1999 vfr800 problem

Greetings all! Brand new to the forum. Just picked up a 99 VFR. I am actually riding it now to see if its ok and no problems. A friend of mine owns it. She never rides it much, but dropped it couple times getting on and off the bike. Anyways at speed 40 to 50 is really noticeable, the front end shimmies back and forth. If i were to let it continue the bars just might slap back and forth. With both hands on the bars i can feel it trying to shimmy also. Anyone have any ideas? There is no visible damage to the bike except for some scratches and scuff marks from the bike being dropped. Also at speed the bike seems to wobble a bit during turns. I have reidden other bikes before and never experienced this before. I was thinking the head bearing or the front wheel out of balance. Any help. Thanks

 

Good guesses !

Steering bearings loosen up over mileage, might need re-tightening, are usually shot and need replacement by 40k miles, could be worn tire or bad wheel bearings, also maybe replace fork oil.

How many miles on dat bitch ??

 

14000 miles, not too many. over 5 years or so it was only ridden 2000 miles.

 

As a cheap and easy fix try replacing the tires, you gotta do it anyway since I'm assuming they're old tires. (They get hard and lose their grip with age)

 

the tires have less than 2000 miles on them. they however are 5-6 years old. should i still replace them, or at least the front?

 

Yes, go ahead and replace them it's cheap insurance. If money's really tight you can buy tires online like at ridedirect.com take the wheel off yourself and take it to a motorcycle shop. They won't charge as much seeing as how all they gotta do is take the old tire off and put the new tire on.

 

new tire on front, battlax bt016. wobbles mostly gone. next i will have the head bearings looked at. thanks for the help.

Bill