AKA / DEATH WOBBLE - COULD THIS HAPPEN TO ME.

[deanbuffington909409]

I just read about this death wobble on the Concours ZG 1000. I had no ideal this was happening with this bike. I will check tomorrow to see if the bearings are loose. Mine is a 2000 model with only 15 thousand miles on it. What is the proper way to check your bearings on your bike to make sure this does not happen to me. Also if you had to replace the bearings what type bearings would be the best to replace them with. And is their a torque procedure that is best for this bike.
Thanks for any help guys this bike is new to me. I have had it for 2 weeks now and done a lot to it. I just got thru putting the rear wheel back on after greasing the shaft drive and the splines. To my dismay they were not greased as properly as I thought they should have been. I made sure to do it correctly. Also finished the ground mod & the spoofax mod. & now have the front tire off checking everything and will re- balance the front tire & re-grease also. Lots to do to make it road worthy when you buy a bike from another owner. I will not be satisfied until I have taken everything apart greased & checked & know it is safe to ride. Long process but worth it to know it is right.

 

[Scary Harry]

I experienced the DEATH WOBBLE only once when I owned a C10 and the cause was from a badly cupped front tire.

 

[Stasch]

The QUOTE below is a good start. Its something I saved it from another COGGER's post years ago.

The wobble is not uncommon for heaver bikes like the Concours, Goldwings etc.

I would add that it might take a few tries to get it right after properly tightening everything down and taking a test ride.

Too tight a feel manifested by a 'wandery' feeling or any wobble in the decel range of ~50 - 40 mph range means additional adjustment is needed. Fine tuning adjustments are ~1/8 turn per try.

Additional Post that might help:

Opinion on Deceleration Headshake aka death wobble

While I understand where they come from, there are several recurring comments on this topic that I disagree with as being the fundamental source in most cases, of the typical 50-40 mph deceleration headshake on C10's, C14's, Goldwings and other heavier bikes...

forum.concours.org

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This adjustment is very much a matter of feel (which is why service manuals always describe this in awkward terms that don't really reflect what needs to be done here).

After working with this adjustment on several motorcycles over several decades I have arrived at a process that works very well for me.

I will typically adjust the bearing following lubrication. I do it differently than the manual procedure. I loosen the UPPER triple clamp completely, not the lower pinch bolts. I will start with slowly tightening the bearing adjust nut while moving the bars back and forth slowly from lock-to-lock. Once I start to feel some resistance to movement, I know I am close to where it needs to be.

But this is sort of a false reading since there is new grease in there. I continue to tighten the nut until I feel more resistance to movement than I want in the final setting and I move the bars lock-to-lock several times. This tends to work the grease in and clear the races a bit for a more accurate final adjustment. I then slowly back off the nut until there is just a slight drag when going lock-to-lock. Any looser and it will be too loose while riding. The bearings are strong enough to handle a little preload (despite what the manual says) and this will be conducive to tight handling.

I pay particular attention to the feel at center. If there is ANY notchiness, there is a good chance the bearings are damaged or contaminated with a little grit. It should move without the slightest hesitation and be smooth as silk there. The steering stem spends all of it's time at this location while riding and any resistance to movement will adversely effect handling.

Once all of the triple clamp bolts are tightened, recheck. The stem head nut can add too much preload to the bearings when tightened. If it does, loosen the stem head nut and back off the stem locknut very slightly, retighten the head nut and check again.

This sounds tedious but will result in a snug head bearing that won't need attention until the next lubrication point.

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