Steering

[JimboSlice]

Good Morning all. Well I was out riding yesterday for a bit(no rain, yeah)when I noticed that my steering is a bit sloppy. It's not as tight as I like it. I looked at the tire and it isn't cupped and air pressure is good, so I'm guessing that I just need to tighten steering. Any siggestions?

[CaseyJ955]

Assuming proper tire pressure and no strange tire wear I would first pop it up on the center stand and check steering head bearings out. Also have a look at the rear swing arm and make sure there is no slop. Check for any fork oil leaks and make sure they are filled uniformly, strange things result when one side looses all it's juice. Check to make sure that center brace, the one that holds the front fender, is intact and tight. Those come to mind as things I would check first.

 

Have a peek at this one.

This guy has to be right on, I mean how can you sport a *****en' stache like that and be wrong, right?

I ended up replacing the steering head bearings and races on mine when I got it. They were pretty knackered at 72k. Made quite a difference.

[Patch]

That is an informative video. There is an other unmentioned item that should be check.

 

The chassis has two cross members or ties, they are about 1/2" diameter, they tie the front frame to the more geometrically stable rear frame section.

 

Not sure what the book says about this or other members? For myself I center stand first then I loosen both sides 2 bolts per side, once loose I let it rest for 10/15 minutes then tighten them back up. This helps provide some additional stiffness to the bike.