goldwing 1800 wobble

[countrydude2]

Have a 08 wing that wobbles when you get a real slow speed, was told it could be the tires but they only have about 5000 miles on them. Need a little help.

[Viking]

Normally three things will cause a wobble at low speeds. 1.) Steering head bearings are loose or worn, 2.) tires are out of balance, 3.) tires are worn enough to begin cupping, and/or have a straight groove directly around the center of the tire.

To check the steering head bearings, place the bike on the center stand, lift the front of the bike with a jack or by getting a person to weight down the rear so the front tire is off the ground, try to move the wheel front to back. If there is play, the steering head bearings may be your problem, and even if not, they need attention.

For the tires, those with a straight grove around the exact center of the front tire, in my opinion, are poorly designed and will cause low speed wobble and rain groove following. An undulating groove, or no center groove at all result in better handling tires.

As to balance, the best way to fix this is to add balance beeds such as Dyna beads or Counteract beads through the valve stem. They also sell a balancing disc that bolts alongside the tire that is reported to work very well.

I hope this helps, and if anyone totally disagrees with my opinions, remember they are just my opinions, and what work for me. Rather than bring me to task, simply voice your own experience.

[thrasherg]

Low tire pressures will definately cause a wobble at slow speed. I run Avons on my bike and love them, but if the rear tyre gets below 35psi I get a low speed wobble, re inflate to 45psi and everything is perfect. Start with the simple things first. Check tyre pressures, if they are good, put the bike on its center stand and put a car jack under the front of the engine and just lift the front wheel of the ground and then move the front wheel side to side to check for rough movement, then try moving the wheel backwards and forwards, this will tell you if the steering head bearings are loose or worn out. Then check the rear swing arm bearings.

Gary

[iancardwell]

In my experience of front wheel wobble the cause in all except 2 cases has been the rear tyre.
It's usually under inflation or a flatted centre section.
If you run your tyre under inflated or if you do alot of straight highway mileage it quickly flats the centre section of the rear tyre and this can cause front wheel wobble at slow speeds.

[mikemajor]

Every time I've had front wobble was caused by front tire cupping due to under inflation...
My Honda dealer suggested inflating both front and rear tires to 42 psi, so I followed their advise. I've nearly doubled the life of my tires (went from 9,000 m to 15,000m) and never experienced cupping or wobbling again.
I've tried different brands of tires, Dunlop,Metzeller but decided to go back to Bridgestones.

[countrydude2]

Thanks for this information, I will try it for sure.
Ray

[Red Ron]

In my experience of front wheel wobble the cause in all except 2 cases has been the rear tyre.
It's usually under inflation or a flatted centre section.
If you run your tyre under inflated or if you do alot of straight highway mileage it quickly flats the centre section of the rear tyre and this can cause front wheel wobble at slow speeds.

Could be but don't know if that is the case with me. I have had two wings and they both did it. I run CT's on both of them. CT's are flat therefore causing the problem right. Well, the '08 did it after the front tire got about 2/3 worn. Every time I replaced with a new front tire the wobble stopped until the tire got about 2/3 worn. Now as for the '13 it did it from day 1 with the MT that came stock on the back. When the stock tires wore out I put my normal CT on the rear and a BT-45 on the back and have not had the wobble even though I have already worn out 2 sets of tires since the OEM tires; even after the front is worn out. I think that the '13 did not have the front wheel properly installed from the factory.

[peppilepew]

Those of you being told that stem bearings will cure deceleration wobble may be disappointed to find that tire wear will ultimately re-induce wobble at a later date. Now that my tires have wear the wobble is starting to return. Tapered roller stem bearings, Centramatic balancers, Traxxion front suspension and a fork brace did not keep it away. In my opinion this is a characteristic, not a repairable condition. Live with it! I love my bike. Outperforms the v-twins hands down.

[raygald]

May a added bracket over the fender can stop or lower the wobble? Or it's done by tire wear (rear tire 7000 km and front tire about 18 000 km)?

[bigdaddykronk]

Nature of the bike. Heavy bike on under engineered forks.