[sim636R]

I have about 9500 miles on my 06 6R now.. ive had the head shaking problem for a while now and ive done some searching on kawforums and now one really explains what causes headshakes.. everyone just answers get a GPR stabelizer or change your tires.. or its probably the road.. let me explain the problem..

Well i was riding out from Zuma (pch) yesterday with a couple buddies of mine and i just wanted to test out my headshakes when i let go of the handle bars and see if ITS THE ROAD answer was the problem... well my Headshaking starts above 50MPH and me and my buddies (05 cbr600, 05 750gsxr) went about 55mph.. well there it goes, busted a no hands all 3 of us and im the only one with the head shakes...

So my Question is What really Causes headshaking and what can i do to cure it....??? do i have a lemon? or is it the tires i have on..??? tires are stock by the way.. all of your input would really be great right about now.

 

[Vodkazmaslom]

Rim is bent! Or your tire has bubbles in it. It could be the balancing of the wheel, but that is too low of a speed to feel the vibrations from a balancing error, its definantly the rim!

 

[sim636R]

thats not good.... its been since last november when i bought it... is there anyway they can tell if it was manufactures error? cause i know i didnt cause that...

 

[Rcorace]

Are the bars shaking back and forth or is the front end vibrating? Your description sounds more like an unbalance than head shake.

 

[bugjuice]

head shake is caused by the power of acceleration making the front light and start to skip the road. the wheel slightly points one way whilst it's up, then touches back down. it then wants to correct itself by flicking the other way, which is too much, so it goes back.. this effect starts the headshake. If that happens, just try to relax and ride it out.

but what you describe sounds like a balancing problem. wheel weights can fall off, or tires wear in funny ways. just go back to the dealer and get it rebalanced. it'll take 5 mins and cost hardly anything if at all

 

[sim636R]

the handle bars move be itself, like how you turn your handle bars left to right...

 

[landon]

have you messed with the suspension settings in the front?

 

[RedFinn]

I'd put five bucks a new front tire solving the problem. Try re-balancing first of course, like was said, it's cheaper.

Your thread made me all nostalgic about how I used to max out the mileage on my tires when I got my first bike four years ago. Getting a new tire was a big deal and I didn't want to spend the money. I even went to check out tires other people had replaced, and used one set of those. They were Macadams no less, lol. I did it because I had the same problem as you, with the old, stock front. Heh, my perspective has changed somewhat over the years as these days tires last me two days, and I do the changing and balancing myself.

 

[jeieien]

maybe one of the rims aren't straight? have you done recently to it like new tires whatnot? headshake happens when the front wheel is trying to realign itself with the backwheel. so it will start to wobble until it finds its alignment. hope this helps

 

[RedFinn]

This has nothing to do with headshake, as the term is commonly used. He was riding hands off, no gas, remember?

And when you try to solve a problem like this you obviously go the cheapest route first. Balancing, tire, rim, in that order.

If your rim is bent you can see it by spinning the tire and looking at the lip/edge. If you don't have a front stand, surely you know someone who does. Or go to the shop.

 

[prs]

+1 on what everyone else said but out of curiosity, how many miles do you have on that front tire? And please don't say 9500. If the tire is cupped you will get what you are describing.

 

[user11241]

hmmmm... this is interesting. I noticed I have the same problem, and when I replaced a flat rear tire a few weeks back, the guy said I have bubbles, or irregular wear (just not a smooth curve) in the front tire. I wonder if this is the problem.

P.S. I slipped in some sprinkler water on a turn a few nights ago (yea yea, I fell [B)] ), and now I'm paranoid about right turns, and I'm thinking about changing my front tire (because of what I was told.

 

[user11241]

Oh,

I forgot to mention, I replaced my rear tire with a used once (100 miles) race tire. I saw a post above about redfinn doing something similar.

 

[bittersweetryan]

Witeblazer if you are using a real race tire your slipping could be because the race tire won't be ridden hard enough on the road to warm up properly.

