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Progressive ?
Hi guys. Guess this is a question for the canadians (it`s in metric). I`ve had some problems with my bike. It`s been kinda loose in the frame. Put it on center-stand, wiggle the steering back and forth, and the entire bike will be dancing "shake that rearbehinde" for days... It`s wobbling all over, espessially driving with 2 persons, in low speed.
No loose bearings, no slack in any bolts, it just feels VERY uncomfy...
Solution to my problem, I thought, was to buy progressive suspension... OK, so I took the hole front end aparte. Left leg didn`t carry much oil, right 1 did, though. Could that be the problem? Uneven amount of oil?
Anyway, here comes THE question: The original feather(s) in each leg, measures 57,5 cm, and reaches 8,3 cm over the top of the upper legs.
The new feathers are only 52,3 cm long, and reaches 3,5 cm over the legs.
Maybe if Vic understand my questions (my english is kinda rusty) he`s able to help me, `cus the guy at the local dealer knows nothing, nobody at the norwegian forum ever writes me back, an I`m stuck here... Which measures should I use, measuring over the upper legs? What is the original setup looking like? I have a long feather in the bottom, a spacer 1 cm thick, and a new feather on top. Is that the original setup? Both top ends ended at the other end of the garage, when I unscrewed them, so I guess the feathers was pretty tight and good.
hope one of you are able to help me :oops:
-86 GL 1200 SE-I "SOLD" but not forgotten

-02 GL 1800 w. Speeding sidecar and Peak trailer
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#1 01-26-2007, 11:47 AM,
Presumably when you say "feathers" you mean "springs" ?

If you purchased new Progressive springs you should have the documentation along with the springs.

They might be a little shorter than the stock.

Suggested causes of wobble:

Incorrect adjustment of the head bearings

Tire condition and pressure.

It might be due to incorrect oil levels per fork.

Incorrect air pressure in the shocks ( front to rear ratio)

Swing arm bearings

Wheel bearings

When measuring the fork oil measure oil level with fork collapsed and spring removed. Progressive call for 5.5" from top of fork tube.

Check the anti dive settings, in fact if your changing the oil make sure they are clean, they can get sludged up.

The 1200 series can have a tendency to wobble and some of the above will make it more pronounced.
The only stupid questions are the one's that are not asked.

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#2 01-26-2007, 01:09 PM,
Hi tricky. I`m glad you understand what a non-english speaking person means, and yes, I meant springs.
And as long as all of the other suggestions go: Been there, done that, checked it, and all looks good to me. Bearings are tight, front and back. Tire pressure is measured once a week (I`m a driving instruktor, knows what tire pressure means for your driving), but oil measures was, as I said, un even. But as long as the measures goes, I`m still confused. How come the big difference in lenghts ? The springs came with only a general instalation instruction. Marke is WP suspension, it`s a Dutch compagny. Anybody who know of them?
And by the way tricky, thanks for a quick reply Big Grin
-86 GL 1200 SE-I "SOLD" but not forgotten

-02 GL 1800 w. Speeding sidecar and Peak trailer
Reply
#3 01-26-2007, 01:59 PM,
Not familier with the maker of springs in Europe, when you purchased them were they specific for GL1200.

It might be that they are wound similar to the Progressive, they are a little stiffer than the stock springs. maybe thats why they are shorter.

You could maybe change the fork oil to a 15weight oil

Quote from another site
"Front wheel wobbling: ever wonder why?

Most likely it is that the Steering Stem Nut is not properly torqued, but you could have tire cupping or warped calipers as well.

Many Wings have a low speed front wobble that a lot of us have installed the Super Brace to help with. You might also want to have your dealer check the steering head bearing. Mine needed tightening before I had a thousand miles on it and I have heard other say it was loose out of the box. "

That steering stem nut could be the main culprit.
The only stupid questions are the one's that are not asked.

Reply
#4 01-26-2007, 05:00 PM,
silverbull666 Wrote:Hi guys. Guess this is a question for the canadians (it`s in metric). I`ve had some problems with my bike. It`s been kinda loose in the frame. Put it on center-stand, wiggle the steering back and forth, and the entire bike will be dancing "shake that rearbehinde" for days... It`s wobbling all over, espessially driving with 2 persons, in low speed.
No loose bearings, no slack in any bolts, it just feels VERY uncomfy...
Solution to my problem, I thought, was to buy progressive suspension... OK, so I took the hole front end aparte. Left leg didn`t carry much oil, right 1 did, though. Could that be the problem? Uneven amount of oil?
Anyway, here comes THE question: The original feather(s) in each leg, measures 57,5 cm, and reaches 8,3 cm over the top of the upper legs.
The new feathers are only 52,3 cm long, and reaches 3,5 cm over the legs.
Maybe if Vic understand my questions (my english is kinda rusty) he`s able to help me, `cus the guy at the local dealer knows nothing, nobody at the norwegian forum ever writes me back, an I`m stuck here... Which measures should I use, measuring over the upper legs? What is the original setup looking like? I have a long feather in the bottom, a spacer 1 cm thick, and a new feather on top. Is that the original setup? Both top ends ended at the other end of the garage, when I unscrewed them, so I guess the feathers was pretty tight and good.
hope one of you are able to help me :oops:

*************************************************************
You should have one long spring, one washer, then one very short spring in each fork leg in that order.

Two mains items that will cause your wobble are as Tricky stated loose steering head bearings, they must be tight. The torque measurement for the steering stem adjuster nut is 11 foot/pounds and for the steering stem nut it is 72 foot/pounds.

The other less common cause of a wobble is loose swingarm bearings.

Everything must be correct for the bike to drive straight with no wobbles, tires, brake rotors, axle bearings and fasteners all must be correct for best performance.

If the steering head bearings feel notchy or rough after you tighten them then you must replace the bearings.

I'm glad you chose to stop driving your bike when it started to wobble. Some people keep driving with a wobble but that is a very dangerous practise.

Keep coming back to ask more questions as you reassemble your bike because it's better to ask first than to break something or hurt yourself.
Ed (Vic) Belanger - 1954-2015
Founder of gl1200goldwings.com

Reply
#5 01-26-2007, 09:49 PM,
When I had a shop check out my bike for me before my big adventure is said there were two things wrong with my bike, the front tire was getting to the end of it's life. It still had tread, and he said it would be fine for the trip. The other thing he said was the stearing head bearings were notched. I ask him out he could tell (I was guessing they were from milage alone) and he told me how to tell.

Get the bike on the centerstand on cement, you want very smothe cement for this BTW, get on the bike and put some weight on the front end and start turning the bars. He said that he could feel the notching in my bearings.

Even with bad stearing head bearings I didn't notice anything had about the handling of the bike, other then at foot down speeds that it was sure not my 900.

As to fork springs Vic is dead on for factory springs, if you don't have factory springs you are likly looking at one spring that will run most of the length of the fork. You can say alot for progressivly wound springs, and you can say quite abit against 20 year old factory springs.
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#6 01-27-2007, 08:17 AM,


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