Picked up my Girl! & Have a Question...

[mpowers]

Hello everyone! Just picked up my new to me 05' Girly, she's a bit rough around the edges but what fun it is!

Cliff notes if you don't want to read the below.

When braking and needing to turn even ever so slightly the bars feel like they are in a bind. Sometimes the binding is at low speed even without braking. Is this a symptom the tall tell sign of failing head bearings?



Quick background, I found the bike for sale in Atlanta (I'm in Williamsburg Va) and had my friend go buy and check out the bike and make the purchase for me.

The PO stated that he thought the steering head bearings needed to be replaced. Fair enough, so I called the local dealer and told them the bike would be coming in as I had just purchased it and needed the bike to be checked out for the head bearings and since I planned on riding it home to give the bike a safety check.

Long story short, they stated the bike was fine but recommended various other services. Ok do it, I rather ride back with confidence in bike.

Anyway, I fly in last Thursday to pick up the bike and immediately head to the dealer. Paid my nearly $1000 tab and ride over to my friend's home to crash for the night. Well we didn't get 10 miles and we have a massive oil leak! So I'm a little pissed...not to mention the annoying steering problem.

So I take the bike back Friday morning and they fixed the oil leak (caused by leaving the valve cover bolt/bolts loose from a valve adjustment-which I hope they did) and also mention the bike just does not drive well.

As described:
When braking and needing to turn even ever so slightly the bars feel like they are in a bind. Sometimes the binding is at low speed even without braking.

Anyway they of course stated they test drove and it felt like every other tiger...

Well Thursday night I should have looked the bike over, but was pretty pissed and decided to enjoy some beers with good company. After they did all the rework I found the rear axle was 1/4" out of alignment (did I mention they installed a new rear rotor?). This seems to fix most of the driving problem that I felt, but the damn binding is still present.

Now I have pulled, tugged and bounced the hell out of the forks trying to find intolerance in the steering head. Note: I have not take it apart-just got home last night.

But is this symptom the tall tell sign of failing head bearings?

A more joyfull pic from the BRP on Saturdays ride home.

[Mustang]

long story short version ........
yep your head bearings need replacing !
you will find that the races have notches worn into them which causes the bearings to hang up

[mpowers]

Thank you Mustang for the reply!