Front end vibration?

[RobB]

I'm getting a slight knock / vibration from the front end of the bike.

It's apparent under braking and I sometimes get the same thing when cornering which can be scary.
Does it sound like it could be the head bearings?

Is there a definitive way to tell without stripping it all apart?

Cheers

Rob

 

[roadthing]

You will have to get the front end off the ground. Once you have the weight off the front end, you can check the forks, triple trees, and the wheel itself. Have the neck bearings been checked recently? You may also have a loose retaining nut at the neck post. If it's loose, you can use a pin spanner to tighten it. Be careful not to over-tighten the nuts. You need a certain amount of pre-load, and play. If the nuts are too tight, you will cause the bearings to bind, damage the races, etc.

 

[Powers739]

Purple had a similar problem... I think they changed the bearings out and the problem went away...

 

[RobB]

Hi - nope, I haven't checked the head bearings. I bought the bike a couple of months ago and no doubt this is just another one of the things the previous owner failed to mention.

thanks for the info though - I'll take a look tonight.

Cheers

Rob

 

[RobB]

Hi - just got around to looking at this.
Stripped the front end down. The stem is still on the bike (while I try and get a tool to remove the nuts). There doesn't seem to be too much play and it's turning well from left to right though I have noticed that a collar under the nuts can be rotated by hand.

Does this sound like the nuts needed to be tightened? I've got a new set of bearings whicj I'll put in anyway but I'm hoping this has been the cause of my problem.
Cheers

Rob

 

[RobB]

Well....it was the head bearings.  There was definite wear and notchiness to the cup on the bottom bearing, the one fixed on the bottom of the stem.

Once I had them out the notchiness could be felt easily by just turning the bearing in the cup itself.  Probably overtightened or too many wheelies by the previous owner.  Anyway, all back together and MOT'ed today and it's scary how much more responsive the steering is.  Nearly put the pike over going around a corner as I was used to applyling a lot more force.  

Bike has 25k Miles on it.

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[BUSA_CHeMiST]

Hey Rob, glad u got the problem solved. I've been having some similar vibration in my front end, and like you I suspect the head bearings/races to be bad. I will be pulling the steering head off on wednesday to inspect.

Did you change out the bottom race along with the both bearings?? (the race is that bottom cup thing)

Chemist

 

[capt15]

I have a problem with my right grip vibrating so bad it makes my hand go numb has anybody had a problem with that before?

 

[071300r]

good job post how to for the board