frustrated with HEAD SHAKE

Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum

Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ROCK

Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
20
Reaction score
0
Location
Lebanon, IN Just North of INDY
[SIZE=18pt]Man, I can't be the only one - I've got a 2006 Gen II FJR 1300. [/SIZE]

Bought it new off the showroom floor, immediately I had a wobble at about 50 miles an hour. After a thousand miles, I took it to the dealer and one of my forks was higher than the other, they adjusted and gave it back, after another thousand miles, I noticed it still had head shake at lower speeds.... I complained to Yamaha and they replaced the front tire, and checked the head bearings.

I rode it this way for a couple of more thousand miles. It still had the head shake..... I took it to a different dealer and they said, you have different tires on the front and rear.... What.... I hadn't even noticed. They stated different tread patterens from different manufactures might cause a head shake. Made since, but they could not match either tire. So I had to go with Dunlops D220's.. Nice tire... No problems with the rear, but after eight hundred miles, the Head shake was noticable again...

I took to a third dealer and he checked the balance of the front tire, checked the head bearins and Nut to make sure everything was good. He said there was nothing he could do in a short amount of time.. He would need it awhile... I was out of town so that wouldn't work...

I returned home and took it back to the original dealer, and they couldn't find anything except the cupping of the front tire, they told me now that the head shake is from the aggressive driving, causing the tire to cup... Thus causing the head to shake.... Bull%&*@.

the head shake is causing the tire to cup prematurely.....

Anybody have anything for me

 
[SIZE=18pt]Anybody have anything for me[/SIZE]
I have some reading glasses for you. Evidently you must be visually impaired. :glasses-smiley02: :p

Seriously, sounds like a pain in the ass problem. I have an '06 and have a slight deceleration bar shake with the Storm tire I have on the front end, but haven't had any noticeable head shake, ever. And I ride fairly aggressively. I've not heard of a "universal" head shake problem. Time to go up the Yamaha corporate ladder?

Sorry for your troubles. Sounds like a real lemmon.

 
After a thousand miles, I took it to the dealer and one of my forks was higher than the other, they adjusted and gave it back, after another thousand miles, I noticed it still had head shake at lower speeds

No problems with the rear, but after eight hundred miles, the Head shake was noticable again
When you say after another thousand miles, does that mean it did not have a head shake for the 1000 miles in between? It sounds like there are short periods when there is no head shake from the second quote. That might indicate the dealer is somewhat correct about the head shake coming from the cupped tires. :eek: However, aggressive driving is not the culprit here and tires sure as hell should not cup in the first 800 miles. IMO we are trying to figure out why the tires are cupping: so to go with the obvious what pressure are you running in them?

BTW, ditto above, 2006 with no head shake (unless the front wheel is off the ground ;) ).

 
I as others have the decel head shake between 50-40 mph but it's not noticeable at all with both hands on the bars, only with hands off the bars really, and it's not enough to turn into a tank slapper.

Have you (not a dealer but you):

- Checked your head bearings?

- Checked your wheel to make sure it's not bent?

- Checked your wheel bearings?

If you put it on the center stand, lift the front end, grab the forks, do you feel any play? What about the wheel?

You're not too terribly far from me, I'd be happy to meet you, we could swap bikes and see if what you think you feel is normal or not. Might help to have someone else take it for a ride.

-MD

 
Like Renegade offered, I'm not that far from "Lebtucky". We could meet in Indy, Plainfield, Danville, Bainbridge or something like that and switch bikes. You have a clutch lever on that thing? I think I remember how to use one. :blink:

And the checks he recommends for the front end might tell the tale.

Sumpin ain't right....

 
Last edited by a moderator:
This has been discussed a bunch.

If you remove your arms from the bars, most bikes will tend to "wobble" around 40mph. (I won't call it "head-shake" because this term is usually used for a much more serious condition where the front end oscillates wildy at high speed, often after landing a wheelie with the front end slightly crossed up.)

40 mph tends to be the natural resonant frequency of the front end of a motorcycle. As the tire tracks over uneven pavement, any small disturbance will tend to deflect the tire to one side and the bike's natural rake/trail stability provides a force to re-center the forks, but it overshoots slightly. At 40 mph, you're right at the spot where the overshoots tend to reinforce each other and amplify. It's just like the galloping girdy bridge that collaped in Tacoma - a certain wind speed excited the natural oscillation frequency of the bridge and it amplifed to destruction. Likewise, if you throttle-lock a FJR at just the right speed (around 40mph), take your hands off the bars, and ride far enough, eventually the forks will be banging against their stops. It's the nature of the motorcycle beast.

