[650samurai]

I got my stock Bridgestone tires to about 12+k miles. I wouldn't recommend that though. The wobbling got worse and worse, but when I went to new tires it completely went away. No changes to the forks or balance of the wheel.

*the old front tires did not seem that worn out either, or out of shape. If the issue gets stronger with speed with no change in load I would attribute it to the tire or rim.

*of note my bike's front did not wobble unless I had hands off and I was decelerating (obviously.)

 

[john56]

Your taking to long to check the rest of the stuff and fix the serious problem.

 

[GINge]

@ John56, thanks for the concern. I guess I am not feeling a sense of urgency about this as the bike has been this way for at least the past 2000km, possibly even since it was new. It was only in the last year that I first took both hands off the bars and noticed it.

So long as there is not a sudden catastrophic failure brewing (ie, front wheel suddenly locks) I think I'm OK. Had the bike up to 200 km/h briefly and there was still no wobble with hands on.

I did notice some black grease on the left side of the front axle, while there was none on the right side. Wondering if that might be indicative of a bearing issue, or just the fact the bike leans to the left on its kickstand?

 

[650samurai]

It doesn't hurt to take the front wheel off, clean the axle, re grease every thing and check the torque values. I never had any wobble when my hands were on the bars though. You should probably treat the issue as something to watch, and perform more frequent maintenance checks.

 

[GINge]

It's been a while, but here's a follow up. I tried some dyna beads (1 oz) in the front tire. Interesting result - the wobble went away, and the very slowly came back. Each time I took my hands off the bars, the wobble would come back quicker, until it was the same as before the beads. Makes me think the tire is cause.

 

[Rebel13]

It's been almost a year and you put beads in to unbalance the tire even more? Change that tire!

 

[jazzyjigsaw]

I have the same problem. Bike has 1200 miles on it. When I decelerate from about 30-40 mph and take my hands off, the handlebar starts to wobble. As soon as I put the hands back on it goes away. A little scary. Tires look good. Not sure what the issue is.

Also bike has a lot of vibration, hands go numb after 60 minutes of riding! But I am assuming that it is a separate issue.

 

[Rogue Hawk]

Don't ever take your hands off the bars when the bike is in motion.

 

[streak 21]

I purchased a FJR1300A 2014 in march of this year with 3100 miles from Snake River Yamaha in Boise. Was shop maintained and ridden by the owner of the business to/from work and on some rides.

I too experience head shake as soon as hands are removed. Slight for an instant but in a matter of a few seconds is very bad. I replaced the front with a Dunlop qualifier, adjusted rebound to a harder setting from stock, run the suggested tire pressure. Have tried different road surfaces, different speeds and uphill/downhill. I looked for a dampener but as yet have not found one.

Any ideas?

 

[Okse]

I had the same issue. Solution was to adjust the disc brake calipers for alignment. Loosen the two bolts holding the caliper on Fork, squeeze the front brake and tighten the two bolts while still holding brake. That solved it for my bicycle with fluid disk brakes. I also had checked all the other suggestions to No avail it's always good to inspect tires pressure etc. Pads looked OK but seemed to be touching on one side. It's prudent to do the same adjustment on back brakes. Soon for me.
Cheers!