Sim sometimes people who have this problem on a brand new bike have it becuase they have a death grip on the handlebars and upset the suspension by transferring all the bumps into the bike. But since it happens with your hands OFF the bike, I got nothing.

 

[warbuk]

i'd say the tire is cupped, the stock ones that came on mine were junk, the front anyway. it cupped bad with about 4000 miles on it. i've never experienced headshake but mine had that wobble for a bit untill i changed the front tire.

hey whiteblazer01, i run race tires, takeoff's too and the only thing i noticed was in the winter i needed to run a couple miles before i got in a good lean on'm. i think they work great on the street and in rain or wet roads. pilot race seems to warm up pretty quick

 

[RedFinn]

The old gen Pilot race tires were notorious for warming up slowly. The last Pilot Race series had this issue corrected. Neither the Pilot Power nor the Power Race series have ever had this problem. Same with Pir/Metz SC/SC_Pro/Rennsport/Racetech tires. They all work great on the street, except for leaning over farther then the grooves go when it's raining, but you don't want to ride that fast in the rain on the street anyway. You shouldn't, at least.

DOT race tires (i.e. not slicks) do not need more heat then a regular street tire in my experience, if you use the same pressures in both. Don't use race pressures on the street, you'll never get it to work. There was a Dunlop rep some years ago who wrote a long letter to a magazine explaining the same thing. Tire technology has moved forward since then, but this aspect remains the same.

Posted by whiteblazer01
Oh,

I forgot to mention, I replaced my rear tire with a used once (100 miles) race tire. I saw a post above about redfinn doing something similar.

No, I went to the backyard of a tire shop after they closed and got me a set of Macadams. Since you youngings (This was three and a half years ago) might not know what that is, it's the one tire that is a standing joke among track organizers and goers over here because it's a tire meant to last forever, hence no performance capabilites at all. If you see it on the track, you know their total track newbs. It's terrible in every way.

Decent (race-) takeoffs are something completely different.

 

[sim636R]

i bought the bike nov 05.. ive noticed the problem probably feb 06..
(thats when i got comfortable with my bike enough to take both my hands off the bars...) friends told me " just get the GPR SDamper...
but it didnt worry me too much since i only experience it when im off the bars... got my suspension adjusted to my weight @ Advance Kawi (great place to go).. thinking it would solve the problem... it solved the unstableness of the bike at very very high speeds and made it more comfortable for me to make turns (meaning more responsive) but the shaking was still there....

Question about the bubble.. its inside the tire right? you cant really see the bubbles on the outside of the tire right, just like how you can see it on cars??

And yes, this is the same Battle Ax i got on since i bought the bike.. i was going to invest on some pilot powers but before i did that, i wanted to find out what the real problem is that causes the shaking...

i called kawi of hollywood this morning, they told me that it could be my "head bearings" or my rotors... they told me to bring it in and charge me $ 45-80 to check and see whats really wrong with it.. and if its the head bearings, it would be under warranty.. and if its the rotors, i would have to pay for it.. at this point, i would do anything to fix this problem... keeps me from having some real fun with my bike...

I am making an appointment today for tomorrow and i will keep all of you guys posted on what the real problem is. thanks again to all.

 

[akZixxer]

Ive been going through the same problem since the end of last summer. Check your tire pressure! People kept telling me that and I kept forgetting or wouldnt have a gauge. I even went through the trouble of checking the head bearings. Finally, when I checked my tire pressure, my front was at 18 lbs! Exactly half of what it should be. Must have been like that all winter. So imagine your bike sitting on a kickstand for 7 months at less than 20 lbs. Created a nice flat spot. Aired the tires up and BOOM, a yearlong problem gone instantly. I still get a little wobble between 50 and 60 from the teeny weeny flat spot, but it is soooooo much better. If your air pressure is good and has been good....well....just ignore everything i just said. Good luck!

 

[sim636R]

actually, this is my only transportation... ive been riding since november... i of course wouldn't ride on rainy dayz..

 

[sim636R]

UPDATE: i got my tire changed, and.....


NO MORE HEAD SHAKES!!!!!

thanks all for helping out.