[Bigdaa]

I'm serious. I get on the highway on my KLR650 and get her up to a reasonable cruise speed of 75 to 80 and wow, the wobbling can really suck. My opinion here is that this bike should be able to handle all situations as a bargain basement adventure ride and that includes highway speeds sustained at 75 to 80. I have not been able to find any dampers for this thing. What about lowering the suspension or changing tread patterns? I already have Progressive springs up front and a 420 series shock in the back. The diff off road is night and day but the wobble still exists.

I want this :scooter: to go the distance at the speed I want or I just may :2guns: the bitch with my new 45 auto. I like the bike and I would never think it to be a piece of
poo: ) : parenthesis added for hygene purposes : but face it, an adventure trip of any length might get pretty :sleep1: if roadwork has to be taken at :flip2: speeds.

 

[ragdoll]

Balance the wheels... :001_rolleyes:

 

[Bigdaa]

Balance the wheels... :001_rolleyes:

I'll take any suggestions:drool:

 

[razorbike]

Knew a guy ahwile back that did some amatuer motocross racing on his Honda CR250. We would go trail riding occasionally and he would always complain about once we hit a straight stretch and he gassed it the thing would get the head shakes bad. I rode it one time and it did the same thing and freaked me out that a bike with such a sweet suspension would do that. He ended up adjusting the forks in the triples to where they protruded past the top triple about an inch. While it didn't get rid of the shakes entirely, it did make it WAY better and didn't start happening until you were really flying.

Give that a shot Bigdaa, couldn't hurt. unk:

 

[Danke]

Does it wobble if you're no-hands or real soft on the bars, or hands closer to the top triple? Are you feeding in the wobble at speed with the wide bars, and wind etc., know what I mean.

After that, tires and then maybe geometry.

Scotts should have a damper no?

 

[Bigdaa]

I checked with Scotts and nothing for my model, but they do have stuff for MXers. I have access to a machine shop if push comes to shove. I took off the hand guards but the effect is still there. Raising the fork tubes a half an inch or so is something I can do pretty easily.

You know, the headshake/speedwobble or whatever we choose to call it is something I have experienced on older models of motorcycles. Bikes of the 70's and early 80's. And you know, this KLR650 is just that. It is a bike that sorely needs suspension\frame geometry updates but Kawasaki has been selling them pretty much unchanged from the get go. Why? Because chumps like me like this old venerable war dog. It's is as reliable as a frikken rock (and as simple as one too).

 

[ragdoll]

Knew a guy ahwile back that did some amatuer motocross racing on his Honda CR250. We would go trail riding occasionally and he would always complain about once we hit a straight stretch and he gassed it the thing would get the head shakes bad. I rode it one time and it did the same thing and freaked me out that a bike with such a sweet suspension would do that. He ended up adjusting the forks in the triples to where they protruded past the top triple about an inch. While it didn't get rid of the shakes entirely, it did make it WAY better and didn't start happening until you were really flying.

Give that a shot Bigdaa, couldn't hurt. unk:

Not to be a poop, but wouldn't adjusting that just cover up the problem? Whatever it may be.

 

[midwest]

I aggree with ragdoll.... I think your masking the real issue. If anything, talk to a Dan Kyle or some suspension guru... I'm betting its suspension related.

 

[Guest]

Check your steering head stem and make sure it's to the correct tourqe. It may be a combination of that and wheels being out of balance or alignment.

 

[Bigdaa]

I think any reduction in tendancy is a positive step. I could give D.K. a call but I think the dude is gonna be too damn busy to give advice on a lowly KLR. I'll let you know what he says.

 

[Bigdaa]

Check your steering head stem and make sure it's to the correct tourqe. It may be a combination of that and wheels being out of balance or alignment.

Ya know these rides are assembled in Tiawan I think and the prep work wasn't that good. I had 'premature partus post partum ejectus' the very first day I took her off road.

Steering stem................. I'll do just that.

 

[razorbike]

Slide the forks up in the triples so about 1 inch shows at the top. It helped on a friend's Honda CR250 moto x bike and that thing was a screamer. It would accelerate like a rocket but once you got it up to speed it would get the headshake bad! Dropping the front helped a lot.

 

[RC90]

Depending on how often you loft the front on that bike, you might have ruined the Steering stem bearings. If you're gonna check the susp., check that as well... can't hurt.

 

[SV650s]

Did this head shake just start or did you always have this problem? If it was always there from square one I suspect the tires might be the culprit.

 

[RC90]

m51142... true, true.

You can only go so many miles with the same tires bigdaa...

 

[HondaJim]

Tire check time. My dad had a bike that he let set around on the sidestand for LONG periods of time. The tires would "warp" and the thing would headshake bad, especially hard on the gas or chopping the gas and removing your hands from the bars. New tires solved it.

 

[Bigdaa]

Depending on how often you loft the front on that bike, you might have ruined the Steering stem bearings. If you're gonna check the susp., check that as well... can't hurt.

These bikes can't loft. No...seriously!

 

[Bigdaa]

Dual Star has lowering links for the rear, to match a drop in the front.

"Hmmmmmmmmm said he, as the bear took a pea, and he kicked him in his ice hole"

 

[Guest]

Well I had a friend with a R1 that would headshake at a low mph he rebalanced the tires and it didn't help then tried new tires still the same problem after the third person got ahold of it to check the tires they found out the front wheel was bent almost like dented they said probably came from hitting a pot hole or something like that but that did fix his problem so you might want to check that out

 

[Danke]

Dual Star has lowering links for the rear, to match a drop in the front.

"Hmmmmmmmmm said he, as the bear took a pea, and he kicked him in his ice hole"

Did you drop the front already? Remember that link will eat up ground clearance, and change the rate of the rear shock.