front end wobble?

Just wondering what would be the first thing to check out after noticing that the front end wobbles as soon as I let off pressure from my hands? The tire doesn't seem to be out of balance and it is a new tire. It doesn't shake or wobble at all, as long as I have just the slightest amount of pressure on the bars. Is this typical? Do they make cheap stabilizers for these bikes?
Thanks, Doug

 

why not post the year and mileage of your bike??

i know that 4th gens almost all have a slight shimmy with hands off.......but why take your hands off??
lots of attempts (mostly with replacing front tire) made to eliminate the shimmy, few sucessful.
Honda designed it so the hands do the job of a stabilizer.....so use them.

Don't need a steering stabilizer on this bike, just keep your hands on bars since it only makes good sense.

 

My front Dunlop is pretty shot (read:cupped badly), and it shimmies if I let off while decellerating from around 50 mph...

Once I switch to the Michelin Pilot Road 2CT's this winter, it will probably be a non-issue.

 

2nd that, My 86 wobble is around 55-50 with old Avon supervenoms.
Just go faster than the wobble, they get really steady at 120mph:vtr2:

 

I would also check the steering head bearings. Get the front tire off the ground and move the bars slowly from side to side. If you feel any resistance or the bars want to stop or get caught on a flat spot you may need to relube or replace the bearings. Pretty common.

 

Agreed. Keep it safe.

 

I replaced the worn out Dunlops' on my '96 VFR with some Avon tires and had that bar shimmy immediately if I loosened my grip off or took my hands off the bars at all. Had something to do with the balance not being too great on the front tire. The rear was replaced twice on warranty within the first month because of wobbles that could be easily seen with the bike on the center stand. There wasn't anything visible wrong with the front one but it did that shimmy thing until those Avon's were worn out and got replaced. I've heard others say they love Avon's so maybe I just got into a bad batch...

 

Tires my man, installed a set of Pireili corsas, wa-la gone...

 

digdoug,
I cannot comment on how worn tires affect handling as I am pretty good about replacing them.
However, I do notice a headshake on my 6th gen if my saddlebags and trunk are fully loaded. Essentially just makes the front end too light. When I take off the extra weight, problem is resoved.

 

I recently installed side and rear luggage on my 05 and i also have a wobble/shimmy as soon as i let my hands off the bars. I agree with the problem being weight distribution, the center of mass being shifted back. On a previous bike it was the front tire to blame, it had sat with low air over the winter and ultimately affected the steel belt inside the tire throwing it slightly out of round.

 

stem

The tires are highly suspect but the steering stem (top) can get oblong from abuse. I would check it regardless. I have seen and owned a couple where the bearing cup stretched the top beaing mount of the frame out.It will make a clicking noise that can be heard under hard braking.

 

Bingo.

Digdoug's bio states a resurected 87. Now, I'm no mentalists, however it stants to good reason and chance that during the resurection, he replaced the tires. I did. Ghost also had some front end wobble. I replaced the tires twice, and on the third swap, I figured it was more than a little tire rubber balancing issue. The 86 and 87's are notorious for poor steering bearings. As heymike said, its pretty common. I pulled both the upper and the lower bearings and found there to be a slight deformation of the top, and the bottom was more oval than round. Its kinda a bitch to get the whole setup apart, and press out.,..so I recommend putting in some high end racing bearings. You definitely dont want to have to take the trees off and apart again anytime soon.

 

Does the front tire show any uneven wearing? In addition to the basics (tire pressure, wheel balance) I would also check the front fork alignment and make sure that neither fork is leaking which may cause less resistance on one side. It wouldn't hurt to also check to make sure the wheel lugs are tightened to spec and that the steering head bearings don't need to be replaced.

Regards,
Rollin

 

Not another wobble thread!!! My bike does not wobble and I have road attacks that are completely beat now. I have two friends who had the wobble. Not VFR's mind you but one turned out to be a bad tire that looked fine; the other the headset was just slightly loose. Problems solved on both bikes. :thumbsup:

 

DUDE!!!!!!love the new avatar

 

I just installed two new Shinko tires on my 5th gen. No wobble from 80mph on dowm. Silky smooth all the way to 160
I had a bad wobble the instant I let pressure off the bars before, evan after I rebuilt the tripple clamp and replaced the fork seals. It was a bad front tire.

 

frame

The frame on gen 2 was thin where bearing cup mounts and would become oblong after too many hard wheelies. You should pull top of triple and check or you may have noticed noise and movement under hard braking.

 

If you have to keep your hands on the bars something is wrong, and it will feel better when it's fixed.

When I bought my first bike it was explained to me that you should let go of the bars every so often (do not do this and if it shakes (death wobbles, look out) it's head bearings. 14,000 miles later I replaced the head bearings in my PC (little wobbles at certain speeds) and it feels sooooo good!

So probably head bearings, worth a look.

 

wobble

besides bad mounting or balancing, its an old worn tire.