wierd steering gyro affect?

[Mad Mark]

ok im going to try and explain this. tightened down the steering head lock ring because their was a little slop in the front end. just 3/4 turn but their was still some slop.

so im riding and it feels like theirs a gyro affect leaning the bike slightly to the left to right the left etc. kinda feels like the winds blowing you a little. and this is just at 40 - 45 mph. oh and i took it on the freeway and it was dead solid.

it didnt do this before tightening the steering head a little. my front tire is old and rotted and is wearing out wierd too, on just one side? any ideas?

[hampshirehog]

Could be a lot of things associated with your front or back end (or even the middle if it's bent). If it's only just started doing it after you adjusted the head bearings I'll guess it could be worn bearings - but that is just a guess.

[Mad Mark]

hmm the bike has 19,000 miles on it, for some more info.

[tkent02]

Bearings sound worn, even if it's only 19,000miles... Or you adjusted them too tight.
Still having some slop and feeling notchy at the same time sounds like the bearings are bad.

The good news is it's easy to fix.

[Mad Mark]

Bearings sound worn, even if it's only 19,000miles... Or you adjusted them too tight.
Still having some slop and feeling notchy at the same time sounds like the bearings are bad.

The good news is it's easy to fix.

i dont think its the bearings, they arent overtightened and their smooth. just checked again and theres slop in the forks like bushings are worn out.(my forks are blown and leaked alot of the oil out)
but its a total gyro affect which make me think its the tire?

[hampshirehog]

Sounds like you need to do some maintenance on that front end. You'll be chasing your tail if you don't sort the lot. If your bushings are worn out I would only ride that thing very gently and get it sorted as soon as.

[subforry]

you could back out the change: loosen the steering head.

When I worked at a bicycle shop, it was sometimes very hard to identify bad bearings in the headset. They would feel fine on the stand but bad during test drives. Sometimes we would go too tight just to be able to feel the if the bearings were notchy.

[greg78gs750]

wait, wait, wait. you have a 30 year old motorcycle with a bad front tire, bad forks, and a possible steering head bearing problem, and you are trying to figure out what the problem is? um, i have an idea....