Why do I wobble like a weeble?

[draketrumpet]

I love the way they stare at me when I tell them I'm looking for parts for a motorcycle. It's entertaining. I'll check them out tomorrow.

[psycoreefer]

yeah, get used to the stares, I look at it like this: How many funny looks am I willing to endure to save money? I'll tell you a lot! Same crazy looks I get at home depot, and lowes, and the auto parts stores, and......But at least I'm the crazy guy on "that cool old bike".

[XJOK2PLAY]

One thing that helped me eliminate a small, low speed wobble I had on my XJ that hasn't been mentioned yet... add some weight to your fairing pockets.

If you carry a tool bag, etc... place it in the faring instead of your trunk.

I had a few advise me to do this, and it did the trick.

My wobble was an intermittant, low speed situation only though.

But it was still enough to scare the crap outta me when it would happen!

Motorcycle front end wobbles at ANY speed suck!

It solved my wobbles....

[DGXSER]

Around here at Lowes or Home Depot, they have a setp where you can take any nut or bolt standard or metric and figure out what thread and size it is. No more stupid stares.

[draketrumpet]

Motorcycle front end wobbles at ANY speed suck!

I know it. The other day on the freeway, I hit an open patch with no one around, so I thought I'd open the throttle a little and see what happened. Only problem was, when I let go of the throttle, I let go a little to hard and started a little wobble . Lucky for me it didn't last long.

[DGXSER]

you REALLY need to check those steering bearings IMO. That sounds ALOT like steering bearings to me.

[draketrumpet]

Yes, I know I need to check the steering bearings. But I did let go of it to fast and hard without letting up on the slight pressure I was applying with my left hand, hence the slight pull on the bars and the ensuing wobble. That was a dumb thing I did.

[draketrumpet]

So, I got my bolts, but I'm gonna have to 3 bolt it till MoM. The one hole that hasn't had a bolt on it is too full of crud I can't get out until I can take the tire off. If anyone is curious what size

M8 x 20 1.25 thread plus an M8 locknut.

I'm noticing a lot of the nuts and bolts that use a size 12 wrench come in size 13 replacements, so you may wish to add that size wrench to your on bike toolkit.

[motoman]

+1 what dgxser said. If things are right, should'nt be any issue with that front-end doing anything but being stable......fortunately with the XS being a bit "slow" and heavy in the front, your "getting by" with an existing issue you would NOT get away with in a newer frame designed lighter handling front end of a later model bike, such as my ST. Having a flat spot or "easy" loose spot straight-ahead with either worn or bit loose steering head bearings on this or similar late model sport tourer WILL guarentee a raised pucker factor at speed, hard on front front brake slow down.....if it doesent turn into a tank slapper which you will NOT be able to react quick enough if it happens. Also, the sudden dreaded weave in a heavily "loaded" front end charging into a corner resulting from a neglected front end problem. Putting the heavier stuff in the fairing..........you really can't be serious, and if you are your messing with diaster! Think about it guys, your already loading the front-end coming into a corner, or heavy front braking straight ahead(which you SHOULD be doing anyway)so for safety sake at the least, take the time from just wanting to ride and fix the dern wobble issues. You need to be taking some of these reccomendations from other members serious pertaining to the front-ends of your two-wheeled rides no matter what make they are!