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front wheel wobble

mitchellmastrin

New member
I recently bought a 2014 f800 gsa with 21" wheel which has an annoying front wheel wobble.
How has this been addressed?
Someone suggested Scott's steering damper, comments?
I primarily ride on road.
 
Welcome to the forum! Have you had the usual things checked, like ensuring that the tire is properly balanced, check for runout on the rim as it slowly turns. Seems like you should resolve those things.

On a slightly related subject, I replaced the front tire on my R69S and then found that the front end wobbled while at speeds over 50 mph. I checked everything I could but couldn't find the problem. I had purchased a low-end tire, and the recommendation was that I buy a better tire. I did and the problem has basically disappeared. Even though I had used the style of bad tire before, something about the construction of the newer tire resulted in the front end wobble at speed.
 
Michelin tires should be pretty good. So, you have no idea if it wobbled before you purchased it? Seems like you should pursue that...someone mounted tires. Hopefully they knew what they were doing and the bead on tires are properly seated...easy enough to check that by closely checking the witness mold line that runs around each sidewall...look carefully to see that the line is equal distance from the rim all the way around, both sides.
 
You've not mentioned what tire pressure you are running (both front and rear). That is very important and especially with a GS and dual-sport tires, a lot of folks tend to run them way too low for highway use. Manual is like 32psi-F 36psi-R one up and 36-F 42-R loaded. For highway, and most pavement riding, my feeling has always been that you have far more stability starting off at the 2-up recommended pressures. But tire pressure is something like oil, everyone has a very different idea on what is best. ;-)

Once you have verified that you've got 36-F and 42-R take a short ride and see if the problem is still there. If it is then like Kurt mentioned, you start looking for a mechanical issue. The order that I use is as follows:
  1. check for even the slightest movement, side-to-side, in the front wheel - With the bike on the center-stand and sufficient weight on the rear of bike to raise front tire off the ground hold it at 12 and 6 and check for movement back and forth.
  2. check for runout of the rim in both axis - tape a pencil, stick, screwdriver, etc., to the front fork and fender so that it is horizontal to the rim and just at the top of the top edge of the rim about 1/16th" or so from the rim outside edge. Spin the tire and see if the rim is out of round (the distance up and down will change by more than 1/32nd") or bent (side to side - the distance rim the outer side edge of the rim will change more than 1/32nd")
  3. check for runout of the tire - secure something steady about 1/16th" from the center of the tread parallel to the ground and watch as you spin the wheel to see if it changes more than 1/32nd"
  4. check for tread/belt issues - first rotate the wheel slowly observing the tread from the front to see if there are any noticable distortions or cupping/scalloping/etc. Then spin it at a modest rate and watch the tread. This will sometimes show a slight change or weave to the tread pattern which is usually an internal belt issue.
  5. check wheel alignment - https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/how-to/how-to-check-front-and-rear-motorcycle-wheel-alignment-mc-garage-tech-tips#page-8
  6. check tire balance - this is more complicated as it involves removing the brake caliper, etc., so I've put it last, as many don't do this, but if you do, it is best to do it second last. https://www.cycleworld.com/2013/12/11/learn-to-balance-a-motorcycle-wheel

I use the order above because an unnoticed issue with any item before each one listed can mask/change what you interpret the issue to be. Remember, all of this is done with tire pressure at 36-F 42-R.

Steering dampers are good, but shouldn't be needed on most modern bikes as the geometry, materials, bearings, tires, etc., are all so much better than they were years ago when dampers were a common fix for things. AFAIK, the F800 wasn't prone to wobble. I've run those tires on an R1200GS at prolonged triple-digits without issue so it shouldn't be the tire unless there is something identified by the testing outlined above.
 
On my '14 F800Gs Adv, I was getting the wobble about 70 MPH. I checked the air pressure on both tires and the rear was low, blew some Kansas air into the rear and bingo, the wobble was gone.
 
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