Handle bar wobble with no hands...

[bugfish69]

I know what your thinking and I can hear the lectures coming. I don't as a practice ride with no hands. I was resting one the other day and being very, very diligent with the other. For a brief moment when switching over my grip on the bars was very light and I felt what seemed like a wobble from the front end. I was curious so I followed up by slowly lightening my hand pressure from the grips. Sure enough just when I am about to not be touching the grips anymore the front starts to wobble. I have not let it go long, but it seems that it would get very prononced. Is this normal? As I said I don't ride with no hands and I don't ever feel this when holding the grips. Even with one hand.

 

Could this be an out of balance tire or is it something else?

 

Bug

[Jerry W]

You might make sure the tire has the proper air pressure then check for possible cupping.

[RedRider]

You likely have a loose steering head bearing. When you hit the front brake, does it 'click; forward then back a little bit?

 

Instability in the handle bars is a classic symtom of a loose steering head.

 

RR

[V7Goose]

Could this be an out of balance tire or is it something else?

Bug

Yes, it could be either.

 

In general, the 2nd gen RSV does not have any "known" issues with front end wobble, such as the 1800 Honda Refrigerator. so you should not have to just "learn to live with it." That means that there are specific causes that you should be able to pinpoint and fix when you have the problem you describe. The only time I have experienced a front end shake on either of my RSVs in 60,000 miles is once when I had a front tire reaching the end of its life,and then only at about 35 MPH under no acceleration.

 

Typical causes can be tire pressure, tire wear, uneven fork pressure, and loose steering head bearings.

Goose

[bigjohn52]

i have a 08 venture and had wobble at 35 and 45 with no hands since new ireplaced tires at dearer advice with met 880s got way worse dealer told me was normal cktire pressures and front fork pressures got alittle better after reading all the posts i changed to avon venoms stock size on rear mt90 on front it fixed the problem handles at all speeds fine turns better now love the bike rideing about 40 years

[yamahamer]

Alot of things can help but nothing will make it go away completly. I had a bad habit with my tour deluxe of riding with no hands for up to 20 miles at a time but when I got my venture all that stoped. Yes it will get out of control if you turn loose for more than a second. I have the mt90 AVON and have done all the other things people have told me to do and it is a lot better. Still has wabble at 35 to 40 mph but great in all other ranges.

[Owen]

I have an '08 venture. I have ridden 'no hands' at 70 mph for about 30 seconds just to see how it would handle. No wobble, no drift.

[GeorgeS]

Your under warrenty, take to dealer, see what they will do.

 

Tire pressure first thing to check, you might have an Extreemly slow leak.

 

REsetting the Steering head torque on these bikes is a fairly common problem.

 

Get it fixed, this can become dangerous.

[StarRider07]

I had this problem one time with my Roadstar. Turned out to be a bad tire.

I am still on my stock tire on the 07 RSV. Because I have had this experience before, I check every 2000km or so by taking my hand off the bars at low and highway speeds just long enough to see if it starts to wobble. The bike remains nice and smooth.

You want your hands to remain at the bars but not touching. If it starts to wobble, get those hands back on. It only take a couple more seconds for it to get out of control.

If your problem is not the tire pressure or the fork pressure, then get your dealer to fix it.

It is NOT normal.

[RoadKill]

I know what your thinking and I can hear the lectures coming. I don't as a practice ride with no hands. I was resting one the other day and being very, very diligent with the other. For a brief moment when switching over my grip on the bars was very light and I felt what seemed like a wobble from the front end. I was curious so I followed up by slowly lightening my hand pressure from the grips. Sure enough just when I am about to not be touching the grips anymore the front starts to wobble. I have not let it go long, but it seems that it would get very prononced. Is this normal? As I said I don't ride with no hands and I don't ever feel this when holding the grips. Even with one hand.

 

Could this be an out of balance tire or is it something else?

 

Bug

 

I would bet its the steering head bolt tension. Mine did the same thing and since I had it corrected and checked at each maintenence I have absolutely ZERO wobble. I can ride with no hands, even negtotiate a sweeper if I want. I would start there.

[Venturing Sole]

I had the exact same symptoms and conditions as others have mentioned in the previous posts. Tires at the end of their life, speed around 30 mph. Coasting with light or no fingers on the bar and the wobble would start and get almost to the point of a tank-slapper. I replaced the tires and I used a screwdriver to whack the fork head nut a little tighter and nary a wobble no more. Even though the new tires represents a variable in the solution, I'm convinced just a smidge tighter on the fork nut would have solved the problem by itself.

[SilvrT]

How fortunate you are to only be complaining about a wobble when riding with no hands..... geeeesh!!!

 

 

[Guest tx2sturgis]

All good advice here...

 

I have noticed in the past on my Ultra, as the front tire is nearing the end of its life, say 18,000 miles or so, that there is a SLIGHT tendency to wag its head IF I have the front forks aired up. Reducing the air in the forks reduced the wobble to zero.

