Handlebar shake

[mrbreeze]

All balls bearings should arrive tomorrow. I hope to get them installed early next week.

[mbarr10]

All balls bearings should arrive tomorrow. I hope to get them installed early next week.

Please keep ME / us ? informed, I personally like to gain the knowledge. Even though I think you will be good to go. And greasing any bearings is always good anyway.

Just me But, My mechanic said to grease the bearings is a removal so you may as well replace the stock and do do the AllBalls and be done.

[Framer]

What kopperhed said, All balls bearings and I used 20 wieght fork oil.

[twowheeladdict]

Originally Posted by Framer

You can do what you want but until you change the bearings the wobble will come back. I changed mine last winter and added heavier fork oil. All is good.

I serviced my bearing but never changed them and no wobble once I had the front suspension setup properly. Put 60,000 miles on the bike.

[Johnny Y]

I wouldn't call what I've got a wobble, but my front end starts to vibrate at 90 m.p.h. I don't recall it doing that before I switched to Commanders & put Counteract beads in them. I suspect the beads only work up to a certain speed. When I greased the bearings they looked new so I decided not to change them this time. Been kicking myself for not changing the oil while it was apart. I'll add that to next years to-do list.

[Snake Ranch]

Originally Posted by Johnny Y

I wouldn't call what I've got a wobble, but my front end starts to vibrate at 90 m.p.h. I don't recall it doing that before I switched to Commanders & put Counteract beads in them. I suspect the beads only work up to a certain speed. When I greased the bearings they looked new so I decided not to change them this time. Been kicking myself for not changing the oil while it was apart. I'll add that to next years to-do list.

Jack the front end up off the ground.

Spin the wheel and look for a runout with the tire.

My Commander II on the front, started to distort after 7,000 miles. Started out real soft, but the wobble got so bad it hurt both hands and almost got away from me when I was checking it after torquing the stem bearings. I had turned loose of the grips for just a second.

I called Michelin, and they have a motorcycle division. They prorated the wear and replaced the tire.

They told me to go to a dealer of my choice and work through them.

All is good now.

[mrbreeze]

Dropped the bike off at the K dealership this morning

[Sabre-t]

Originally Posted by jimmyd292

Any suggestion to a good replacement bearing to use? And what weight oil and brand did you use for the forks?

As others have said, All Balls bearings. They have a kit that includes the 2 bearings, races, and seal sets.

As to fork oil, you can't depend on the weights listed on the bottle. There is no standard for fork oil, so one mfg's 15w may be no heavier than another's 12w. I use Maxima (regular, not the racing versions!). 15W was just right in the Voyager for me. Also, you should consider Garry's fork brace mentioned earlier by me and others.

[Johnny Y]

One thing I'm not seeing people mention is at what speed do the problems occur ? I didn't get around to checking my tire as Snake Ranch suggested, but I did take a run up I-94 & when I got to 90 m/h I paid more attention to what was going on. The upper forks looked good & steady, I couldn't get a good look at what the lower forks were doing, but the bad vibes seemed to be just in the handle bars. Too much traffic for more then a short run @ 90.

[redjay]

It happens as you are decelerating (coasting) into the 30 to 50 kmph range and only happens if you take both hands off the bars, which is a dumb idea anyway.

[vulcannomad1]

I ride a 2016 Voyager, bought it new last year. I never had a problem with handlebar shake until I replaced the oem Bridgestones with Metzler 888's. Only shakes on deceleration. I've gone round and round with rebalancing the tire to greasing the steering stem bearings and retorquing the stem nut. Up and down with psi, nothing has changed. I talked to the service manager where I bought the bike. He claims they sell a lot of the Vulcan 1700's and he rides a Nomad himself. He said he's seen it before and the only way to get rid of it is to go back to the Bridgestone, in the front at least. I'm about ready to switch back to the Bridgestone. I'll update after I switch back.

[JD Hog]

Originally Posted by vulcannomad1

I ride a 2016 Voyager, bought it new last year. I never had a problem with handlebar shake until I replaced the oem Bridgestones with Metzler 888's. Only shakes on deceleration. I've gone round and round with rebalancing the tire to greasing the steering stem bearings and retorquing the stem nut. Up and down with psi, nothing has changed. I talked to the service manager where I bought the bike. He claims they sell a lot of the Vulcan 1700's and he rides a Nomad himself. He said he's seen it before and the only way to get rid of it is to go back to the Bridgestone, in the front at least. I'm about ready to switch back to the Bridgestone. I'll update after I switch back.

I went through this when I had a Commander II on the front of my Voyager. I had less than 4500 miles before changing back to the stock Bridgestone front tire. I now have almost 5200 miles on that tire and no problems.

On the Commander II tire it started after about 3000 miles. I could not take my hands of the handlebars or it would start going into bad handlebar shakes. If I kept my hands on them it was OK. I could also feel a slight shake with my hands on the handlebars in sweeping turns, more on left ones.

Going forward I will keep with the stock front tire and the Commander II on the rear. That has given me no problems.

[APA4LIFE]

Originally Posted by mrbreeze

My front end wants to shake if I take my hands the grips. This morning I hit a small pothole and the bars started shaking and I had both hands on the grips. Tire pressure is good. I got a fork brace from Garry. I think will have it professionally installed . Should I have bearings changed at the same time? Bike has 18,000 miles on it. Is there anything else I should do?

Front tire. I just went through the same thing.


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[Peg]

Originally Posted by vulcannomad1

I ride a 2016 Voyager, bought it new last year. I never had a problem with handlebar shake until I replaced the oem Bridgestones with Metzler 888's. Only shakes on deceleration. I've gone round and round with rebalancing the tire to greasing the steering stem bearings and retorquing the stem nut. Up and down with psi, nothing has changed. I talked to the service manager where I bought the bike. He claims they sell a lot of the Vulcan 1700's and he rides a Nomad himself. He said he's seen it before and the only way to get rid of it is to go back to the Bridgestone, in the front at least. I'm about ready to switch back to the Bridgestone. I'll update after I switch back.

The answer is already in this thread... All Balls steering bearings cured all these identical problems for me, completely. Rock solid now, whatever brand of tire I'm running, however light my grip on the bars, whatever speed.