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TECHNICAL MOTOBRICK WRENCHING In Remembrance of Inge K. => The Motobrick Workshop => Topic started by: i-man on October 29, 2014, 08:16:05 AM
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My 1990 k75 seems to have developed a strange bouncy feeling in the front end, or at least it feels like it's coming from the front. It's not always present, but it mostly is. particularly at low speeds. Kinda feels like I'm going over a very mild washboard road, or the tires have a flat spot.
The tires are inflated to their max pressure, but I've also ridden it with 10lbs. less then max. No difference. The tires look to be in good shape with lot's of life left in them. Though the crowns on both tires are a little flat.
I know this is pretty vague. I've ridden the bike about 100 miles, and didn't notice it in the first 95, so I don't think it's always been there.
Any thoughts?
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It sounds like the tire/wheel needs to be re-balanced.
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Wheel bearings?
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Does the bounce frequency get higher as speed increases?
Can you stand on the pegs and lean forward enough to see what the front end is doing while you're riding?
I've never seen it but I've heard tires can "break" on the inside.
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Thanks for the replies. This really is a great site and I look forward to the day when I know enough to help out, instead of just asking for help.
I guess it could be out of balance, it does seem strange that that would just come on all the sudden. But maybe that's how it happens? I lack experience with it.
I get no side to side play when I check the wheel barrings in the way I know to check it. Is there a more advanced way to check, short of taking it to a professional?
The bounce, near as I can tell smooths out, at least somewhat, at higher speeds. I mostly notice it at medium speeds, say 30ish to 50ish. Not as bad (noticable perhaps? ) below 30ish and above 50ish. I'll try looking at the front tire while riding on the way home.
When it first happened, I found it so unnerving that I turn around and parked it. I did, unwisely perhaps, ride it all the way to work today. It doesn't feel like doom is right around the corner, but it is quite annoying.
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I ride a similar aged k75, running Michelins, and mine does it too. And i've heard about more k75's doing it, albeit most people notice it after a tire change. If yours does it out of the bleu on the same tires that's odd. You could lift the front end and spin the wheel feeling for bumps in the tire, which would indicate a broken carcass. If that's the case i would replace it, if not i honoustly wouldn't know where to look (but i'm not to worried about my front wheel having a little bounce, so i run this tire untill it's done for...)
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it's a little vexing. I can't swear it wasn't doing it before, but I did turn the bike around and park it on a beautiful fall Sunday morning when I REALLY want to ride it, so I'm 99.9% sure that it just started. But the time before was the first real ride of any distance, so maybe the bike being unfamiliar masked it somewhat.
I'd appreciate it if others who have more experience and an opinion about whats been offer up so far -tire out of balance, barrings, ect., could give there take on those possible causes.
Thanks again!
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Seemed considerably worse on the ride home. I did glance at the front tire a couple of times and it seemed wobbly. Could have been an optical illusion, as the front wheel was definitely jumping around.
Just seemed annoying this morning, but after this afternoon's ride, i won't ride it again until i have it figured out. Not quite an white knuckle affair, but no fun either.
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My K-bike developed a bounce at 60 kph consistently. the pogoing would start at around 55 and continue through about 65; never higher or lower. I thought it was tires and I did change them but the pogoing continued, albeit less. I adjusted the steering bearings and refilled the fork oil. It pretty much disappeared.
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First make sure the tyre is at the right pressure. Too many don't check their tyre pressure often enough. If you ride for too long on deflated tyres they will result in a kind of knobbly ride.
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rim could be bent. As it has been said the fork oil level could be off. If the tire looks fine then change the fork oil - easy and cheap.
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i think i'll start with the fork oil. Probably needs to be done anyway.
I took the wheel off in preparation of taking it to the shop for balancing. i was looking it over in a good light, flipping it around when I noticed the direction arrow. I had the wheel off earlier (before getting it on the road). I remember thinking to myself 'self, this wheel only goes in one direction, be sure to put it back on in the correct direction.' But I'm getting older and my brain doesn't work as well as it used to. Still, I'm pretty sure I put it on it the correct direction. But, if I'm wrong and had it on backwards, would it cause the symptoms I describe?
