VMAX dives to left when you let go

[4sylvester]

at about 20mph in a straight line if i drop into neutral and i let go of the handlebars the bike leans left pretty hard. is that normal? I just tightened my head bearings about a half a turn after getting the 40mph wobble. Tightening fixed the wobble. My 06 vmax is new to me. I don't remember if the bike had this issue before i tightned the bearings. Could over tightening be a problem?

 

[dannymax]

at about 20mph in a straight line if i drop into neutral and i let go of the handlebars the bike leans left pretty hard. is that normal? I just tightened my head bearings about a half a turn after getting the 40mph wobble. Tightening fixed the wobble. My 06 vmax is new to me. I don't remember if the bike had this issue before i tightned the bearings. Could over tightening be a problem?

If the head bearings are too tight the bike will 'wander' at speed, you'll have a difficult time trying to get it to track in a straight lin.

Don't know about the other issue, don't think I've ever heard that mentioned.

 

[gamorg02]

will it lean right at 20? my bike will start to wonder at about i think 12 mph and under.

 

[naughtyG]

2 possibilities:

- you overtightened your head bearings, causing the bike to wander. Is it hard to keep it in a straight line at low speeds?

- your left-hand front brake caliper is binding. Put the bike on its center stand, have someone heavy sit on the back to raise the front wheel off the ground, and see if the wheel spins freely.

 

[4sylvester]

Wheel spins free. It doesn't wander as far as i can tell. When i do the handlebar bounce test the bars still bounce of the end stop but much. I don't think the head bearing is too tight. It just seems weird that i can't ride hands off... not that i want too. haha! I'll see if i can't narrow the condition down a little further. Maybe it was the road i tested it on.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[4gasem]

OK that's not RIGHT! I have an '06 and even before modifying it, I never had that issue.

Chris

 

[one2dmax]

Stock wheels? Silly question but are you sitting centered up? It's easy to sit a little bit off sometimes. Try sitting off a bit to the right and see if the COG change makes it go straight.

Sean

 

[naughtyG]

Only other things I can think of are a dodgy tire, or, as you said, road camber.

 

[98Redlne]

Is it possible that a washer swap on the rear could do this?

 

[gleno]

IF you have had excessively loose steering head bearings the bearing shell may have moved in the steering head.

This is known as a 'Walking Bearing' and it will cause your bike to wander as you have described.

The fix is;

1) Set the bike up on a stand as if you were about to do a normal bearing adjustment i.e. front wheel off the ground.

2) Take off the top yoke retaining nut.

3) Loosen the fork retaining bolts in the top yoke to allow the fork tube some abililty to slip when you do the adjustment.

4) Over tighten the lower steering stem adjustment nut by about 40lbs.

5) Rotate the steering head thru it's full left stop to right stop rotation. This should seat the bearing shell.

6) Back off the lower steering stem adjustment nut to it's correct torque setting.

7) Adjust the top steering stem adjustment nut to it's correct torque setting.

8) Don't forget the re-tighten the fork tube bolts.

9) Re-tighten the top yoke retaining nut.

Done.