I feel like a bobble head...

[newdude]

hey
I recently started feeling like a wobbling up and down while riding. anyone experienced this?

I visually checked my front tire and it's not too bad.

also, I hear a winding noise when accelerating, if I let go the throttle then it goes away, i give it more throttle then it comes again. any thoughts?

chain is adjusted and lubricated.

I might need a valve job soon.

any help appreciated. thanks

[squiggy]

I recently started feeling like a wobbling up and down while riding. anyone experienced this?

What's the mileage?

It could be the steering head bearings, wheel bearings, the inability of the forks to dampen the vertical wheel movement.

Did you make any adjustments to your suspension?

[newdude]

i'm very inclined to think it might be the wheel bearing.
it has 17k on it and I have done nothing other than oil and chain adjustment since when i got it @ 7k miles.
I think i'll replace the front tire and do the bearings also while i'm at it...and see what happens...
what you think?

[Cyclops755]

I've also recently been feeling like I'm getting bounced around a lot when I'm on the highway.... '98 Kat 600 with 14k. Are there adjustments that need to be made to the suspension periodically? I don't really have the money just start replacing things that "might" fix it...

[paul.miner]

What you describe reminds me of watching cars with bad suspension on the highway. Y'know, the ones that are all spring and no dampening, so they bob up and down constantly, and every little bump renews this.

If you sit on the bike and give the front or rear a firm shove down, does it just return to a neutral position or does it bob up and down a bit? If so, that would suggest you lack dampening in your suspension and you're all spring.

[newdude]

would lack of dampening also cause rough ride?

the reason i ask this is cause i just started feeling every single pot hole in the road....or it might be just me.

I noticed there are adjustment screws on the top of the forks (next to handle bars), could that have anything to do with it?

[96katana96]

check for leaking fork seals, also getting any vibration in the handles?

[squiggy]

i'm very inclined to think it might be the wheel bearing.
it has 17k on it and I have done nothing other than oil and chain adjustment since when i got it @ 7k miles.

hmmm...at 17k miles the bearing shouldn't be bad already. But you should check to see if it is before replacing something, and spending money, that doesn't need to be.

Are there adjustments that need to be made to the suspension periodically?

There is periodic maintenance to be done to the forks and I can't remember what interval that is since I don't have the owner's manual with me. But tipically the fork oil gets replaced. Springs can be replaced with stiffer ones if need be. The oil seals only need to be replaced if leaking. And generally the bushings get replaced if the forks are already apart for major servicing as you really can't tell what condition of the bushings are, if there worn or not, unless the two halves of the forks are separated.

would lack of dampening also cause rough ride?

the reason i ask this is cause i just started feeling every single pot hole in the road....or it might be just me.

I noticed there are adjustment screws on the top of the forks (next to handle bars), could that have anything to do with it?

The Katana's only have one user adjustable setting on the fork and that is the rebound settings. That is controlled by the adjuster screws up on top of the fork.

The rebound adjustment controls how quickly or how slowly the fork rebounds, springs back, from a compressed, or collapsed, condition. When the fork is compressed the fork spring forces the fork apart back to it's natural state prior to being compressed. On top of the fork there are the symbols "TEN" "S" & "H". The TEN means Tension, the S means Soft and the H means Hard. When the tension is set to H[ard] setting then the forks will quickly rebound back in place. And just the opposite for the S[oft] setting. Then of course there's the settings in between.

The compression is fixed, non-user adjustable, unless you were to either alter the fork oil, which will change everything, both the compression and rebound or add mechanical devices like Race Tech's emulators or Traxxion's fork valves to be able to adjust the compression.

[newdude]

ok found the cause to my problem. i found feathering on the front tire...due to low tire pressure. who knew. it did bubble up.

I went back to stock size 120/70R17 and bought a bridgestone and fixed a lot of problems.

I had noticed the bouncing, so that was fixed.
I noticed my gauges were jumping around, specially my RPM needle. fixed.
my speedo also went back to real speed (since the tires are back to stock sizing)
the roughness of the ride, overall improved by a thousand.
also, the handling is 10 times better. it feels like the front tire is glued to the pavement, as do before i always felt as if i was gonna eat it.

I also noticed my rear tire is not even close to stock sizing. i have like a 140/80/17 or something...whoever owned it before me was a real idiot. o by the way, the tire size upfront was 110/80/17 and it handled like crap...

My front wheel bearings will need replacing soon. I noticed some grinding when turning the wheel off the bike. where could i get those?