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Yes that could be the cause.
As you ride the carcass of the tire sets (a bit) to the direction the forces work in.
Now flip the tire and have the forces working the other way, it's a bit like going against the grain.
That could cause a tire to behave strangely, although i've never heard of it being as bad as you describe...
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Take the wheel off and spin the bearings by hand and see how it feels. It's likely your bearings are shot.
"Sealed bearings" are a misleading term. It means you don't need to add grease, it doesn't mean you can't inadvertently add water with a blast of a hose especially high pressure at a car wash. Resist trying to blow the crud out of the bearing area in the future. Leave it and Let it dry after a wash then take a towel and wipe the area clean.
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i'll try that.
I changed the fork oil and put the wheel back on (in the correct direction, though I'm 99.9% sure it was in the correct direction to begin with) and the bounce was still there. so the wheel will come back off and i'll spin those bearings.
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i'm not sure how freely the bearings should spin. i can turn them, they're not frozen, but I can't say they spin freely.
Is this normal?
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They won't free wheel because of the grease inside. Things I look for:
Does the inner race turn smoothly or does it feel "crunchy"
Is the inner race loose and wobbly?
Are there signs of overheating (discoloration of the bearing)
If any of those conditions exist I replace them.
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the inner races spin without any crunch or wobble. they feel solid without any side to side play.
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Then I'd say they are probably good.
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f-ed up rear shock and / or f-ed up rear tior can cause front end whack...
j o
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One thing that can happen is, if the tread is blocky, the blocks will develop a "saw tooth profile", which could cause some "whack".
It's more noticeable on a knobby off-road style tire, but I could see it in a Metzeler my bike came with. You might be able to feel it rubbing the tread with your hand, rubbing the top of the front tire forward will be easier than rubbing it backward. The Metzeler that I had, you could see it if you got down and looked at a nice profile view of the tire. Also if the tire is dusty, rubbing it will show you any high/low spots or irregularities that you might not feel or see. As you will wipe the dust off the high spots.
Just a few other easy to look at things.
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f-ed up rear shock and / or f-ed up rear tior can cause front end whack...
j o
I'm following this thread keenly. I haven't had my K75 very long but have a definite porpoising motion going on between 35-40. I know my rear shock is blown. I'm saving the scratch to buy one. If it fixes my problem I'll let you know.
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Do you know if the shock is the original? Good possibility it's worn out. Mr. Johnny seems adamant that the shock could cause the issue. :bmwsmile
I tend to defer to the experienced knowledge base on most forums. :riding:
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One of the troubling things about the bike is I know nothing of it's history. It was ridden from California, blewup the clutch in NC (where I am)and was abandoned when the guy saw the repair bill. I've never even met that person, or spoken with him. I got it from a guy who bought it to part out. I usually pass on bikes like this, but the price was good (not great) so I decided to take a chance.
That's a long way of say I don't know if the shock is original or not.
Is there a way of testing the shock?
I guess I'll try adjusting the steering head bearings (anyone got a link to a good tutorial? ) and try some Ride-on / dyna beads for balancing. I'll certainly post the results.
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Hold the bike up, try to bounce the rear end like you would a basket ball. There will be little to no resistance to your push if it's bad.
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I'll post here, but i should probably start a new thread.
Does anyone know if Ride-on ATV is different then Ride-on MC? The ATV ride-on is half the price.
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sorry for that last post. that just muddies the water.
Anyway, I just pushed down on the rear of the bike in an attempt to test the rear shock. it didn't bounce. In fact it seemed quite stiff. Don't know if that's a good thing or not.
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It sounds better than mine. Mine is so soft/weak that I almost get the rear tire to come up off the ground... :nono
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How still is stiff? No compression at all? I had no compression on my old Progressive and the shock was kaput, I was basically riding a hard tail. That's not supposed to be good for your final drive among other things.
