Wiggly again

[bemusedinsojo]

Hello all,
My steamer is wiggly when ridden. I thought I cured it with the new back tire and did a little but it still feels a little off. If I ride over a small bump it feels like the shocks have a hard time recovering, and they bottom out on asphalt roads. It is really disconcerting. I have new tires with dyna beads, the tire mounter said wheel bearings are fine, I've shaken both wheels after install and no movement there, and put the bike on the center stand and tried to move the steering head back and forth but it is solid. I believe it could be the following: need to rebuild front and rear shocks with new springs for the front, and swingarm bearings/bushings. I can't think of anything else. Am I on the right track?

Thanks.

[ssevy]

Sounds like your rear shock has gone south on you. I had mine rebuilt, and it is really great now. Also had stouter springs and thicker fork oil put in the front. By the way, Ricor Intiminators are awesome on my 99 Legend, but they don't work on a Tiger because of too much fork travel. Even if your shock isn't the cause, it is well worth having it rebuilt if it has lots of years/miles on it.

[JayDub]

Wot he said 
My rear shock went 300 ml from home and it was a horrible trip back.  The bike was like a schizophrenic supermarket trolley - all over the place, especially in high winds on the motorway and filtering (loaded with luggage). Consider an aftermarket shock if possible, apparently anything is better than the stock One.  I tried progressive fork springs in mine and they seemed to cause a violent front end shake from the front brakes, but that may have been just on my bike.  Try just changing the fork oil for now, search the forum for fork oil, there's loads of advice about weights, a 50/50 mix of 10w & 7.5w worked well for mine.

[Mustang]

what year steamer.....................kayaba or showa?

the kayaba shock in the rear sucked when they were new............the showas on the 98's were marginally better.
the good news is a suspension shop can rebuild them.  and they will be better than when they were new .

but if you want to fix the high speed wobble you need some stiffer fork oil (like 15 or 20 wt )and a lot of preload on the rear,
like so much preload you wont have any static sag

also get the front tire psi to at least 42 lbs and rear at least 38 psi
steamers have a light front end and if you don't get some wt shifted to front you will never get rid of the wobble

[bemusedinsojo]

Wot he said 
My rear shock went 300 ml from home and it was a horrible trip back.  The bike was like a schizophrenic supermarket trolley - all over the place, especially in high winds on the motorway and filtering (loaded with luggage). Consider an aftermarket shock if possible, apparently anything is better than the stock One.  I tried progressive fork springs in mine and they seemed to cause a violent front end shake from the front brakes, but that may have been just on my bike.  Try just changing the fork oil for now, search the forum for fork oil, there's loads of advice about weights, a 50/50 mix of 10w & 7.5w worked well for mine.

Yes, that is how it acted. All over the place and uncontrolled bouncing. Any ideas for an aftermarket shock?

[bemusedinsojo]

what year steamer.....................kayaba or showa?

the kayaba shock in the rear sucked when they were new............the showas on the 98's were marginally better.
the good news is a suspension shop can rebuild them.  and they will be better than when they were new .

but if you want to fix the high speed wobble you need some stiffer fork oil (like 15 or 20 wt )and a lot of preload on the rear,
like so much preload you wont have any static sag

also get the front tire psi to at least 42 lbs and rear at least 38 psi
steamers have a light front end and if you don't get some wt shifted to front you will never get rid of the wobble

It is a 98. It looks like I have some work to do. If the rear shock has been rebuilt, can it be rebuilt again?

[Nick Calne]

Also had stouter springs and thicker fork oil put in the front.

Where did you get the springs? Have you got any details. Cheers N

[bemusedinsojo]

what year steamer.....................kayaba or showa?

the kayaba shock in the rear sucked when they were new............the showas on the 98's were marginally better.
the good news is a suspension shop can rebuild them.  and they will be better than when they were new .

but if you want to fix the high speed wobble you need some stiffer fork oil (like 15 or 20 wt )and a lot of preload on the rear,
like so much preload you wont have any static sag

also get the front tire psi to at least 42 lbs and rear at least 38 psi
steamers have a light front end and if you don't get some wt shifted to front you will never get rid of the wobble

How do I set preload? With the screw on the right side of the shock that has an S or H printed on it?

[bemusedinsojo]

I took the shock off and sent it to the shop (really hurts a penny pincher). Does anyone know part numbers for a Showa mono shock? I found some KYB info but no Showa.
Thanks

[Timbox2]

How do I set preload? With the screw on the right side of the shock that has an S or H printed on it?

No, that screw is the damping,  its supposedly combined compression/rebound though mainly affects rebound in my experience. Basically it controls how quickly/slowly the shock re extends. (S), soft,  less damping, (H) Hard,  more.   Preload is set using the big castellated nuts on top of the spring with a C spanner, top one is a lock nut, clockwise for more preload. Be prepared for skinned knuckles

[Sin_Tiger]

Unscrew the three screws securing the rubber flap onto the swing arm to allow you to lift the flap clear for better access.

A good clean around the thread and soak with release fluid will make things a lot less frustrating. If you feel it getting tight, back it off and clean again, that fine thread is easy to damage.