Slight front end wander

[yellowandfast]

Took the V-max out for a 30 mile ride tonight and noticed that its kind of a hand full to keep straight.

Im constantly correcting to keep from wandering in my tire lane.

I got home and noticed that the throttle side fork tube is about 1/16" lower in the top tree than the right, which is flush.

Is that enough of a difference to make the bike react that way?

I have had probably 10 bikes completely apart and never had this problem.
I however have always made sure the forks were installed correctly.

I would have to assume the fork seals have been done as the bike has 45,000 on it and they are in great shape and even had the 7 psi of air in them when I checked them on saturday.
The tires are brand new and there are no noticable wear patterns in it to show what maybe going on,

Is there anything else that I can check or reference to help correct this condition.

I did the bounce test and the steering stem is tight.

Any help would be great.

 

[85vmax]

I got home and noticed that the throttle side fork tube is about 1/16" lower in the top tree than the right, which is flush.

Is that enough of a difference to make the bike react that way?


YES it is...................................

 

[Fire-medic]

Obviously, the former owner did that to compensate for the crown of the road.

And how would anyone who lives in a town where the western-most north-south surface road is named "Shotgun Rd." and is mostly dirt, with bovines wandering across it constantly, be able to weigh-in on a highly-complex matter of handling involving pavement and bike behavior?:rofl_200:

 

[Rollie]

What tire pressures are you running ?

 

[dannymax]

Overtight steering head bearings will cause a 'wander'...have you adjusted them recently?

 

[one2dmax]

Exactly. The fork sticking through one side more then the other should be fixed but that's not the cause of your problem. Sounds like the stem bearings are set too tight so the bike can't find it's "center" when rolling down the road.

Sean

 

[gamorg02]

i'd fix the fork length, do the bounce test and inspect that front tire.

then look at the rear tire, and the swingarm bolt adjustments

then see where you are.

 

[gamorg02]

just thinking along sean's line of thought, may want to check the bearings too, if there are notches in the bearings it could want to rock back and forth in a 'notch'.

 

[SpecOps13]

When my 94 did this after we adjusted it with the bounce test, I loosened the bearing adjustment just 1/32 of a turn and the wander went away... Good Luck..

 

[maleko89]

Overtight steering head bearings will cause a 'wander'...have you adjusted them recently?

Agreed, this happened on my '99 recently. On my '89 it was due to worn bearings.

 

[yellowandfast]

Well after some adjustments I found out that the steering stem bearings had a "notch" in them. Previous owner had them way to tight and when I loosened them it became more evident.

Pulled it apart tonight and found the races were heavily worn.

New bearings are on the way.

Thanks again for all the help.

Jeremy