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I did't jump up and down on it 'cuz the front wheel is off, but there was some give. It was pretty stiff though.
If this is a sign that something is off, is there any other ways to check it?
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since I last posted, I've balanced the front tire with 8 oz of Ride On and read up on adjusting the front forks and did a little of that , to the best of my abilities. I took it for a test ride and the bounce seems about the same. I can stand on the pegs and lean over the handle bars while going down the road and the front wheel looks off, as in there looks to be a slight wobble.
It doesn't really seem unstable and it handles fine, but I'd like to figure this out.
Any ideas?
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I ve just read through this thread and I belive nobody has mention something called " sticktion", and your gonna love this. Assumming your tyres is fitted correctly, wheel not buckled, bearing , tyre pressures, fork oil and the head bearings are fine it only leaves sticktion. Still none the wiser then i will explain. Back in the day, when moto bins still had a forum, and folk still rode 2 valve twins sticktion was a big thing and there was quite an impressive thread on it ( airheads too). In a nut shell Bmw forks are made to very fine tolerances and a slight misalignment would cause stickion, that is the forks stick in certain position due to the friction caused by miss alignment, they dont lock fast it just takes a little jolt to get them going. Try this, you've stopped your bike and the forks have depressed during breaking your are idling waiting for the lights say, you let go of the front brake or roll the bike backwards and the for pop back up a little, that is sticktion.
The cure is quite a pain, I did to my R80. What you need is a dial gauge and a sheet off glass, you then put the bike on the centre stand with the front wheel in the air, difficult enough I know, the bike has too be firmly pinned down so it cant fall. remove the fairing ,front wheel mud guards and fork sliders. you now have just the fork stantions comming out of head brace, so with the dial gauge measure between the forks from top to bottom to make sure they are parallel, looking for very low tolerance here. Next your get a sheet off glass lay it across the fork stantions and it should touch in four places, you should not be able to wobble it, feeler gauges are good here as we are talking thousands of an inch. This of course assumes you stantions are strait in the first place, you can check these by removing them and rolling them on a flat surface.
Once you've decide that you have a misalignment the pain really begins as you are going to try to correct it by applying force to the fork stations over night to correct the misalignment, remeasure and repeat the process. To be clear it is the fork head stock which you are trying to realign so all clamps have to be tight on the head stock and if the head stock is ever disturbed the process has to be repeated. It took me atleast ta week to do this but was worth it in the end.
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Sorry what I ment to say was read K75 fork tuning in the lieberry.
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Yeah, i've been reading about that for a week or so. The sad thing is I kinda' know that's the problem. crap. Sounds like a real PITA to figure out.
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I tried this fix http://forums.bmwmoa.org/archive/index.php?t-64101.html (http://forums.bmwmoa.org/archive/index.php?t-64101.html)
No dice.
i wonder if Japanese of 'merican forks would have the same problem?
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The first time is always the hardest, I bought a cheap dial gauge on ebay and made a bracket for it, the glass from the kitchen top came in handy too. Ratchet straps and some big bits of wood are pretty useful when it comes to stressing things into place.
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the thing that bugs me about that whole procedure is having to use very imprecise means to achieve very precise results! Straps and blocks of wood?! tensioning over night!?! Really BMW?! (that isn't directed at you Hector, I read about the same procedure on line)
Goldwing forks are 41mm and they're cheap and plentiful, are they subject to the same absurd need for precision? i'm going to see what I can find.
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im betting there is either nothing worng... or if there is its the rear tior or the rear shock...
assuming the tior aints whack...
1... remove wheel... drain both forks... refill to proper levels with honda ss8-10 suspension fluid...
2... make sure front brake pads have even wear... reinstall the front wheel butts donts tighten it down yet...
3... with front axle installed with spacers and all... with loose pinch bolts... on center strand...
4... cycle front brake lever till you gotts the brake pads tight on the rotors...
5... hold in the brake lever and bounce the front tire on the ground about 10 times...
