to automaticaly jump to the conclusion the bike is "broken" for hands off bars decel shake.

Had this problem on my VFR (still do) and the culprit turned out to be front wheel out of balance. My front rim has a ding from hitting a pothole and it takes a bunch of wheel weights to balance it. While cleaning my rims I must have used something that dissolved the adhesive on the wheel weights that they put on when balancing the front wheel and a wheel weight fell off. I have tried to use the balance beads and removed the rest of the weights but my rim is too off to completely balance that way. I need to replace my front wheel. You might check to see if a weight came off your front wheel. If so you can probably fix it easily by using the beads or getting another wheel balance.

netizen said:

Had this problem on my VFR (still do) and the culprit turned out to be front wheel out of balance. My front rim has a ding from hitting a pothole and it takes a bunch of wheel weights to balance it. While cleaning my rims I must have used something that dissolved the adhesive on the wheel weights that they put on when balancing the front wheel and a wheel weight fell off. I have tried to use the balance beads and removed the rest of the weights but my rim is too off to completely balance that way. I need to replace my front wheel. You might check to see if a weight came off your front wheel. If so you can probably fix it easily by using the beads or getting another wheel balance.

Click to expand...

Put Ride On in your new tire when you install it. Ride On is self balancing, and will get rid of this problem, and you will not have to balance tire. Yes, throw all the weights away.

I change all my own tires,I would rather have wheel weights OR a slight wobble than have to deal with ride on when I change the tire..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Old Can Ride said:

Put Ride On in your new tire when you install it. Ride On is self balancing, and will get rid of this problem, and you will not have to balance tire. Yes, throw all the weights away.

Click to expand...

Other side of the story........any of the in tire balance stuff is controversial at the very least and some believe they will do no harm but also do real good.............other may say snake oil others may say next best thing to sliced bread.
At any rate............ no vehicle or tire manufacture recommends or allows them to be used in any repair and is not a substitute for balance weights.

My NCX had wobbled once and the only thing I found was the tires were a tad low on pressure. After I topped them off, no more wobble.
I change my own tires also and gave Ride-On shot on my PR3's. Different strokes and all, but my bike has no wheel weights and rides great. Hopefully I won't have any flats for at least 15,000 miles or more.

Old Can Ride said:

Put Ride On in your new tire when you install it. Ride On is self balancing, and will get rid of this problem, and you will not have to balance tire. Yes, throw all the weights away.

Click to expand...

Don't know why I hadn't thought of this... thanks OCR you just keep coming up with helpful advice

I also use Ride-on in my tires. I have not experienced any front wheel shimmy. I can ride one handed very easily, as my NC is very stable. I even test the no hands during deceleration yesterday and it's steady for the second or two that I felt OK with having my hands off the bars. I've put thousands of miles on my last set of tires with Ride-on installed and put it in my current set of PR3's. I changed my tires myself and it wasn't anywhere near as messy as people make it out to be. Only my rear rim had a small amount of the stuff on it that I was able to wipe of with a paper towel. Front was a totally clean dismount.

I have the Z8 shakes... from day one
front is wearing funny
not real fond of Metzlers, but not sure if it's the tires fault... or the steering head bearings... or the hand fairings.... or?

I know putting tapered rollers in my 82 Yamaha cured it's death wobble
certain tires still cupped, but never wiggled...

future upgrade for me

hozabah said:

I have the Z8 shakes... from day one
front is wearing funny
not real fond of Metzlers, but not sure if it's the tires fault... or the steering head bearings... or the hand fairings.... or?

future upgrade for me

Click to expand...

Um, you are not alone. I rode home the other night from work in 30 mph wind gusts and a steady rain. The back Metzeler kicked out on me, twice! I got home, and compared the tires to my dunlop elite III's. There is seemingly no escape for rain on the Metz's. I will get my use out of them, and swap them out when the time comes.

Lean forward a bit to put more weight up front. It eliminates the shimmy in mine. My old er6n did the same thing.

Mine does it too with 4K miles on Z8's. Don't know the cause, but I first noticed it after I installed my luggage. It's worse on decel and if hands left off bars long enough it would end up in a tank slapper and I would crash. It's that bad.

gkgeiger said:

Mine does it too with 4K miles on Z8's. Don't know the cause, but I first noticed it after I installed my luggage. It's worse on decel and if hands left off bars long enough it would end up in a tank slapper and I would crash. It's that bad.

Click to expand...

Fully stock bike 1k miles I could drive without using my hands at all. No shimmy.