Front Tire Seems a Little ,,, "Wandery"

 Noticing these past few days that the front tire and handlebars feel a
little weird.  Can't tell if it is grooving in the road, the fact that it
may have been a weirdly gusty couple of days, etc.

I'll be riding down the road and I get the feeling that the handlebars
rotate slightly on their own by maybe one degree for no apparent reason.
I'm thinking road imperfections or "micro" wind gusts.

Anyway, will probably check:

a)Tire pressure.

b)Steering head bearing play.

c)Axle and that frictional locking arrangement.

d)Play in the wheel bearings.

e)Fork attach clamps.

f)Rear swingarm bearing play and rear wheel bearing play (just in case the
weirdness is coming from elsewhere).

Anything else obvious I should check?

Thanks, Datesfat.

 Datesfat Chicks wrote:

The nut holding the handlebars.
Why didn't you check the tire pressures (both ends) several days ago?

--
Eiron.

 
I assume you mean the big nut in the center that joins the steering stem on
the bottom with the fork-holder plate thing on the top.

OK, will do.  I'll have to review the service docs.  I think there are two
nuts involved.  The lower one I shouldn't mess with at all as that adjusts
the bearing load.  But I'm game for the idea that the upper one could be
loose.

BTW, handlebars are attached to the upper plate thing with two attachment
points.  When I low-sided and moved my handlebars in the holders, I replaced
the holders and the nuts and torqued to spec.  Those are locking nuts, and
I'm sure they haven't moved.


I check tire pressures about once a week on average.  It has been about a
week.  I'll do it again.  Thanks for suggestion.

Datesfat.

 wrote:


Nope. He means YOU.

Anytime a motorcyclist talks about "the nut holding the handlebars"
he's referring to the rider.

I was given an abandoned Honda 50 nearly 40 years ago.

Somebody had removed the nut on top of the upper triple clamp for some
unknown
reason and strip the nut and the spindle while trying to re-install
it.

This was no major problem, the motorcycle was still rideable and was
safe, because the spindle was properly secured to the steering head by
the bearing adjusting nut and a lock nut on top of that nut.

The previous owner took her machine down to the Honda $tealer$hip and
was told that she'd need to buy a whole new front fork because the
spindle was stripped.

So she gave up and abandoned the motorcycle at the hippy motel where I
lived.

The motel manager gave me the decrepit Honda and I drilled a hole
through the top of the big nut and ran a long carriage bolt down
through the hollow spindle to secure the stripped nut to the spindle.

When the previous owner saw me riding her old Honda, she asked me what
I'd done to fix it, and I told her about spending a dollar for a bolt
at the local hardware store.

She didn't want the bike back, and I wound up giving it to my
girlfriend.

 Datesfat Chicks wrote:


No, I'm pretty sure that's not what he meant...

--
   -bts
   -Friends don't let friends drive Windows