I cannot seem to get my front wheel wobble solved. It only crops up at low speed...maybe 15 KM, and goes away at higher speed. I tested the wheel for warp and run out on a fixture and there is none. It had one heavy spot near teh valve stem area and it is not balanced on a machine.
Bike is restored by Long river motors and they say some wobble at low speed is normal...
I changed two different wheels and I get varying wobble. Wobble can be violent if my damper is not down REAL tight.
Is it balancing? Fork oil? Toe in? Caster of the bike to be above 2 degree?
Some folks tolerate that low speed headshake and learn to ride through the speed area that it happens. If that is not your cup of tea I woukd suggest trying and oir checking each of the following.
Play around with air pressue especially in the front tire.
Tighten steering head bearings.
Check swing arm bearings for zero side to side play.
Check spokes in all wheels.
Check to see if you can lower the forks in the triple trees some.
Change fork oil
Increase toe in slightly
Put on a diferen tdamper...VW maybe.
Check one item at a time and test ride it. Start with the easier ones to do and see how it works out. It could be a combination oif things.
Hello
VW damper reccommended, and try different tyre pressures
Regards
Barry
thanks for the info...what is a VW dampner? I have mine scewed down really really tight. This may be a fix.
A steering damper from an early Volkswagen Beetle is often used when wobble can't be controlled any other way.
Brackets are usually fabricated connecting it to the sidecar frame or struts and (preferrably) to an upper point of the steering on the bike. On tubular front ends, if connected as low as on the lower sliders (which move up and down) the damper should be mounted as near as possible to 90 degrees perpendicular to the fork tubes to prevent "bump steering".
This is a phenomenon where hitting a bump will cause the steering to jerk one way or the other as the front suspension goes up or down.
Here's one mounted on a Suzuki/Dnepr rig.
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
Originally written by kiaserwil on 3/14/2008 8:43 AM
thanks for the info...what is a VW dampner?
Here's Doug Bingham's web page regarding a VW dampner.
http://sidestrider.com/steering.htm#before
Trying a flat tread profile on the front may help http://tinyurl.com/2yc8ss It helped my Virago. Also, using a rear tire on the front helped even more. http://tinyurl.com/2fkpa7 Just reverse the directional arrow. I don't use a damper on the Virago.
Makes sense. Thanks again everyone for responding.
Update: Claude and threewheels were right. The damper worked and it is a different tamed bike. It also made setting toe in more accurate.Thanks guys.
For what it is worth: do not waste time and aggravation trying different toe ins, angle, trail, tire pressures etc...go right to the damper solution if your bilke is new.
NOTE the Royal Enfield "Cozy" damper fits the CJ750 (BMWR71 or Ural type) perfectly and without any alterations. It was 95 bucks and worth the heavy duty clamps and turnbuckles.
hi al where in ct r u??
east windsor here !!!
stace