6... keep a hold of the brake lever and tighten the pinch bolts...
7... now you know your front tior is centered...
8... spin the wheel taking note to the rims relationship to the fork... both sides should be true...
9... if you gotts whackness it could be the wheel... if the wheel is true... yeeeehaaaa...
10... ride it... if the bounce is still there it could be the front tior...
11... now go to the back tior... spin it... note the rims relationship to the swing arm... both sides should be true...
12... if you gotts whackness it could be the wheel... if the wheel is true... yeeeehaaaa...
13... now... the rear shock...
i had a front end wobble once... the tior was about 5mm from the swing arm... until it got hot... then it would widen out and barely rub the swing arm making the front end wobble... an old german k man named mathais in long beach ca showed me the rub... would not see it on a pre race inspection cause the tior was cold... butts sure enough it was rubbing when it was hot...
j o
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thanks Johnny. I'll give that a shot.
one thing that makes me think that it is stiction is the axle is very hard to take off and on. I've read that it should be easy and that if it's not easy to take on and off then it's likely forks out of line.
Anyone have the same experience with difficult axle removal?
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Spun the front wheel and there is a definite wobble. Doesn't seem like that could be the forks, cuz there would need to be load on the forks for it to have that effect? Anyone agree or disagree with this?
couldn't tell if it was the rim or tire that looked wobbly. The wobble was very localized, like a bicycle rim the has a couple of spokes too loose or too tight.
time to add a bit I probably should have from the beginning, but I didn't think it was relevant. I rode the bike for several, not sure how many, a but more then 20 and less then 100 miles, with the pinch bolts, all four, loose. When I first noticed the 'bounce' i rode home and examined the front to see if anything was amiss, and discovered that the pinch bolts were so loose as to be close to falling out.
Did I likely damage something, and what?
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I think you have found the cause to your problem, for as I understand it every time you disturb the forks you have to recheck for fork alignment. Also a point to consider, you may or may not of heard off it but on the BBC in the seventies there was a program called tomorrows world, it ran for years and was about technical innovation. Anywho, they did an article about Bmw motor cycle forks and how due to extremely fine tolerances to which they made them they had eliminated tank slappers, now I suspect they did something pretty unusual or they would never have gotten a feature on the program. BMW also used to have a policy of almost never changing anything from year to year and when they did make changes you could usually retro fit them to earlier models. This practice has probably ceased now and the changes all started with the invention of the k bike, which kind of followed the same pattern for a fair while. So what I am saying is your forks were most likely designed in the early seventies, when they were a breakthrough. If you have never actually checked your fork stantions how do you know that they are straight to start with or that where the clamps were loose some thing has'nt worn, ever so slightly.
One day you will solve this and then let us all know.
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If you rode loose pinch bolts then just tightened the bolts then the wheel wasn't given the chance to self-center. Did you follow the procedure for centering Johnny shared below?
It does sound like the forks are out of alignment based on the axle not coming out easily. Did that symptom first appear after you rode with the loose pinch bolts? If it did and I were I were in your shoes, I'd loosen everything all the way up to the fork tubes, make sure the fork tubes turn in their bores at the triple tree, reassemble everything and hope it centers out again on reassembly. Take you a couple hours hard work. If you still have a problem, then at least you know you have a problem.
I learned that there's a sequence to follow in tightening the front wheel mounting assembly:
1) Put on the wheel and calipers leaving all bolts loose.
2) make sure the calipers are retracted all the way back in the bore (use screwdriver to push them back or just rock the calipers back and forth with bolts off)
3) Tighten the hex nut on the axle to spec.
4) Tighten the clamp bolts adjacent to the hex nut to spec.
5) Bounce the wheel up and down a couple times so that everything self-centers.
6) Tighten the clamp bolts on the other side.
7) Tighten the caliper mounting bolts to spec.
