Handlebar shake/jitter

[IdahoKoolKat]

Does anyone else get the handlebar shake/jitter/rattle/shimmy, or whatever you want to call it? I've been noticing it more lately when I am making turns going at least 20-25mph. When I was investigating the SV650's I read a lot about the front end shake with them when people ride at higher speeds, do Katana's suffer a similar issue, or do I just have something not so good going on in my front end? It doesn't do it all the time. I have an 01 750.

[Black_peter]

You either need a new tire, new head bearings, or you're griping the bars too tight..

Run your hand along the front tire. The tire should curve evenly if there are bumps or if bit of the tread seem to "poke" out of the surface your tire is cupped. This is caused by low tire pressure or could have been caused by bad steering head bearings.

[IdahoKoolKat]

I think the tires are fine. I just took it in to the Suzuki shop and had the rear brake pads replaced, and had him check the front brakes and both tires (tread & pressure). I forgot to ask him about the shaking, as it does not do it very often, so it slipped my mind. There was once when I was on a rough piece of pavement when it shook pretty bad while going straight, even after getting through the bumps, but for the mostly, I'm feeling it while taking a fairly steep turn.

[teddy]

check the adjustment on your rear wheel...if it's not 'square', it will cause a 'hop' in the rear end that will transfer through the bike

[BadLuck]

I think the tires are fine. I just took it in to the Suzuki shop and had the rear brake pads replaced, and had him check the front brakes and both tires (tread & pressure). I forgot to ask him about the shaking, as it does not do it very often, so it slipped my mind. There was once when I was on a rough piece of pavement when it shook pretty bad while going straight, even after getting through the bumps, but for the mostly, I'm feeling it while taking a fairly steep turn.

There can be plenty of tread on the tires and they can still be cupped. As stated by Black_peter it's caused by low tire pressure. Run the tires close to the max pressure on the tire sidewall. Shot steering head bearings can cause the same issue. Sometimes you can feel\hear a bang in the neck when going over bumps. Sometimes you can feel a notch or click when turning the bars back and forth. I changed the steering head bearings on my other bike over the summer. Its a staight forward job if thats the issue and you are slightly mechanically inclined. My first guess would be tires though.

[katman05]

I'd bet on the cupped tire.

[akarob]

No man, not at all. If you were closer I'd let ya ride mine. Its dead solid. Feels like its on rails.

I am actually used to my dirt bike's bars shaking all over and the stability of this bike amazes me.

[~Btech~]

if youve ever put fix-a-flate in the tire and didnt get it rotated enough, that might be a cause.
could be a wheel barin... could be a bad barin in the goose neck, brakes possibly sticking on one side, it could be a number of alot of different thing causing a shimmy or shake. go through the whole bike, look for alighnment issues, anything loose or unstable, cracks in framming, sticky breaks, and also check the rims for any weights that might have been lost. one thing to also keep in mind, even if the tire seems fine with no cups or broken belts, the wheel may have thrown a weight and is now off balance. if everything else checks out fine then concider having the wheel re-balanced. hope this helps


p.s. oh yeah almost forgot. when i was saying "wheels" i ment check both of them and dont forget to check tire pressure, thats important too. some times you may get a little wobble or vibration if the tire pressure is down. good luck