front forks

[yuind]

hi i started riding wheelies about a month ago on this bike ive never landed the wheel down hard the bike has never been wrecked and all of a sudden ive picked up a weird feeling in the front when i hit bumps the front forks dont seem to react quick enough and seem to hit hard , i get side to side movement and tiny vibration in the handlebars when i let them go at 40 mph the fork seals have not leaked out or any signs that the forks are bad. any info that can help me figure this out would be apreciated.

 

[Derf88]

hi i started riding wheelies about a month ago on this bike ive never landed the wheel down hard the bike has never been wrecked and all of a sudden ive picked up a weird feeling in the front when i hit bumps the front forks dont seem to react quick enough and seem to hit hard , i get side to side movement and tiny vibration in the handlebars when i let them go at 40 mph the fork seals have not leaked out or any signs that the forks are bad. any info that can help me figure this out would be apreciated.

Check out anything in regards to steering bearings. Look around this forum as well as google for your symptoms.

 

[Bikebiz]

Yeah I'd guess your head bearings for sure. Get the front wheel off the ground, then grab your fork legs and shake them front to back. If they're buggered you'll feel some clunking or looseness. Then shake them side to side and check again.

Other than that, wheel bearings (just hold the wheel whilst it's on the ground at the front/top, then shake hard side to side to see if you can feel freeplay) or some fork issues. Hope you sort it.

 

[Kazza]

hi i started riding wheelies about a month ago on this bike ive never landed the wheel down hard the bike has never been wrecked and all of a sudden ive picked up a weird feeling in the front when i hit bumps the front forks dont seem to react quick enough and seem to hit hard , i get side to side movement and tiny vibration in the handlebars when i let them go at 40 mph the fork seals have not leaked out or any signs that the forks are bad. any info that can help me figure this out would be apreciated.

Wheelies? :spank:

BTW, punctuation is nice - I'm finding it very hard to read your post in one breath LOL

 

[dimitre977]

Last year towards the end of the riding season I started getting a clunking in the front end when I would hit bumps. A couple of weeks ago it got to the point that the bike didn't want to track very well and when I would take a turn it felt like the front tire wanted to dive under the bike. I took it to the local dealership and they tightened up the steering head bearing. It feels like a new bike again. When I checked the front forks for play they wouldn't move front to front or side to side like most other people find.

 

[Hellgate]

Kazza - For you. :thumbup:

Hi! I started riding wheelies about a month ago on this bike. I've never landed the wheel down hard and the bike has never been wrecked. All of a sudden I've picked up a weird feeling in the front. When I hit bumps the front forks don't seem to react quickly enough and seem to hit hard. I get side-to-side movement and tiny vibration in the handlebars when I let them go at 40 mph. The fork seals have not leaked out or any signs that the forks are bad. Any info that can help me figure this out would be apreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Kazza]

Kazza - For you. :thumbup:

Hi! I started riding wheelies about a month ago on this bike. I've never landed the wheel down hard and the bike has never been wrecked. All of a sudden I've picked up a weird feeling in the front. When I hit bumps the front forks don't seem to react quickly enough and seem to hit hard. I get side-to-side movement and tiny vibration in the handlebars when I let them go at 40 mph. The fork seals have not leaked out or any signs that the forks are bad. Any info that can help me figure this out would be apreciated.

Thanks!

Wow Pete. It all makes sense now

 

[RJ2112]

The other possibility is that the fork legs are twisted slightly and are binding instead of sliding smoothly in and out. If the bike has ever been crashed, this becomes a much stronger possibility.

I've posted a procedure for aligning fork legs a few times here..... it may come up in a search.

 

[yuind]

thx for all the input

 

[Yamaha4me]

does any body know the torque specs for the alanhead screws that hold my forks in place cuz im lowering the front and would like to know before i go out a and ride and do a nose dive into pavement