This is a little different than what Johnny suggested. I'd try that, and if it doesn't work, disassemble to the triple tree and reassemble and recenter. Btw I don't mean taking the sliders off the tubes, I just mean making sure the tubes aren't seized up in the bores.
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thanks y'all.
i've loosened and re tightened and bounced and spun in every way I've found here and on the net in general.
I now don't think It's the forks. Here's why-
the visibly evident wobble is in one spot. doesn't it seem the whole rim/wheel would be out of sorts in stead of everything looking good and straight except for this one spot?
I spun the front wheel with the wheel off the ground, seems the forks would have to be really out of whack to show an obvious localized wobble with no load on them.
I've tried to see if I can tell if the wobble is the tire or the rim, and it's hard to say, but if I had to say I'd say it's the tire. the break rotors spin true, near as I can tell.
I'm certainly not trying to argue with anyone. If anyone thinks my reasoning is way off, please say so. I just want to get this figured out.
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Not to sound like a know it all, but if you can see a wobble while spinning the wheel, there's your problem....
So your forks are fine if i read it correctly.
Try to find out if the wobble is in the tire or in the wheel, maybe the tire is not properly seated, maybe there's a fault in the tire or your wheel itself has seen beter days.
What i mean to say, stiction in the forks doesn't show when spinning the wheel freely of the ground....
Just tried to do some logical thinking here from reading your topic, hope it's of some help....
Greats Dennis
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it is relatively easy to check for a buckled wheel, just spin it at you'll see, it helps if you can construct a device for measuring any deviation a fixed pointer mounted some how near the wheel rim will easily show how true the wheel is as you turn the wheel the gap between your pointer and the rim should remain the same, however a small deviation is allowable, there will be a limit set by BMW. You should also be able to check that the tyre is fitted properly. i had this problem on my R80, there are a set of concentric marks on the lip of the tyre which should be visible where the rim and the tyre meet. The gap between any of these marks and the wheel rim should be the same all the way around the wheel.
This was a problem on my R80 and it took me years to sort it out. Eventually having tried professional tyre fitters and changing tyres I mananged to sort it out myself by blowing the tyre up to 120 psi and finally getting it to seat correctly. The symptons of this badly fitted tyre were only noticable at high speeds 80 mph plus.
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i think I'll try putting a LOT of air in it and see what happens. it acts just like a tire that hasn't been set properly. The only reason I haven't considered it to this point is the problem (bounce) came on all the sudden. Seems if the bead wasn't set, it would have been there all along.
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That still doesn't answer the question of why the axle won't come out easily. Were you able it get the axle out at all and was there any corrosion or grease on it? There should be a little grease on the axle to help it slide in and out. It's always slid in and out easily for me. Gotta wonder what that's all about if it doesn't.
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Yes, I have the same concern. The axle doesn't, nor has it ever, come out easily. I greased it the first time I had it out, and through this whole ordeal i've probably had it out 3 or 4 times, and it's only marginally easier now, with the grease, then it was the first time I pulled the axle.
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i recall the first time i pulled my axle... i had help... seka...
j o
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i recall the first time i pulled my axle... i had help... seka...
j o
You can still get help from that source...apparently the person in question is still active...but somehow it just ain't the same and my guess is your axle won't budge.
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Ok, this is something I hesitate to say, because i don't want you fine folks who have helped me so much to give up on me. But I'm a dumbsass. The reason the axle was hard to remove is I didn't have the front tire far enough off the ground! :dunno2:
I jacked the front up more and the axle comes out as easy as it should!
Hasn't solved the problem, but i feel even more certain that it's not stiction.
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Don't beT yourself up. I've ridden with loose lug nuts about to fall off and still do stupid shit like ruining a perfectly good paint job by ripping tape off too fast. That was last week.
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Not to worry, we all have those "duh...." moments, not all of us are man enough to admit them though...
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thanks y'all.
I really appreciate people taking time to give thoughtful answers. I'd like to at least meet them half way!
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latest---I took the tire off the rim, put the rim back on the bike and spun it. The rim wobbles. I don't have enough experience with cast rims to say if it wobbles a lot or a little, but you don't have to look hard to see the wobble.
