Bridgestone T30 EVO GT front tire

[RossKean]

Just for fun, check the runout on the new wheel/tire combination. One assumes that a new wheel will be straight but...

 

[Fred W]

^^^ Good idea.

 

[AdamK]

I guess you could put some tapered steering bearings on it, which will mechanically dampen the pivot, and that will eliminate it. How certain are you that you got the bearing preload correct when you recently adjusted that? You could increase that preload (the last torque step) a little and add damping that way. Too much preload will cause the bearing races to wear/dimple prematurely, but if your next step was tapered bearings then it might be worth a go anyway.

I followed the torquing procedure by the book. It actually feels a little tighter than it was, yet the shake still comes on pretty quick when I let go of the bars. I'm taking a 300+ miles ride tomorrow and will have a better feel for how things are.

 

[AdamK]

Just for fun, check the runout on the new wheel/tire combination. One assumes that a new wheel will be straight but...

It's fine. I spun it on the balancer and on the front of the bike. I thought for sure that would clear it up. The bent rim had about a 3/16 to 1/4" wow in the flange. There was also a resulting flat spot in the rim. I was really bummed when the new wheel didn't do the trick.

 

[AdamK]

Tire life update: I'm at the wear bars at 6,100 miles. Pretty much all of the miles were from two trips, one up, fully loaded and pretty high heat during the last 3,000 miles. Not as many miles as the PR4s, but hard to compare given the heat. But these tires are WAY cheaper, so probably a better value.

 

[AdamK]

Now that the riding season is pretty much over for me I made an appointment to have the bike checked out. After adding another 5k miles and changing the front tire the head shake is still pretty bad from about 48 mph down. Above that it's not a problem. I called my insurance company to let them know there is still an issue. They are on board to make it right. Hopefully the shop will find the cause of this.

 

[AdamK]

I took the bike in to a local dealer two weeks ago and they serviced the suspension. I'm at 20k miles on my 2016ES. They also replaced the steering head bearing with All Balls tapered head bearings.

Picked up the bike today and took the long way home. I was only able to induce head shake twice and that was when I hit a bump in the road with my hands off of the bars. The front definitely feels tighter, but not so tight to effect turning. In a way it feels more stable, probably the damping effect of the tapered bearings. I took it through some twisted and had no issues getting it to tip in. I let go of the bars many times on cruise at a variety of speeds and only had the two instances of head shake. The front tire has 4k miles on it. Definitely better!