Wobbly front end

Right then, at low speeds the front end of the SW feels rather wobbly...almost as if the forks have no damping or the front wheel is buckled.

The front forks don't leak but are very soft.

Al the bolts that hold the forks in are tight so is this normal for an SW or...?

Any ideas?

Oh, fron tyre is up to pressure.

Some suggestions here: https://www.silverwing600.com/search?search_keywords=wobble&typerecherche=interne&show_results=topics

I fitted Hydropro fork springs and SW20 fork oil which is an improvement over standard. A search on here will find more info on this.

Could be as simple as a tire that is worn or out-of-balance.

Yes, don't overlook the small stuff. The tire will look inflated when it's way low. When I test drove the SW I bought recently, I heard a roar coming from the front end. Figuring whatever it was wouldn't be that expensive to fix, I bought the scooter anyway. (a 2003 with 2000 miles on it). When I got it home, I checked the air in the front tire. It had six pounds. The rear had 14. I aired them both up and the roar went away.

Check your front wheel bearings, this is exactly how mine felt when the failed. Not saying it is your bearings, but if they fail completely later on the wheel won't turn at all. Not a good feeling

If you put one hand on the forks see if you can wiggle the wheel on the axle rod at all, if so pull it off and check the bearings ASAP.

Low speed front end wobble is normal on Swing, you notice it goes away when you pick up speed, still, for your peace of mind it's good to check things out, Ride Safe.

I never had any wobble at any speed until the bearings failed. Maybe I am not interpreting what your referring to as wobble correctly though.

Checked the pressure and that was fine, did notice quite some weights on the front and some that apperantly came off as all that was left was the black sticky stuff...why on earth would a wheel need that much weight to balance a tyre I wonder...

Dear oh dear...did I buy a lemon?

Is it wobbly when you have a firm grip on the handlebars, or is it only when you have a light grip ? It is not uncommon to have wobble if you leave lose your grip. Read the question steveonfarm ask.(link below) Is this what you are wobble you have ? If so it's not a lemon. Probably would go away when you fit new tires.
https://www.silverwing600.com/t4926-worrying-wobble?highlight=wobble#46293

model28a wrote:

Is it wobbly when you have a firm grip on the handlebars, or is it only when you have a light grip ? It is not uncommon to have wobble if you leave lose your grip. Read the question steveonfarm ask.(link below) Is this what you are wobble you have ? If so it's not a lemon. Probably would go away when you fit new tires.
https://www.silverwing600.com/t4926-worrying-wobble?highlight=wobble#46293

oh yeah I see what you mean, mine has always wobbled a little bit at low speeds if I am not holding the handlebars fairly tight, but so do my Chinese scooters so I think that's normal tire surface imperfections coming up to the handlebars.

I am with GHM-PM on this one. In the past I had a rear tire that was bad. Slow speed wooble that I could feel through the handlebars. Very unsafe feeling. J.R.

I was going up to speed 50 mph when I realised the zippers on my wrist were open and I let go the bars to fix. I was fine till I slowed down to 35 mph then got into a seareous wobel. I won't do that again.

Had a front tire delamination cause this issue once. Elevate the front tire and spin and see if the tread moves back and forth. It was obviously "wobbling".

I will decelerate on the exit ramp from the interstate at about 90 mph,
I sometimes ride with no hands during this event.
as I approach 30 mph the front end wobbles, but pretty much only around that speed or slower.
The SilverWing has a natural tendancy do be this way.
It is less with a new tire and gets more as the tire wears.
If I simply touch the handlebars the wobble stops.
There is nothing wrong or dangerous, this is just the way the SilverWing behaves.

Harry

There is just something funny about a heading in"Latest Topics"

"Wobbly front end by Old Sloppy"

KurtPerthWA wrote:

There is just something funny about a heading in"Latest Topics"

"Wobbly front end by Old Sloppy"

From a man down under.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I don't believe anything I'd call a wobble is normal in a Silverwing (or any other bike - my wife and I also own a pair of 250cc Chineese scoots, and they don't have a wobble either). But it's hard to tell since the OP didn't give enough details. A wobble may be warning you about critical maintenance that left ignored will kill you.

Starship: What's "low speed?" (km/h or mph)? Does the problem go away at higher speeds? Is the force in line with the forks? Does it do this while sitting still, if you move around on the bike? Does it shake the bars (and in what direction)? Is it just when you've got an unbalanced bike (I.E. riding down the roads not holding the bars, in which case it's pretty easy to get into a "pilot induced oscillation" with the bike unknowingly)?

I'd recommend having someone look at it if you have *any* doubts at all - lose steering head bearings or loose wheel bearings can kill you, and they can do it very quickly and suddenly. My wife's '07 Silverwing had a loose steering head bearing which caused a pretty significant shake at speed. One thing we learned from that experience is that you need to pretty much ignore the service manual's torque value to torque the head bearing properly - you can easily end up with a loose steering head following their procedure. Instead, follow the service manual inspection procedure (NOT just shaking the forks - that simply won't detect this in many cases) where you put a fish scale or similar on one fork and see how much force is required to turn the forks/bars/wheel/etc. Adjust so that value is proper (my wife's was extremely loose - took almost no force to do this). Too tight (within reason) is better than too loose. She only had 1200 miles on her scooter when we fixed this (I suspect there's a reason Honda says to inspect this at 600 miles after new vs. other stuff that they don't suggest you touch for much longer).

Likewise I'd inspect anything else in the rolling chassis that you can - axles, wheel bearings, fork clamps, engine mounts, swingarm, suspension elements, etc. I'd also highly recommend you find a different Silverwing to take for a ride to confirm whether or not this is normal, if you're thinking you just might be being hypersensitive to a normal bike behavior.

That said, the front end of these bikes does have a soft suspension that compresses relatively easily. But I still wouldn't call its' action a wobble by any means - it's simply a softish suspension.

tinman wrote:

I was going up to speed 50 mph when I realised the zippers on my wrist were open and I let go the bars to fix. I was fine till I slowed down to 35 mph then got into a seareous wobel. I won't do that again.

Dude, that must have been some very "SERIOUS WOBBLE" .

I have let the steering go on other motorcycle but I had the cruise lock on. The Swing is very sensitive .

The Swing rides really nice and smooth and quiet.
I have noticed a slight lean is required to make the bike go strait.
this is on a slight downhill slope at 20 mph riding with no hands.
totaly normal and most folks will Never notice.

Harry

I am Not sure what you mean by wobble but mine soft and hard steering At low speed makes mine wobble ....something I've gotten used to ....riding otherwise is fine

Pindar wrote:

I am Not sure what you mean by wobble but mine soft and hard steering At low speed makes mine wobble ....something I've gotten used to ....riding otherwise is fine

Nice necro revive to a 10 year old thread.