Front end wobble

Replaced the original dunlop's few hundred mile ago with some nice sticky bridgestone bt020's...these have been fantastic. as mine an 06 k5, let the dealer replace the rubber & as i use it everyday invested in some ultra seal to prevent any punctures.
after about 50mile or so noticed when i took hands off bars between 45-60mph bars go into wobble. its ok less than 45 & ok more than 60, which led me to believe it must be the balancing. took it back, bloke said 1 of wheel weights had come off, re-balanced it. takes it back out, still does it, gets more time off work, takes it back, they wash out the ultra seal, re-balance. takes it away again, still does it. yet more time off work, takes it back, bloke says yet again re-balanced & now it ok. takes it back out, still does it.
i reckon the bars when it bad must move about 2-3 inches, any recommendations?
do i contact suzuki? take it somewhere else as still within 2 yr warranty? will suzuki say somethin cos not oem spec tyres?
any advice would be great, anyone else had this prob?

[Sid Squid]

It's unlikley to be balance, if it were it would get progressively worse as speed increased.
I doubt there is a problem as such, many bikes will do this even when all is quite well, as long as even just putting your hands on the bars damps out the bar movement it's most likely fine, if it wobbles when you hands are on the bars then there may be a problem.

Could it be anything to do with a combination of the amount of preload on the rear shock and your new rubber? Lots of preload = less sag = quicker steering plus the new rubber will have a sharper profile than the old stuff, which will feel quicker on turn in but possibly at the expense of a bit of straight line stability. Just my thoughts anyway. I've noticed a slight wobble on my bars at certain speeds when i've got an extremely light grip on the bars and put it down to those factors, the rest of my bike being ok.

[cortinaman]

My curvy with Conti Road Attack does the same at roughly the same speeds mentioned (60-80 km/h).

When I first noticed it I started to worry, but I've put it down to it being the suspensions natural resonant frequency.

I could be wrong of course, any knowlegded comments to ease my mind would be most welcome.

cheers for the replies...has got me thinkin now - when i had the dunlops on i put the max setting on the rear, so it stiffer - but left the front alone. that's prob why i had 1/2 inch of chicken strip on dunny's and only couple of mm on 020's. does turn in so much quicker. and yea when hands on bars don't have any trouble. so now i have dilemma - reset all suspension settings and have crap turning? or put up with the wobble and have lightning steering.
after recently coming back from iom tt and passing my bro on his 1050 speed triple on a left hander at the verander and him shaking his head at me when we reached signpost corner makes me think....maybe i'll just leave it as it is! lol.

i have the same prob with my kwak zrx1200,

if you let go of te bars it goes nuts, but even the lightest touch on them and it stops, ive had the head bearings, wheel bearings checked and theyre fine, had it rebalanced still no different, apparently some tyres just do this, im on mich pilot road 2's, otherwise excellent tyres, never had same prob with any other tyres, and chances are when i swap them agin for the same i wont have probs again, i was told that sometimes just a slight uneveness in the wear on each side can make them out a fraction, and thats all it takes,

so the top tip of the day is ,,,,,dont let go of the bars........................

So so many bikes do this.

I don't know what it is but there have been bikes from all manufacturers that give a little wiggle at 50mph when you take your hands off the bars. balancng doesn't cure it, only a change of tyre type will.

My solution is simple...don't take your hands off the bars at 50. If you're happy with the way the tyres perform at every other speed and condition, then leave hands on the bars at 50 and you'll not worry about it. The wobble never gets dangerous, it's just something it does.

When I went from standards to 020's I had the same problem on my way back home. I rang the dealer and they asked me to bring the bike straight back and they would have a look at it.
The outcome was that the wheel needed so much weight adding that it had to be dynamically balanced.
Maybe worth having them look at this as an option.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

as long as even just putting your hands on the bars damps out the bar movement it's most likely fine, if it wobbles when you hands are on the bars then there may be a problem.

Just like he said after all most production bikes.... Let me start over, all bikes are not designed to be ridden by the armless and the only reason bikes have steering dampers is for very high speed and not just for waving the chequered flag with both hands. You should be alright.