front end decel head shake

02 year model, I've changed the front tire, had it rebalanced and rebalanced, always checks out fine, checked axle for damage and straightness, cleaned, lubed and re-torqued the head bearings. Still has hands off shake on decel. Is a dampener such as a Scott's the cure? They're a little pricey for my wallet right now but if it's truly the only solution, I suppose I'll have to bite the bullet eventually. Thanks for any input or suggestions as to how I should proceed from here.

 

Keep your hands on the bars?


.......

 

This one is too simple . . . tighten your steering head bearings.

Carry on ~

 

or check the balance of the rear tire......

 

Here's a great article on decel headshake.

Shucking the Shakes

 

Headshake article

Thank you for the article. I enjoy all the comments by everyone but it's nice when someone offers up some actual helpful suggestions.

 

Headshake

Already did that too. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Headshake

As I said, I already re-torqued the bearings to spec. Thanks anyway.

 

Headshake

Thanks. This is a very helpful suggestion. I've been wondering about this one. I'll check them and reset them to the stock settings as a baseline and go from there. Thank you very much.

 

Put one of those bigass cargo containers on the back of your bike and fill it with sand. Fat chicas work for those two-up days or even a fat dude if one is so disposed.

The steering head bearings on at least my 91 had plastic races. Ditch them. All the re-lubing and torquing if that plastic is toast is not going to do any good (imo) Seems like I recall the fix was to shove in a bearing from one of the earlier STs..


Never heard of laying hands on a bike. Put your grubby paws on mine and you lose them.. Oh shit, I hope ol CyberBorg doesn't take me serious and whups up on some little dude.

 

Adjusting my steering head bearings did nothing for my 2nd gen. Had to put in new tapered bearings to get rid of the same issue. I've always heard our VFR's don't really need a steering dampener. As for the rear suspension, my two cents is, if its too high or to low it can cause head shake, need to find a happy medium in between. To low and removes weight off the front end especially since your probably sitting up and a little back when you remove your hands. Too high and the the front end is too twitchy. But I still think new head bearings would cure it. How many miles on your bike?

 

30K miles. Had the bearings out last night and they seemed fine, cleaned and lubed them then reassembled. Set up torque properly. Feels smooth. I'm tinkering with the rear shock setup now to see if it makes any difference as the article that someone else posted so kindly states that if my shake occurs only above 40 MPH that the problem is rearward of the steering head so thats where I'm now putting my focus. I feel confident, though, that the head bearings are not my problem. Thanks for your input.

 

replace the bearings with tapers from https://www.allballsracing.com/index.php/ the vfr is the last bike on the planet that needs a steering damper to cure the symptoms you report. To check it, but it on the centerstand and lift the front wheel to check for play. Any slop, your bearings are shot. You may have indeed torqued them correctly, but if the balls are deformed (flat spots) the bike wont handle correct. Roller/Tapers are a $36 solution

 

ps. also check wheel bearings

 

Okay, so according to the article posted by Creaky, if the shake occurs at speeds below 40MPH look to the front end and if it occurs at speeds greater than 40 MPH then focus on the rear end as the source of the problem. My shake occurs at decel from speeds greater than 40 and most notably at around 65. It's really bad if you take your hands off the bars. Now I know some people say "Then don't take your hands off of the bars". Well this is just when it's the worst. The thing is that I can even feel it slightly with my hands on the bars when I'm decelerating going into a corner. And it's kind of like an earthquake in that your just waiting to see if it's going to get REALLY bad. It's a little spooky and I know it's not right so I want to fix it. I feel confident that bearings (both steering head and wheel) are in good condition. If I thought for a second that either of them was at all suspect I would replace them, but I can't afford to just throw money at the problem hoping to luck into a solution. That's why I'm here asking for educated advice. So that I can make an educated diagnosis and try to pinpoint the problem. The VFR is supposedly the last bike to need a steering dampener but that is almost what I'm down to as everything else seems to check out.