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Steering shake.

6K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  Ghost Rider 
#1 ·
Hi guys i recently bought a 2010 klr with 31 000 km in it. It's got almost new kenda trackmaster (knobbies) and i noticed that when i go at highway speeds 90km and up it shakes, it's sometimes scary, specially when i hit cracks in the pavement. I checked the air in the tires and check the bolts on the fork and it still doing it. Could it be the tires? I ordered a superbrace (waiting for it) what else should i check ?
 
#2 ·
Jack it up and spin the front tire. Make sure tire runs straight without wobbling. Could also remove front fender and test ride. Sometimes fender shakes.
 
#3 ·
Yes, it could be the tires.
(I'll highly recommend 34-30 PSI in the front tire and 32-28 PSI in the rear, as a starting point.)
Do you see any balance weights? If not you might ought to inquire about re-balancing them.

Check for proper/even seating of the tire beads on the rims and rim/spoke trueness as already mentioned.

How loose fitting is Your Jacket? Sometimes it is the flapping of OUR clothing that induces wobble!
Try riding with only your throttle hand.

If you use your front brake quickly/firmly, can you feel or hear any 'click' from the front end? If so, the steering bearings may need to be adjusted a bit.

Does the bike have big / square panniers or top box on it? Is so, try removing them.

The list can get quite long.
 
#4 ·
My psi are 30 all around. I cant see any weights on the rims, i can tell they where there at one point but they got ripped of or they fell. I dont ride with a big jacket as it is so hot lol, and i have a givi box on the rear buy i tried riding without it but it still does it. I suspect head bearing bolt, or something loose. My superbrace should be in today i will statt with that
 
#5 ·
Just some personal experience here...

Never had a problem with the KLR650; I run Conti TKC80 big block knobbies on it too. I have had a couple other bikes that had death wobble. Most recently I put a Laminar Lip Speed Screen on my DR650 and it triggered the oscillation that gets the wobble going, pretty bad, too. It's a real small and low screen that just keeps the wind directed while on my way to/from forests. I don't tour around on that bike at all. You wouldn't think something small would cause such a problem, but that was it. Off came the screen, back to normal (which, if you've ever been on a DR you know it ain't that good to begin with). On another case, years back I had a BMW G450X that had terrible death wobble at speed on dirt tracks (it was a dual sport, but I pretty much only rode it on single track). The G450X was a new bike and the dealer and I worked every frigging angle before giving up and putting a steering head damper on it. I went with a fairly expensive GPR Steering Stabilizer. Yeah, maybe the stabilizer was just a bandaid over some other problem, but it fixed the death wobble and got me back to riding. Onward...
 
#7 ·
Honestly it's an inherent problem (and not just for KLR's) and there are quite a few things that can set it off. Tires, balance, rims, tire pressure, steering head bearings, suspension sag, suspension setup, weight distribution and aerodynamics all play a part.

Go through those and check; low tire pressure/worn tires, improper suspension settings and steering head bearings are the top three IMO.

Watch this and understand a bit more; it's old but still accurate. www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3OQTU-kE2s

Cheers,
Dave
 
#8 ·
#9 ·
What the heck is up with the weave video portion?! It's hard to believe that they aren't intentionally inducing that high speed weave. That yellow CB F, I had a 76 F and regularly took it to 125mph on stock suspension and NEVER felt anything even close to that! Sure, it had modern tires, but Shinko 712's aren't exactly cutting edge. lol

Very interesting video.
 
#11 ·
That video rates in the top 10 most useless videos on youtube.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Hey man, I totally overlooked what tire you have. I am using the same tire and can attest that it takes A WHILE to get them scrubbed in.

Riding home from getting them mounted had me curious if I was going to be able to keep the front tire because it was so skatey. My buddy's XR rides like it's on rails with Trackmasters, so I stuck with it for a bit. The bike was fine on the way in to town have them mounted, so I knew it was the tires acting up.

That weird waffle pattern you see on the tips of the knobs, once you scrub that off the tires behave like normal. I took me about 150-200 paved miles to get my waffles worn off. No complaints at all now , and I just came home on them last night. 75mph with about 20lbs of junk on the rear track. Solid handling.


Be careful, but I'm confident they'll wear in and do just fine.

If this helps you feel better, here's an indicator of the lean angle I've gotten out of the Trackmasters without really trying to lean. Just riding like normal. 32 psi front and rear. Offroad, I drop the rear to 15 occasionally, but I'm rimlocked and running a super thick IRC tube out back. These things are brutal with low air pressure, aired up they dig ditches.
 

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#14 ·
I have experienced the death wobble a couple of times only one time on the KLR I had Kenda 270s on it was riding with a friend who had a CBR 1000. We were going through a winding Mountain Gorge at approximately 80 to 90 miles per hour. I was just coming out of a long sweeping Bend in the fast lane and the suspension was starting to unload as I straightened up and I attempted to switch lanes into this slow lane at that point right on the dotted line experience the most terrifying death wobble of my life. And I never tried to keep up with my friend again LOL.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
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