Is it normal for there to be some wobble?
I inspected the tire inside and out and theres nothing obviously wrong with it. my plan now it to re-mount the tire, take it to a shop to have it balanced.
Unless someone thinks that any noticeable wobble of the rim points to some another problem.
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greetings i-man...
sounds likes you needs to score a true straight front wheel or getts yours to a good wheel man... or both...
j o
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I'm still hung up on what you said about this first appearing while riding with loose pinch bolts. If that's true it's a mighty strange coincidence that front end wobblies would not be related to that event.
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yes, I feel the same way about the pinch bolts thing. But I don't know how it would effect it, and everything seems tight and straight, and I'm not sure how to test to see if it was caused by the pinch bolts being loose, so I see trying to balance the wheel as being worth a try. If anyone with more experienced then me has an opinion, please let me know.
I need to add something that I've over looked to this point. There were a lot (10 to 12, I think) balancing weights on the front rim before I took them off and tried the Ride On. Two of the weights were missing (residue where the weights had been). But at the time I didn't think two weights out of that many would effect the balance in such a profound way.
Is it possible the the rim was so out of whack that they loaded it up with weights to get by? I know a lot depends on the weight of the balancing weights, but is 10 to 12 weights a lot, or pretty standard?
Can a cast rim be straightened? Is it more or less costly then finding a true use rim?
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Maybe you can put the wheel on a dowel or pipe or something and see if it spins true there. If it does, you have an issue with the axle or fork alignment. I don't know if that would work...anybody every try that or know why it's a fail?
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without knowing much about the process, I'm hoping that if I take it to a shop to have them balance it, they'll either give it back to me saying it's been done, or say that the rim is screwed up and can't be balanced. but I like the idea of doing it on on some stands, if possible.
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I recently had a front wheel balanced, it used 2 oz of weights... I have a bounce in my front end after installing the new tires. The rear shock gave up the ghost about the same time so I was banking on that being my issue. 2oz of weight seems a lot to me though, considering the rear wheel took 0 oz of weights. I may break the beads and turn the tire 90-180 deg and have it re balanced... 12 weights on your wheel, assuming they are .25oz weights would be 3oz, missing a half an oz I would think that would be enough to make it out of balance. Usually when that many weights are needed a shop will break the beads and spin the tire to try again. I mount my own so they didn't do that for me. Rambling over.
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how do you spin the tire if it only goes in one direction?
I suspended the rim between jack stands, using a metal rod as an 'axle'. Not very scientific, but it did wobble in the exact way that it had before. So based on my very un scientific test, it seems the rim is off, which in my mind is better then the forks being messed up. I think I'll proceed with my plan to take the wheel to the shop and have them balance it and see where that gets me. Seems a low cost test.
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Pondering whether the wheel bearings could get out of whack after riding with loose pinch bolts. I have a hard time understanding how a cAst metal rim could warp with no visible damage. It's not like it's a spoked bicycle tire.
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motobrick wheels are soft... they go whack near the bead by novice tior techs and by hitting holes and debris in the road...
aints whacked a front one... butts whacked 2 rear ones... disposed of one and had one trued...
j o
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motobrick wheels are soft... they go whack near the bead by novice tior techs
+1....Especially early Y-spoke with concave sides...............on my oldest K the front rim was damaged when removing the factory mounted tires...ie, first tire/tyre change.
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motobrick wheels are soft...
dropped my front about 2 feet onto a concrete floor (buttered fingers). Took a bit of work with a 2x4 and 8 lb sledge to straighten it out.
Were the pinch bolts loose after a tire change, by chance?
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thats a good guess, but no. The fairing was cracked up and I took it off and put a aftermarket headlight on. I took the front wheel off to slide the forks down to get the bracket for the headlight on. that's part of the reason for the confusion. many things happened that could have been the cause. messed with the forks, messed with the front wheel...but then rode it for several miles after and it felt fine. then the bounce. then noticed the pinch bolts. don't know if its related.