Many riders never note the problem because they either don't take both hands off the bars or if they do, the bike decels through the resonant zone fairly quickly and the oscillation never has time to develop.

Now, some bikes are worse than others. Lots of things can make the problem worse: too much rearward weight bias (top boxes are notorious for aggravating the probelm), poorly set up suspension, lowering/raising the suspension, a worn front tire, tire cupping, out of balance tires, loose steering head bearings, misalignment between the wheels, etc. The front tire is critical - some brands tend to wobble more than others and they all tend to get worse as they wear.

So a little wobble at slow speeds is normal, but a lot is not. Your arms are a necessary steering damper. If the bike has any wobble in it with your arms loosely grasping the bars, then that's definitely too much. Or if the bike snaps into a rapidly increasing wobble the moment you remove your hands, that's too much. In either event, you start working the list of problems: proper suspension setup, good front tire, etc.

But you're really chasing your tail if the wobble is minor and only develops with your hands off the bars. And I agree with the dealer: Cupping might be causing the wobble, but the wobble is not causing the cupping. Cupping is another of those things that just tends to happen, like disc brake squeal - some is normal, a lot is not.

- Mark

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Did they do a wheel runout. I would think that could cause it. Also, what tire pressures are you running. I had cupped Bridgestones 020's and yeah, I got, rrr when leaning but never headshake even with severe cupping. Check that wheel runout.

 
This has been discussed a bunch.<snip>

But you're really chasing your tail if the wobble is minor and only develops with your hands off the bars.

- Mark
That, my friends, was a summa cum laude explanation of the issue. :good:
Yessir, I will concur with that. :clapping:

We've been trying to solve a mild headshake problem affecting the bike of a forum member here and fell into the same loop as described above.

IMHO, the fact that the guy weighed 300 lbs in his stocking feet did not help much, either (Mark called it "too much rearward weight bias ").

While this particular case baffled us, another bike's front-end wobble was eventually solved when we discovered this other bike's rear-arm pivot nut was loose.

Once we torqued it, the shake was gone.... FWIW

Stef

 
Last edited by a moderator:
[SIZE=18pt]Man, I can't be the only one - I've got a 2006 Gen II FJR 1300. [/SIZE]
Bought it new off the showroom floor, immediately I had a wobble at about 50 miles an hour. After a thousand miles, I took it to the dealer and one of my forks was higher than the other, they adjusted and gave it back, after another thousand miles, I noticed it still had head shake at lower speeds.... I complained to Yamaha and they replaced the front tire, and checked the head bearings.

I rode it this way for a couple of more thousand miles. It still had the head shake..... I took it to a different dealer and they said, you have different tires on the front and rear.... What.... I hadn't even noticed. They stated different tread patterens from different manufactures might cause a head shake. Made since, but they could not match either tire. So I had to go with Dunlops D220's.. Nice tire... No problems with the rear, but after eight hundred miles, the Head shake was noticable again...

I took to a third dealer and he checked the balance of the front tire, checked the head bearins and Nut to make sure everything was good. He said there was nothing he could do in a short amount of time.. He would need it awhile... I was out of town so that wouldn't work...

I returned home and took it back to the original dealer, and they couldn't find anything except the cupping of the front tire, they told me now that the head shake is from the aggressive driving, causing the tire to cup... Thus causing the head to shake.... Bull%&*@.

the head shake is causing the tire to cup prematurely.....

Anybody have anything for me
I have a few questions. What tire preasures are you running, how heavy are you, and are you running with or without bags? You indicate tire cupping which is a sign of under inflation. Do you have a stock windscreen? Try setting the rear suspention to the highest setting and removing the bags. If this helps the the suspension settings on your bike need to be set for your weight and load.

 
I have a few questions. What tire preasures are you running, how heavy are you, and are you running with or without bags? You indicate tire cupping which is a sign of under inflation. Do you have a stock windscreen? Try setting the rear suspention to the highest setting and removing the bags. If this helps the the suspension settings on your bike need to be set for your weight and load.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have a few questions. What tire preasures are you running, how heavy are you, and are you running with or without bags? You indicate tire cupping which is a sign of under inflation. Do you have a stock windscreen? Try setting the rear suspention to the highest setting and removing the bags. If this helps the the suspension settings on your bike need to be set for your weight and load.