 

If you have air in the forks, try lowering the pressure in them, at least until you can get the neck bearings and tire looked at.

 

 

[Alex]

Had to tighten my fork bearings 4 TIMES! It has finally stopped wobbling at any speed. Venoms did not cure mine.

[OB-1]

My experience with my 06 RSV indicates the problem is slightly loose steering head bearings.

 

BTW, I often ride with no hands when there's no traffic and light wind. There's a problem with the bike if it wobbles.

[Guest 1154]

I know what your thinking and I can hear the lectures coming. I don't as a practice ride with no hands. I was resting one the other day and being very, very diligent with the other. For a brief moment when switching over my grip on the bars was very light and I felt what seemed like a wobble from the front end. I was curious so I followed up by slowly lightening my hand pressure from the grips. Sure enough just when I am about to not be touching the grips anymore the front starts to wobble. I have not let it go long, but it seems that it would get very prononced. Is this normal? As I said I don't ride with no hands and I don't ever feel this when holding the grips. Even with one hand.

 

Could this be an out of balance tire or is it something else?

 

Bug

 

I have 30,000 k on my '07 front OEM tire. It never used to wobble, now will. As some have said. It could be the tire. My experience on the touring biikes is that the front tire will cup after some mileage. Run your hand over the tire down the centre. If it feels uneven it is likely cupped, which could give you the wobble. Mine is cupped slightly even though I'm religious on my tire pressure.

Just a thought.

[NewfoundlandVenture]

As has been said, my first thought is under inflated front tire. I've never experienced this on my VR, but on my nighthawk it is usually the case when she comes out of winter storage, just top the front tire off and it is gone. Hopefully your problem is no more serious than that!

[Condor]

I had the exact same symptoms and conditions as others have mentioned in the previous posts. Tires at the end of their life, speed around 30 mph. Coasting with light or no fingers on the bar and the wobble would start and get almost to the point of a tank-slapper. I replaced the tires and I used a screwdriver to whack the fork head nut a little tighter and nary a wobble no more. Even though the new tires represents a variable in the solution, I'm convinced just a smidge tighter on the fork nut would have solved the problem by itself.

 

Wasn't there a thread about the weld breaking in the fork head and every time the steering head was adjusted, and after a period of time, they would loosen up again as the bottom flange moved??? Don't take this as gospel or common!!! Just something I seem to remember....or halucinated about??

[rod]

While tires can and often are the cause of front end wobbles on the Venture I would go to the steering head/triple tree/neck bearings. On many occasions changing tires helped some but until the bearings were tightened nothing made the wobble go away. Tighten the triple tree and enjoy the ride. Rod

[Dusty]

Had the exact same thing with my 07 RSV. I knew my front tire was at the correct pressure and the tire only had 22,000 km on it so I did the quickie tightening of the steering bearings and the problem went away.

[Guest steveg]

i was on the interstate doing 70 mph, my 07 rsv went into a severe shake.

 

just spoke with the dealer, they are going to check the steering head bearings.

 

they said about 3 hours labor. does this sound right? how difficult is it to do?

 

thanks!

[Freebird]

It takes about 10 minutes to CHECK them. Now if they are pulling the fairing, repacking the bearings, etc....then yes, that is very fair. I seriously doubt that is the case though. In my opinion, they shouldn't even be talking hours and payment. It is a 2007 model and is under warranty. They should figure out what is causing the problem before talking to you about what it might cost.

[V7Goose]

i was on the interstate doing 70 mph, my 07 rsv went into a severe shake.

 

just spoke with the dealer, they are going to check the steering head bearings.

 

they said about 3 hours labor. does this sound right? how difficult is it to do?

 

thanks!

Run away from that dealer FAST! Look at your owners manual - it shows the Yamaha defined method of checking the steering head bearings - Raise the front wheel off the ground and push/pull on the forks. 3 Hours? I don't think so! And why would you even consider ever going back to a dealer that wants to charge you to check out a problem with a bike under warranty???

Goose

[FutureVentures]

Had to tighten my fork bearings 4 TIMES! It has finally stopped wobbling at any speed. Venoms did not cure mine.

 

 

Fork bearings or steering head nut?

If the former, um, where are those?

 

Tightened my steering head a month or so ago, went away completely but seems to be back, guessing it's time for another tighten.

[dharnie]

All mine wobble or wobbled - that is - my 2001 RSV, 2007 RSV, 2004 Sbare, 1995 Vulcan 800 and the most recently aquired 2006 Vulcan 1600 - they all do or did. They all had different tires, shields or fairings or lack there of. That spans the last 12 years for me and & can't remember the previous 30 years! Now I see many "crotch rockets" where people are all over the bike EXCEPT the handle bars and they do not wobble. Just my observations.