Wobble on brand new bike

Nikolajsen

"Keep it simple"
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Jul 1, 2017
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Denmark
Quality of assembly has a lot to do with how well the individuals are trained. Country doesn't matter. Japanese are more rigid in their training and it's considered rude to question your superior. .
Yes, and this leads right back to country dependent:p:cool:
"I rest my case" :D:D
 

Cycledude

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Jan 29, 2016
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Rib lake wi
The steering stem nuts were loose on my 2013 when I bought it used very low miles . Yes being loose they were causing a slight wobble so all I did was tighten them a little and the wobble disappeared. Never greased them but yes bearings do SOMETIMES come from the factory not properly greased but I really think mine had proper grease from the factory. Steering head bearings was one of the many things the mechanic checked before they traded for the new 2018.
 

Longdog Cymru

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Jul 21, 2018
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Swansea, Wales, UK
I have about 500 miles on a brand new 2018 Super T. When in a aggressive turn, with both hands on the bars, I had a serious head shake, or front wheel wobble. It went away when straightening up and slight brake. Tire pressure is 35 lbs on a slide type gauge. Did this on a hard left and on a hard right turn. I absolutely love this bike. Because i’m 6’ 2”, I did put Rox risers on it. I would not think it would have that kind of effect on it. Any thoughts?
One option which I don’t think has been mentioned is to ensure that the tyre bead is seated correctly. Even though you are experiencing a head-shake or front wheel wobble, it can be generated by the rear wheel and/or the front wheel. Just check he basics first.
 

Madhatter

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Mar 25, 2013
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buda texas
check your rear spring preload is adjusted up for your weight , setting sag correctly will make the bike handle correctly , to soft and the bike is light on the front and the bike will wollow through turns , to high could cause a high speed wobble …. as the rear is all jacked shortening trail etc.
 

WRW9751

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Jun 4, 2011
Messages
131
Location
Ankeny Iowa
I recently heard a squeaking from the front end. Upon further inspection I've determined that it was coming from head races. I have 45k on a 12. Just ordered the spanner for further disassemble and torquing after re-grease. I have several spanners that probably remove the nuts but am concerned about re-torqing. The manual suggests soap based lithium grease, I think I'm leaning towards water proof boat bearing grease.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
 

RCinNC

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Aug 30, 2014
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North Carolina
I took my steering head apart a couple years ago to repack the bearings. I found that the steering stem nut, which was supposed to be tightened to 94 ft/lbs, was only finger tight. That's the way it came from the dealer, because that was the first time I did any maintenance on the steering head bearings. There's no way I would believe that the steering stem nut came loose on its own if it had been tightened to the correct torque setting, so someone either in the factory or the dealership tightened it incorrectly. If they didn't tighten that properly then it's not a stretch to believe someone in the assembly chain didn't tighten someone's steering head bearing locking rings properly. Especially when you have to use a special crowfoot torque wrench extension to do it, and the torque wrench has to be at a 90 degree angle to the crowfoot wrench to set the proper torque that's described in the manual. It also has to be done in the right sequence, where the lower locking ring has to be torqued to 38 ft/lbs (presumably to seat the bearings in the races), then loosened completely and retorqued to 13 ft/lbs. If a tech wasn't reading the manual correctly and only saw the "13 ft/lbs" setting, you can believe that the steering head would not be torqued correctly and would probably be very loose.

No one is infallible, and even a highly trained tech can screw up. NASA employs some pretty highly skilled subcontractors, but you still have things like the Challenger disaster and Apollo 13. If I experienced the issue that the OP did, in spite of knowing that my bike was brand new and assembled by a top notch manufacturing giant, I'd still suspect right off the bat that either the headset was loose or I had a defect in a tire. I wouldn't ignore what the symptoms pointed to, regardless of the perceived unlikeliness that the bearings had been improperly adjusted.
 

EricV

Riding, farkling, riding...
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Everything Ron has experienced, I did as well on my '12. Any quality bearing grease will do fine. Moly or Marine waterproof wheel bearing grease works well.
 

Speedy1200

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Joined
Sep 19, 2018
Messages
4
Back to the issue of the wobble on a new bike, dealer response is: “Front Tire was never balanced, off 1/2 ounce. Everything was torqued properly. We could not repeat the wobble. It could be the Rox risers.”
Service was done at no charge.
I think it is probably just the rubber mounts under the handle bars to keep down vibration and in that aggressive hard turn I’m asking the bike to do more than it is designed for. We will see when it warms up a bit to ride and test it out. Thanks for everyone’s help!
 

Nig5

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Jan 9, 2015
Messages
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Location
Norfolk UK
Steering stem nut loose? mine was new from dealer and at 6,000 miles handlebars twisted a few degrees over a slow speed bump and nearly had me off, dealer tightened to spec, supposedly! next service at another dealer, they checked and not torqued to spec!
 

Longdog Cymru

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Jul 21, 2018
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Swansea, Wales, UK
Not sure if this has been suggested and/or tried,but it may be worth checking the front tyre bead is seated correctly on the rim then maybe check the run-out on the front wheel.
 
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