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took the wheel in and had it professionally balanced. Didn't fix the problem, but it made it much better.
not really sure what to do next. The obvious answer is to take it to a professional, but I'm not ready to throw in the towel.
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Maybe find another wheel and put it on and see if the problem persists. Sounds like you haven't yet determined whether the problem is in the axle, the wheel or the fork structure.
You should put your location in your signature, maybe there's someone near you who can volunteer assistance but not if nobody knows where you are.
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FWIW, Just installed my new shock. I did a quick ride around the block and didn't notice the bounce that I had. I ran it up to 40 mph where it seemed to be the worst... nothing nada, no bounce. Just to confuse the situation some more. :falldown:
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i tried to ad my location to my profile, and for the life of me a didn't see that option.
anyway, I'm in Durham NC.
Good for you Novafrk. It gives me hope.
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Location is under the Forum Profile link under the map all the way at the bottom of the page.
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just following your diagnostic path , so with the new rear shock the condition is fixed resolved gone and life is good ???
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It seems to have gone away yes. I only ran it around the block once but the porpoising feeling in the bars seems to have gone away.
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It's over! got a new (used) wheel and the bounce is gone! I put about 50 glorious bounce free miles on it today!
I think i originally slung a couple of the wheel weights and that caused my damaged wheel to bounce. There was probably some bounce all along, but I let it go because it was an unfamiliar bike, but minus a couple of weights it was undeniable. Then I went down a bunch of blind alleys, such as stiction, loose pinch bolts and so on.
Anyway, All's well that ends well!
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Congrats!!!
I'll be taking mine out NYD for my clubs annual ride and corned beef cook out. I'll know for sure then if the shock took care of my front end bounce.
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Thanks!
I love this bike! I would never have thought I'd like it as much as I do. The sound is very un-motorcylce like, but I think It's awesome, in a turbo jet sort of way.
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From personal experience it's very easy to fall in love with the K bike.
The rear shock is fantastic! That said I still feel my bounce right at 40 mph. Think I'll demount and rotate the tire and have it re-balanced. It showed up after the new tires so that is where I will start.
We did about 80 miles on NYD. It's amazing how much those heated grips make the cold seem less severe.
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Late to the party but I'm very surprised you didn't notice the correlation between a bent rim and a bit of bounce earlier... No amount of balance weights will make up for a dent. Like on mine, a previous owner hit a pothole and put a ding in the rim (you can see it without spinning it) and I have a little bit of uppy-downy action at certain (lower) speeds.
Just imo, balancing a wheel/tyre assembly will make no difference at all under about 40mph, unless it's getting on for a pound out. In fact, the only balancing of my k wheels I bother with is to make sure there is one at each end of the bike.
On a new tyre, there is very often a little coloured blob of paint on the sidewall - with this right next to the valve it is unlikely you will have any sort of balance issues. If there is a blob, and it's not next to the valve, then move it. Even a lot of 'professional' tyre fitters don't bother doing this (ignorance or laziness), instead preferring to rely on a load of weights stuck to the rim.
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It's not surprising to me that I didn't notice the correlation, I can be a bit dense.
Looking back, i think what got me off into the weeds was that it came on all the sudden, the loose pinch bolts ect. I also don't make a big fuss about balancing wheels. Never seemed to be an issue in the past. maybe that's why it didn't make much of an impression on me when i noticed the couple of wheel weights missing, which it turns out, made the bounce more pronounced.
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It's not surprising to me that I didn't notice the correlation, I can be a bit dense.
I applaud your attitude :clap:
Lots of weights is always an offputting thing to see for a start, but it's very easy to get yourself all astray when you notice a list of possible 'problems' cropping up.
As for this 'stiction' thing being apparently a big issue - every sliding assembly ever made by anyone in the history of sliding things exhibits this behaviour to a greater or lesser degree. Fine, misalignment can exacerbate the situation but it's certainly not the root cause of it.