Chasing a front end wobble

[bwringer]

Anxiously awaiting the outcome of the brake disc transplant and handlebar mount tightening...

In an effort to uncover any dangerous instability, I stood up and leaned way forward, I scooted way back onto the passenger seat, I rolled on and off the throttle, hung off the left and right, braked and accelerated hard, and basically tried every trick I could to provoke the bike into misbehaving. Nothing evil happened at all -- the vibration didn't amplify into anything. It's a slight vibration, not anything that rattles your teeth or threatens to yank the bars out of your hands.

The rear suspension is squeaky, but nothing's loose. There will be some greasing of pivots and such in the near future.

I hadn't ridden a GR650 before. Pretty nifty engine -- basically, a 650 parallel twin that doesn't vibrate. The bike itself feels like a smaller GS -- it's on the scale of a 550 or 650. The engine architecture is different than the 400/450/500 2-valve twins.

As we suspected, pretty much everything on the bike is identical to a GS of the era -- Suzuki doesn't re-engineer parts unless it has to.

[pete]

This is good stuff to know, and explains why Big Rich has himself 3 of them!

[oldrookie]

Still haven't gotten to the work described above.

My son had a cross country meet an hour north of here (set a new personal record of 17:46 for 3.1k) and that ate up most of the day.

Did take it out for a run and got it up to 65 mph Felt far more confident in the bike after Brian checked it out. Had to get back because I had tickets to the Avett Brothers show in Indy this evening. (Great show, by the way.)

Enjoyed the run on the bike immensely. Things can only get better when I get the disc changed and the bars tightened down.

Have about 8-10 hours of grading to do tomorrow, but will try to squeeze in time to deal with either the bars or the brakes.

[cowboyup3371]

My son had a cross country meet an hour north of here (set a new personal record of 17:46 for 3.1k) and that ate up most of the day.

.

Tell your son congratulations; best I could ever run was 19:20 on both the roads and track.

[oldrookie]

Tell your son congratulations; best I could ever run was 19:20 on both the roads and track.

Will do, thank you. Not a bit proud of him.

[oldrookie]

Tightend the bar mounting bolts today (as much as I could, didn't move much.) Also mounted the newer disc on the bike.

Still a bit of pulsating on heavy braking, but it is better. Will probably try the other one and see if it pulsates too.

Bike is quite rideable as is.

Thank you to all who contributed their time and expertise to help. In particular, Brian, thank you for going the extra mile to help and for your patience with a newbie wrench.

The test ride today was just a good time...finally.

[pete]

Mate it sounds like you can just get on and ride now, awesome!!

And yes I'm very envious... but I will be there before too much longer

[oldrookie]

Mate it sounds like you can just get on and ride now, awesome!!

And yes I'm very envious... but I will be there before too much longer

Keep pushing. A lot of people pulling for you to get that bike back on the road.

[pete]

Keep pushing. A lot of people pulling for you to get that bike back on the road.

Don't worry, I'm pushing alright! Week off next week for painting and I'm doing everything I can to be prepared for it

[oldrookie]

Quick update-- I installed the disc intended for the right side of a dual disc setup on the left side since the GR is a single disc brake bike.

Stops are solid now, with no pulsating felt. Sweet. Still has a bit of vibration after 50, but I can live with that.

Runs well, stops well and is fun to ride. Just in time for it to get cold.

On to the paint work prep.

[pete]

Quick update-- I installed the disc intended for the right side of a dual disc setup on the left side since the GR is a single disc brake bike.

Stops are solid now, with no pulsating felt. Sweet. Still has a bit of vibration after 50, but I can live with that.

Runs well, stops well and is fun to ride. Just in time for it to get cold.

On to the paint work prep.

Good news! Glad to hear it

Paint prep hey? Gotta be a new thread for that right? You gotta share

[oldrookie]

Just don't make any mistakes on yours! I'll be using it as a guide

[pete]

Just don't make any mistakes on yours! I'll be using it as a guide

Hahahaha too late on that one!

[chirobo]

45 mph wobble gone!! It's a good day....

Found my 45mph wobble ...very slightly laterally bent rim....Pretty fascinating how it was barely there up to 43mph, then faded into other sensations after 55mph. At highway speeds felt solid. At 45 you felt like if something got it going (rock in the road) it would lead to a get off tank slapper. At 70 felt solid...very strange....

koto had a rim he let me have. It was a 2.15 (vs 1.75 stock) and it works like a charm. I was sweating it out as I read about the wobble chasing blues on here.

Thanks koto for the deal on the rim!!