I have a 2004 Superhawk that has a nasty head shake under hard acceleration or to the topside of 110; anyone else experience this?

Stock bike no damper...yet!
Please help,
Mr.B

 

any geometry changes? forks pulled up? rear raised? larger tire? etc..?

the only time i need a damper is at the track and its really only for slight bumps on the track surface when im banked over and going fast.

i could pull hard all the way up to top speed with no damper and have no head shake. but when the front gets light under hard accel its normal to have head shake because the front is barley touching the ground, if it all.

the shake over 110 isnt normal and likely you have something misaligned or poor geometry changes. just my 2 cents

 

Everything is stock as I know it to be, I purchased this bike last year so can't provide solid history.

 

what tires? what wear on them? what pressure?
Loose, worn steering head bearings, mis adjusted suspension , forks slipped up in clamps, worn wheel bearings, rider induced

 

It has Shindo Podium tires; stock size at recommended pressures. Not something I would have chosen but they are brand new with zero miles when purchased.

 

id bet on Erik being spot on with the head bearings. when i bought my bike they were already shot. they had slop, and tight spots. i couldnt take my hands off the bars because it wouldnt track straight. it may have even led to a crash last year. never had head shake from it but with enough slop that certainly could cause it

 

I appreciate everyone's knowledge sharing so I can get this corrected because there will be no track days until it is.

 

By the way, what's the best method to test the head bearings?

 

remove front wheel, forks, and triple clamps, cut off the lower bearing race.. turn it and the upper bearing over in your hand under bright light........and then toss in the closest garbage can and install Tapered bearing set


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http://www.partzilla.com/parts/detai...P-4102743.html

 

+1
go all *****. worked miracles on my bike. handles so much better. about $50 for a set. totally worth it.

 

The all *****, honda kit is only arounf $25 on Amazon. I just bought a few sets( doing several fork swaps on a bunch of bikes)

 

well i had to get a custom set for the RC51 fork swap so maybe those are a little more

 

I believe the Rc51 , VTR CBR, VFR , and pretty much most Hondas from the late 80's use the same head bearings. Makes fork swaps easier . I am fitting a 05 600rr forks on a Hawk gt and don't need any custom parts (well except headlight and guage mounts). The list price on the all ***** kit is ~$40 I think. So it just depends on the retailer you got it from.

 

false. different size steering stems. take a look at the all ***** fork swap chart and you will see that they arnt the same. for example to do an RC51 fork swap on the VTR, you have to use the SP1 lower triple. the SP2 triple has a steering stem that is too thick and is unusable. im sure most are pretty similar but they are not all the same

 

Got it.

I see that now. So the RC51 front end swap will require , both bearings separate and not available in one kit. It's still awesome so many of them use same bearings and a lot of swaps are easier.

I had looked up, f4i, 929, 954, vtr, 4th 5th and 6th gen VFR, hawk gt, CB-1, 600rr bearings as I had fork and frame combinations from that list and was happy to find them all the same. I knew there were a few different ones.

 

yea it does make it easy. i love the RC front end but i almost wish i went with a CBR front or something since the parts are worth their weight in gold. the SP1 front wheel i just got cost me a pretty penny. i wanted another SP2 front wheel but they are all north of $400. but at least the SP1 will match my 900rr rear.

sorry for the thread jack!

 

Do you have a rear stand? You need to get the font tire off the ground. Use a floor jack w/ a small piece of wood under the oil pan (be very careful). With all weight off the front end, grab both forks and try to wiggle front and back to feel for play or slop. Then turn lock to lock and feel for any notchyness. You can lean it on the side stand a little if you have to but I would have a friend there to steady the bike while you did it.

 

Ok...after much research and forum input, I am removing both rear and front tires to have them remounted and balanced first. I am not confident with the original servicing (mechanic) of the tires.
I took a very deliberate ride to gauge what was happening and in addition to the severe head shake, there is an oscillation during high speed turns as well. I'll keep you posted on the results.
Thanks again
Mr. B

 

id be interested to know exactley what is going on during the wobble in high speed turns.. my buddies harley 1200 sportster does this if your on the freeway or anything over about 55 and are turning to the point where you are banked at all. it feels like the front wheel isnt true or something. let me know what you find out. he just had new tires mounted and balanced last week and the problem persists. we googled it and its called the "sportster wobble of death" ive ridden it and its SKETCHY.

Good luck with curing the wobble. let us know the outcome!

 

I would still be looking at the head bearings, I just did mine with All ***** ones. Took about 4 hours.

 

So I decided not to rush in to any hasty fixes; I got a hard back manual and read up on the suspension, after checking all settings; each had a different setting..,wtf. I put every thing to a medium/hard because I do ride the bike as it deserves to be ridden and almost all of the head shake had vanished and the tail wallow has gone by by. Still going to put on a set of Rossi II so I have total confidence and I am check the steering head bearings this week. How it why the suspension got so fouled up is beyond me, you could not ride the bike, it was dangerous.
Thanks again for all the input😀 I appreciate it
Mr.B