how to check for a bent rim and bad wheel bearings

[Guest]

Hi, I got the new front tire balenced on my bike and a wobble I had went away. It felt a little odd when I would turn or lean in a curve. I replaced the back tire,useing the date code old tire was a 97 or 87, both are chen shens. I noticed after I installed the wheel back on the bike and spun it around it looked crooked, side to side. I tightened up the axle nut to the higher end of the tourqe setting that was called for in the manual and the wobble was not very noticeable. I drove it around about 15 to 20 miles and it seemed to run good no wobble or wierd wiggle in the back. I do notice a small wobble or side to side movement of the handle bars when I slow down or let off the throttle.I was wondering how to tell if the rim is bent if you use the axle to spin it around, would it be out of round if the bearing were bad also? I was wondering if it would work spining it with a small screw driver or shaft? I am sure that I am missing something that would tell the difference if one or the other is bad.I could no get any movement from the swing arm bearing with or without the rim mounted.I could not get any movement from the rim after it was mounted either. How do you adjust back rim or is that just for bikes with a chain drive. I will try to check whatever I can, any ideas? Thanks

[Mysuzyq]

If you have a main stand, it should be easy to check the rim, by spinning it and using a dial indicator on the side of of the rim. If you don't have an indicator, use a piece of chalk, marker, or whatever you have handy, to lightly touch the side of the rim and spin it, making sure it makes contact all the way around. Are you certain the tire has been properly installed/seated if you mounted it yourself? Check the alignment of the wheel too, at least with the hash marks on the adjusters, assuming the shaft drive bikes have the same system as the E's.....not too familiar with them myself.
EDIT: I see on Mr. Bass Cliff's excellent site, that the shafties do not have the same system.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

Tony.

[bwringer]

Sounds like your steering stem bearings may be bad.

There's not much of a test for bad wheel bearings. Just remove the wheel and see if the wheel bearings move easily when you spin them with a finger. That's about it. A bad one will feel notchy and hard to turn, or might even feel loose. They're cheap and easy to replace.

I'm not sure why you would even install a ten year old tire. Skip a few frappucinos next week and buy a new tire.

[850 Combat]

Are you sure you have all the spacers in right?

On a GS I check the front wheel bearing by sticking my finger in it. Any grainy feeling when you rotate it, or any detectable movement other than rotation is a bad bearing.

[scrapper]

I put on new tire, old tire was 3 digit date code ending in 7,looked good until got real close to it and it was weather cracked in the tread. I was wondering if bearings were bad would that cause the wheel to spin crooked? Or would that be only checked by taking off the wheel. I can check the the rim by spinning just wasn't sure how to tell if the bearing or the rim was bad from just spinning it. Thanks for quick responses though. I will try it out.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Do you have wire wheels ? I would be very suprise if the cast wheel was bent with out showing physical damage. Check for side to side play too..Hold the front brake and rock the bike fore & back any clunking noise? = loose head brgs. Also put it up on the center stand Move the handlebars side to side - it should move freely. Or do it the quick & dirty way, just tighten the stem brgs about 1/8 turn, See what happens. If it feels better it's probably ? time to replace the brgs
Check the tire sidewall to, make sure the tire is seated properly..