Steering damper, I got head shake,

Cooper'n said:
What sort? Where from? How much?
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Hey Cooper, have you set up your suspension yet? Also, how fast were you going when the shake occurred? Have you checked your steering head bolt? I know a friend of mine has an 08' Harley, brand new, and had a case of headshake. He brought it to the dealer and they found that the bolt was loose by about 2-1/2 full turns. They torqued it properly after making sure that the bearings were okay and he was good to go.
 
Cooper'n said:
What sort? Where from? How much?
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First, for safety reasons, do what Billy said first. :D Check all the bolts involved with the steering head as well as the triples. Make sure the forks are equal in what is showing (of not) above the top triple. Make sure the wheel is truely straight and then check the tire pressures.

When and at what speed does this shake occur? If it is happening on a smooth straight road, it is one of the above items and the damper will not fix it.

If this is only after hitting a bump or getting the front end light out of a corner then touching down, then you may want to do all of the above and then order a steering damper.

Here's a very nice one : GPR Stabilizer creates world class steering dampers for sportbikes, dirtbikes & ATVs, GPR Stabilizer

Also, you may want to wait for va_rider and he is fabbing/testing a solution that could be VERY inexpensive.

Safety first... Check this stuff and torque everything in place.
 
Will check the bolt and make sure all is good.
It is still new and only done 5000ks so everything may have loosened up a tad.
It only dose it when I'm fisting it through the gears. Could be mainly from front end becoming light and not much friction with the ground, yes. GPR damper sounds good. thanks everyone.
 
Whenever your front end shows signs of looseness or being out of balance you need to figure out what is out of whack, not mask the problem with something the manufacturer didn't think was needed for every day street use. I've had several dampers and they will not correct a problem that is in the geometery of the steering system.
 
Lonerider59 said:
Whenever your front end shows signs of looseness or being out of balance you need to figure out what is out of whack, not mask the problem with something the manufacturer didn't think was needed for every day street use. I've had several dampers and they will not correct a problem that is in the geometery of the steering system.
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Having owned 2 bikes with factory dampers (750 srad, R1), its still possible to get the head shaking. The Suzuki had radiacal geometry and chassis (for the time) based on a gp bike, the R1 a LOT of power. So the need was there.

Head shake happens often on my FZ1 as well when accelerating hard on a bumpy road. But no signs of a real tank slapper and just easing off throtle a touch or loosen the grip on the bars is always enough to rectify.
So are we talking prevenatative measures here or are people experiencing tank slappers? Becase IMO its two very different things.
 
I have tightned the steering head bolt and it already feels a bit better and have put an oldie but a goodie, tyre on the front, The stock tyre that was on the bike was way to slippery for my liking, had the missis on the back and nearly layed it over in a corner, hopefully the tyre may make a differance when the front becomes light under power and will want to stay strait and not skip around. going for a ride to Malany range here in QLD. OZ, A full day ride. sun up to sun down, ill report back after the ride and tell you all how it went. Cheers,
 
Cooper'n said:
I have tightned the steering head bolt and it already feels a bit better and have put an oldie but a goodie, tyre on the front, The stock tyre that was on the bike was way to slippery for my liking, had the missis on the back and nearly layed it over in a corner, hopefully the tyre may make a differance when the front becomes light under power and will want to stay strait and not skip around. going for a ride to Malany range here in QLD. OZ, A full day ride. sun up to sun down, ill report back after the ride and tell you all how it went. Cheers,
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OE Dunlop??
 
Cooper'n said:
I have tightned the steering head bolt and it already feels a bit better and have put an oldie but a goodie, tyre on the front, The stock tyre that was on the bike was way to slippery for my liking, had the missis on the back and nearly layed it over in a corner, hopefully the tyre may make a differance when the front becomes light under power and will want to stay strait and not skip around. going for a ride to Malany range here in QLD. OZ, A full day ride. sun up to sun down, ill report back after the ride and tell you all how it went. Cheers,
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I hope it will be good news! Good Luck.
 
I used to have head shake when I put just my fingertips on the bars at any speed. Not tank slappers, but it was scary. I put a new set of tires on the bike, and balanced the wheels. now I can release the bars completly "not for long" and the bars are rock solid.
 
With the stock Michellin Pilot powers my steering was always very stable all the way to top speed, even when they were past due to be replaced. Well, due to wearing them out right at Christmas gift buying season I went with a set of Shinko tires,(don't try this at home). Now at about 130 or a litlle less i start to get headshake. I went thru two sets of the Pilot Powers and never once experienced any wobble other than when lofting the front tire. I guess you get what you pay for. Chili
 
Its all about the tires

Hey Cooper,
I'm not sure if you have resolved your problem yet, but from my experience the head shake is almost always due to your front tire...unless your doing something silly!! I have the stock Michelin Road Pilot on my bike right now as I just got this 06 FZ1 (11,000km) and if i let go of the bars they shake, not so bad to crash or anything but its there. With my 01 FZ1 I had the Michelin 2CT Pilots and they would never ever ever shake...."its all about the tires"! I can almost guarantee you that if you put a new balance front tire under you, your issue will be solved. No need for dampers and tightening head bolts!!!!
Like someone else said....you get what you pay for...Good luck!
 
Well I got a new set of tyre's put on and the shake went, I think it was because I had a flat spot on the rear tyre, It wasn't a big shake it was a slow wobble more then anything. I've had big tank slappers at over 200kmh that scared the *#!* out of me but this was just annoying and frustrating. Tyre's I put on are Mich pilot power 2CT and Ill never got back. Thanks all for your reply's, Much appreciated

Cheers
 
when i was in nashville and raceing around alot with the rockets alot there i had a wobble that would always turn into a tankslap real bad always at 140mph i was vary mad at it no matter how hard i held it and leaned on it it did it so i took it to the shop weare i had the front tire put on and told them so they checked all my alighnements and bolts and sead the bike is perfect and tites was balenced good. he sead that since my back tire was so bad flat spoted that it might be that so i bought a back tire and fixed it pefect thought i would put this story in to help to
 
Cooper'n said:
Well I got a new set of tyre's put on and the shake went, I think it was because I had a flat spot on the rear tyre, It wasn't a big shake it was a slow wobble more then anything. I've had big tank slappers at over 200kmh that scared the *#!* out of me but this was just annoying and frustrating. Tyre's I put on are Mich pilot power 2CT and Ill never got back. Thanks all for your reply's, Much appreciated

Cheers
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Hi Cooper, I've noticed on my new bike that I get a small slow wobble on the freeway and if I tuck my elbows in it goes away. I'm running the stock dunlops, so I'll see how it goes and when I wear them out I'll throw the Michelin PR2's on that my bike shop has for me.
 
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