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front end sway?

  • Thread starter Thread starter courier11sec
  • Start date Start date
C

courier11sec

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I just came back from a short ride. As I travel along, the bike weaves slightly back and forth. I thought it was the road surface at first, so I got off that road and on a different one, but it did it again. I had the front wheel and forks off the other day getting a new front tire on and was going to put new fork seal in, but ran out of time due to spending all day permanently fixing my front brake dragging problem. (different story)
I suspect the oil in my forks is uneven, but don't know for certain. Front tire pressure is 35, forks each have 10psi. Am I on the right track suspecting the fork oil? The bike didn't do this with the garbage old tire.
New tire is a Kenda Challenger.
 
If your forks are oil free you don't need seals. Check the oil levels from the top with a dowel rod to see if they are even. New tires need a break in time plus your not used to it.
 
Thanks Chef. I was expecting it to take some time to get used to the new front tire, but the nature of this problem seems to me to not be tire related.
If I were to remove the caps from the tops of the forks, would I need to support the front of the bike with jackstands or will they not collapse far enough to cause a problem? It would ruin my day to have the bike fall over on me in my garage.

Also what do you mean oil free? Is there something I can do to convert them? What method would then be employed to provide dampening?
 
If the oil seals are bad there will be oil on your fork shaft. You will HAVE to support your front end off the ground when removing your end caps or they will end up on the moon and you will get hurt.
 
Oil free means there is no oil on the outside of your forks, as in the seals do not leak. Also if the forks will hold air, then the seals are ok. Just change the oil. :-k Now, what you probably noticed was not caused by anything mechanically wrong with the front end. The old tire was probably a little squared off. So it would tend to follow a line without much input. The new tire is rounder and sharper, so it will be more sensitive to moving off the center, drop the pressure a little, maybe to 30lbs, and give yourself a little time to get used to the new tire, then that wandering back and forth will disappear.:cool:
I noticed this effect years ago when I put a new tire on my first bike. My wife also complained her scoot wouldn't hold a line with her new tire. Eventually you don't notice those new tires.;)
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Sheesh! I'm not used to being the guy with all the rookie questions! Good thing the folks on here remember being there.
 
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