Shimmy in front end at 70 mph

wheel bearings are a little pricey,especially if you can just repack them.as long as youre working on it id go ahead and change fork oil and flush and bleed brakes .yo can do this without disassembling frontend. goodluck,happy wrenching!

while you have the front elevated, don't forget to simply give the wheel a good spin and check for obvious signs of wobble in the wheel especially if you have wire or spoked wheels, this was the case on my Kz at around 70 mph a wobble started and caused me to back off, upon inspection I found the wheel to be waaaay out of round. check simple stuff first.

Sorry, guess I'm a belt & suspenders man...

Well upon further inspection of the front wheel assembly, my number one guess is that the front wheel bearings are completely shot. You can take the weight off the front end and wiggle the wheel back and forth with about 1/4" of play. Can't believe I actually got this thing over 70 mph to notice a front end shimmy, after i observed the play...i wouldn't do 25 mph on this bike.

Post edited by: Torch, at: 2006/07/22 12:11

Wheel bearings (6203) are $6.29 each at Grainger, and Grainger is more expensive than others, check the bearing supply houses in your area. Tapered Steering head bearings are a little more expensive and seem to be motorcycle specific, Z1 Enterprises is probably the best bet for those, $41.47 for the tapered steering bearings.

Most NAPA auto parts carry the bearing. They have a choice of sealed or repackable. I do not know which is better. The sealed one are cheaper but both are around $6.00