front shimmy

[sportssonny1968]

Had my venture for about a year,run 0 psi in front forks and 0 psi in rear shock.I had no problems running around local.Before i left on a long trip i put 7 psi in front forks and 35 psi in rear shock.When i make slow turns right or left i have a slight shimmy in my front

(can feel it in my handle bars)when i straighten out and pick up speed it goes away.

tried letting some air out of my front forks careful to keep the psi the same but still have some shimmy.

The air pump was bought from harley davidson and it goes from 0-10 psi kind of guessing where 7 psi is. Any ideas what the problem with the shimmy might be???????????

[flb_78]

Most likely it is tire wear on the edge of the front tire. Putting air in the front forks makes them ride a little bit harder so you're feeling some different things.

 

Check your front tire closely and I'll bet you'll find the edges just off center to be feathered.

[starcruiser]

I thought this was a post about belly dancers!

[sportssonny1968]

Will check the front tire,thanks for the info.

[Guest TFD69]

Front shimmy at low speeds more pronounced with slow speed deceleration, riding two up or with a heavy load over the rear wheel IE. trailer (not your passenger)

Is often caused by a loose steering head and or cupping of the rear tire.

 

There's a good write up in the tech section on tightening the steering head, cupping of the tire means it's time to by another tire.

[sportssonny1968]

Is adjusting the steering head covered under the warrenty of the bike?

[V7Goose]

Common cause of odd tire/handling problems is the tire beads not being completely and properly seated, either front or rear. You might be surprised how often this is a problem if you don't mount a lot of tires and properly inspect them. Look close at the tire next to the rim; there should be several concentric circles or ridges in the tire that are all exactly concentric with the rim all the way around. On the bike, the only way to really inspect this is to raise the tire off the ground and smoothly rotate the tire while watching the ridges. If the tire is laying on the ground it is pretty easy to see if the ridges are not exactly equal all the way around the rim.

Goose

[GeorgeS]

Is adjusting the steering head covered under the warrenty of the bike?

 

Call the dealer and ask. This is a safty issue, it should be covered. Steering yoke needing Re-Torque, is fairly common on these bikes.

 

The subject has come up often on this web site.