Head Shake

[Ugarte]

On 2006-09-27 03:26, davidhp57 wrote:
In the mean time, I had it up to 145mph (indicated) and no more shake.

Cheers, David

Arn't there any CHP in Colorado? :wink: :razz:

I stopped going over 100 on the Rocket after getting two tickets this year. The tickets were in my car but still I don't want to add another one so its slow go from now on with the Rocket...i.e under 90 mph....

Thanks for the heads up on the 440's, I am going to take mine off and check em out. I bottom the things nearly every time I go into my driveway. I weigh 250 and didn't get the heavy duty ones.

[LukeSkyWalker]

Explain to me what "head shake" is?

Do you mean a wobble on the handlebars?
I ask because my rocket has developed that.
If I let go of the handlebars, they wobble pretty badly.

[Ugarte]

On 2006-09-27 06:47, LukeSkyWalker wrote:

If I let go of the handlebars, they wobble pretty badly.

I get that wobble too when the front tire is near the end of its life (about 12k miles)....not because of normal tread wear but because of cupping. Check your front tire for uneven wear. When I get a new front tire the wobble is gone and the handling is much better.

[LukeSkyWalker]

I'll check that.
I've got 9700 miles on the tires now.
10,000 mile checkup is scheduled.
Thanks for the info.

[dougl]

On 2006-09-27 03:26, davidhp57 wrote:
I had installed the Progressive 440 IAS shocks and they suggested that I put the stock shocks back on and see what happens. The head shake was gone! I noticed that the holes in the rubber bushings on the 440's were oblong. I measured each shock and made sure all four were the same length and reinstalled the 440's. The head shake was almost imperceptable. I called Progressive and they are sending me new bushings. In the mean time, I had it up to 145mph (indicated) and no more shake.
Cheers, David

This is interesting. I put on the Unifilters. TBABob's Uni's burned up his bike so I took mine off. Then I'm all hopped up about getting Progressives to soften the bumps. Now these things are screwed up. Seems like someone up there is telling us to leave the ***** thing alone.

[TallRocket]

Thank you for a very informative post. I especially liked reading the steps you took to isolate the problem. I would have never suspected shock bushings as having the potential to create such a problem.

And your mom called and asked me to tell you to slow down, 145 mph are you nuts?

[rusty]

With worn "rear" shock bushings, I would think it would be called "tail shake". Not certain how the rear shock bushings would allow the front fork to "shake" but I don't believe anything is clear cut on these space ships. I'm just glad everyone is sharing their experiences with all of us.

Thanks davidhp57!

[TallRocket]

I assume you corrected the shock length by twisting the shocks until they were of the same height? Right? Because you didn't buy a 3rd progressive shock that matched one of the two you already owned.

What this suggests is - to set the preload of the progressive shock while off the bike. Screw the shock housing, counting the number of rings and then measuring the height of the shock to make certain they are identical in length. Am I following this correctly?

[Lee]

Something like that can be a real pain. Starting small and working your way up until you find the cause is good, but takes a while. I know something as small as displacing a tread can be big on vibration. On the other note I thought that anything over 90-95 is loss of license. Getting caught at 145 is definitely going to get you a small room with bubba. (you will need cigarettes)