There has been a lot of good comments, thanx,

first off, the bike has always had this Head shake, front end wobble, tank slapper, what ever we need to call it.... I drove it home off the lot, with no weight in the bags and within a couple of days I noticed it. When I took it in that first time, they wrote it off as the forks were not at the same level..... Since, I have added a top trunk, a givi windscreen, and I weigh in at 300 lbs. but I have had the service guys at three different dealerships ride and they have experienced the head shake as well.....

A little more description of the head shake from me...

I accelerate through the gears taking off from a stop. doesn't matter what gear I am in, if I let go of the handlebars at any speed between 30 and 55, the handlebars start going into a tank slapper immediately. slowly at first but within four wobbles, it is scary enough to grab the bars again.....

I just got back from a fairly large trip and I had my weight and my wife's weight, the top trunk, and the side bags all full..... There was indeed some weight on this bike. I had the front tire inflated to 44 and the rear was at 46, I have since deflated the tires to accomodate the less weight. I typically keep the front at 40 and the rear at 42. I have had another guy ride the bike with no bags and no top trunk and experience the head shake, the tires at that time only had 800 miles on them...

I have been riding motorcycles since I was five, this insn't my first bike and I know you need to hang on to the bars with both hands to be safe, but we all know that when we are on a nice bike ride, we tend to release one of the bars and rest the other hand on the grip to take a break. Its kinda difficult when the front end is wanting to wobble....

the mileage marks I mentions above were not when the problem owuld start again, it was marking when I was tired of dealing with it and would take it in and have someone take a look at it. The bike is at the dealership right now and they want me to just accept it as thats the way it is... I talked with the service manager for quite someitme today, service to service. Yamaha says its happening because of the cupping, even though this is the third brand of tire I have tried. I asked him to put another tire on and ride and then call me and Yamaha back. Because it doesn't matter what brand of tire nor the newness of the tire, it still shakes violently

I will tlak to the service manager tomorrow and find out what happened, but I mentioned to him today that I had remembered back a few years ago a similiar problem with the Gold Wings, and it had to do with the drive shaft, something not balanced or something, and the vibration moving through the frame and hitting the only thing that was able to vibrate, the front end....

Oh yeah, and I hardly ever ride with the front end up in the air on this bike..... I have grown up a little, not much, but a little

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Has anyone successfully added a steering stabilizer to the FJR. I have the 06 and would like to add the stabilizer to the steering. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

remeber this post back from August of last year..... this was my post from a almost a year ago..... Guess why I wanted to add the steering dampner..... One person in the tread mentioned that the bike doesn't normally need one, and if I thought it did I might be masking the problem, instead of getting it fixed..... I am still trying to fix it...

 
I don't see the dealer's point on the cupping issue now. If it was tire cupping then the new tires would have temporarily alleviated the problem, which you indicated is not what happened.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Rock, sounds like you've got a bad case, considerably beyond what is acceptable or normal. If with normal loading (just you and no weight in the top box), it has a noticeable wobble with just one hand removed from the bars, this is too much in my book.

I'd remove the top box just to get a handle on how much this contributes to the problem. Top boxes are convenient as heck, but man-oh-man, they just do evil things to motorcycle handling.

I'd probably get out the string and take shot at seeing what the wheel alignment looks like. If the thing is major out of aligment, front to rear, even the cheapie string method will show a problem.

https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/st...orcycle_wheels/

Sounds like you might have to escalate up the chain at Yamaha. Good luck.

Oh, one other thing.... at your weight you are WAY undersprung with the stock rear suspension, even on the hard setting. Getting a proper rate spring on the back might not solve the problem, but it might help a lot.

- Mark

 
Last edited by a moderator:
You have a side/side unbalanced rim that is not showing up during normal tire balancing,.. because the weight differential is 180 degrees,. but out from the centerline of the rim creating an oscillation in the stering column. It's not about front/rear loading,...Alignment(otherwise you'd be going in circles,...Slowly...mind you,....). You need a New FRONT RIM. Just make Them (Yam) get ya one asap

-DON

 
Top