Varadero bar wobble

[dgo1212]

Last January I had a couple of incidents on my trusty Varadero, the first one was a smidsy, which involved bouncing off a car wing and mounting the pavement, I managed to swerve enough to hit the car with my right fairing and I'm certain the front wheel didn't hit the car, it did however make quite a horrific noise when I mounted the pavement with a fistful of brake. Had the bike checked over and repaired locally and gave the cager the bill, was right fairing, indicator and 2 headlight bulbs.

Got the bike back and immediately replaced the half worn Bridgestone trail-wings with Michelin pilots, didn't bother balancing them as I never have on a 125 and haven't had a problem before, the Trail-wings were fantastic on dry roads but the slightest bit of damp turned them lethal, can't help but think if I'd had the Michelin's on at the time of the accident I'd have probably been able to stop (it was raining), I was also sick of replacing the Bridgestones every 5000m both front and rear.

3 days later I smack a pothole, loud bang so I pull over and check it out, no visible damage so I ride home, at that time I assumed the bike was fine, there was no reason to think otherwise.

Fast forward a couple of week and I take my hands off the bars to tighten my glove, the bike starts slowing and suddenly starts shaking violently, I grab the bars and retake control, do a little experimenting and the bike is fine over 40 mph, once it's below if I release the bars it starts shaking, yet if I rest my finger on the bar it stops, hence why I'd never noticed it sooner.

The bike has been checked by 2 different people, both credible bike mechanics locally, both say the forks are fine, as is the wheel and everything else related to the front end, both have balanced the wheel and one suggested having the fork seals and oil replaced as it felt spongy on the front end, he was right it was a different bike after, handling and braking improved massively, but I still have the wobble.

I don't know what started the wobble, but it was either the new tyre, the pavement or the pothole, has anybody encountered a similar problem? in particular one where it starts below a certain speed rather than over, I'm now thinking it may be down to the tyre as all other options (that I can think of) have been tried, whilst I don't mind buying a tyre if it cures it, I don't want to buy one and it make no difference as I've recently been laid off and could do without blowing money, whilst I can live with the problem myself and have done for the last 12 month , I may have to consider selling it and I don't want the hassle that would innevitebly come from this problem, thanks in advance

[barrkel]

I've had two separate SH300s, 2011 and 2012. On both, the handlebars shake while decelerating with no hands on at 30. Depending on how the shake develops, it can seem quite violent as the bike gets quite slow.

I dropped the 2011 one maybe 5 times; I have never dropped the 2012 one. Same wobble on each.

elkfazer1 on YouTube talks about a wobble on his TDM when decelerating with no hands on in a recent post. He got his TDM from new, and I'm guessing never dropped it either.

If you can't feel it with hands on, and the bike isn't unstable at higher speeds (i.e. when you give the handlebars a shake, it isn't hard to control - be careful in trying this), I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I'd be more worried if the bike drifted to one side with no hands on, i.e. that you have to lean off heavily to one side to keep it straight. That's a sure sign of something misaligned.

PS: make sure your tyre pressures are correct, especially the front. Make sure your gauge is accurate; try overinflating it by a couple of psi and see if that changes things.
____________________
Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ

[Pete.]

How is the rear tyre? Many front-end issues are rear-tyre related.
____________________
a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[dgo1212]

[dgo1212]

[Robby]

As Pete said, I would have a good look at the rear end. The following are all possible causes:

Low tyre pressure
Worn tyre
Poor wheel alignment
Buckled/dented rim
Knackered wheel bearings
Loose rear axle nut
Dragging brake
Worn swingarm bearings/bushes or loose swingarm nut

If the bike is more than 7 years old or has done more than 20k, then a bearing is a possibility, otherwise bearing/bush trouble would be unusual.

Wheel aligment is quite likely - the marks on the swingarm are often quite untrustworthy, and it's worth checking the alignment using another method, such as a piece of string or a long straight edge. I have a home-made contraption to do this using a couple of long lengths of 2x4 held together by threaded bar.

A dragging brake is more likely that you may thing, particularly if you have a disc brake where the disc could be slightly warped, or not sitting level because the alloy wheel under it has corroded and pushed the disc out of true.


All that said, it's not a good idea to take your hands off the bars when riding. Bikes are inherently unstable after all.

[P.]

Mine also does this.

Mine only does it around and under the 40mph mark, only things I have changed are the front tyre and it has been dropped once.

Front wheel looks straight as does the rear... strange. Like to see how you resolve yours

[dgo1212]

Cheers for the input it all helps

Robby-All rear nuts and bolts are tight as I had play in the swingarm bearings which was sorted when I tightened the nut after replacing shocker, has had mot and service at different places and neither picked anything up and I also had a good look round it myself, pressures are good and the tyres were brand new around the time it started.

The rear brake dragging is an issue I've had in the past and will check it again, will push the pistons back to release the pads and test ride it with the pressure off, alignement on rear may also be at fault as there are no marks on swingarm so I have to count the number of turns on ratchet, will measure it and adjust as neccesery

[hazza]

I had this on my bandit, the slightest touch made it go away.

It was a worn front tyre.
____________________
3 Honda NC50's(Sold)-->'72 Puch Maxi S (Sold, want it back!)--> '90 Yamaha RXS 100 (Stolen)--> '87 Honda Cub 90(Sold) --> '95 Kawasaki Eliminator (Sold) --> '98 Bandit 600 (Sold) -->'07 SV650S (Current)

[dgo1212]

[neil.]

I have this on my CBF, between 30 and 40mph, as far as I know it's been like that since day 1. Wheel alignment etc all OK, never found the cause, had a new rear tyre, no difference. Think it's just a 'characteristic' of the bike.
____________________
CBT February 2008 | A2 June 2008 | Yamaha YBR125 (written off) | Honda CBF125 (current)

[FireStorm-X]

Hi there

I had a similar problem with my Chinese 125, took it back 5 times to the dealer i got it from, but they could not sort it. Took it to hogfarthers in southport and they sorted it out. Not 100% sure what they did, but it was to do with the head bolts. Since then 3,000km without a wobble. Might be worth giving hogfarthers a call and see if they can give you any advice if you live to far away to call in ?

Tryed new tyres on mine first, did not change anything

Adjusted rear shocks, changed the speed at which the wobble showed

Also check when stoping, ie last few feet, use just the front brake. When I did this I had a loud clunk, from the front and could also feel it

But after hogfarthers checked and adjusted the head bolts it was fine, made sure they gave it a good look over when I had them service it
____________________
Lexmoto Street 125 (sold) - Kawasaki ZR7S

[Skudd]

I'm thinking it is the 1000 cc bike. Mine does that head shaking at 30mph, not as much with new tyres, but will always do if I have the luggage on. Try making your rear set up a bit harder and don't always ride with luggage on if you don't need to.
____________________
Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[dgo1212]

[dgo1212]