Blackbird problems

HI

I have just collected a 97 blackbird. On the long journey home I experienced
the following;

At 45 to55mph when releasing my grip on the bars the bars would quickly
shake from side to side. It did not happen at other speeds.

The bike seemed badly affected by side winds. It was quite blustery but I
was passed by a variety of other bikes who seemed to be having fewer
problems with this. On one occasion I was blown accross to the outside lane
of the motorway!

The bike has a powerbronze flip screen and a oxford magnetic tank bag
fitted. Do other blackbird owners have any similar experiences and or
solutions to share?

Gordon

 

Go faster, once you've passed 100mph, you'll probably not be letting go as
often. Perhaps you could velcro your hands to the bars?

HTH

 

Tyre pressure and condition, as well as head bearing condition have a
lot to do with head shake.
As for the side wind problem, how experienced are you with big faired
bikes? They do get blown about a lot, I've been blown across 3 lanes
of the M1 before.

--
ColonelTupperware
spouting bollocks on Usenet since 1997
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It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Gordon Hunter"

Most bikes do this at that speed, faired or not... keep your hands on
the bars.

The faster you go, the less you're affected by sidewinds (cue up the
gyroscope debate); for whatever reason, it works, even though it seems
suicidal. It's a matter of picking a fast enough speed for the
conditions.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

^^^^^^^^
Yebbut you *do* ride a wallowing big bike.

Fekin wind on the M1 today returning from EOSM was horrendous.

As for the problems on the 'bird.
I'd look at the tyre condition, pressure and balance.
Then at the head races to see if they are adjusted correctly.
Lastly look at swinging arm bearings.

HTH

--


--
Robbo
1500GL 1988 Goldwing (Halfway rebuilt)
BMW K100 RS 1984
"Fairly Quick" status. Silver level
BotaFOF #19. E.O.S.M 2001/2002/2003/2004.
B.O.S.M 2003, 2004 .FURSWB#1 KotL..YTC449
PM#7
..

 

Bollocks. If the tyres are properly weighted then you shouldn't have any
problems taking your hands off the bars. I'd have the front wheel balanced
if I were you.

 

*ding*

sounds like either a weight has fallen off, or the tyre fitter didn't do
his job properly.

 

Wrong, I'm afraid. An out of balance wheel just hammers through the
bars. A handlebar shake is usually down to shot bearings (either end),
mismatched tyres, worn tyres, soft tyres, or any combination of the
above.

 

"they all do that sir", seriously. Assuming all other bits like head
bearlings are ok etc, then get used to it and don't let go of the bars.

Have a look at the forum on www.superblackbird.co.uk and search for the
problem. It's been discussed there many a time. The problem is much worse
if you have luggage fitted.

Its generally fine in winds. Is it because it's anew bike to you so you
were less familiar/confident with it?

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "WavyDavy"

Go and ride a few and then tell me your knowledgeless shit.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

Not entirely bollocks. A lot of bikes have a wobble if you take your
hands off the bars at certain speeds. Well, in my experience they do,
but then I tend to ride shyte old bikes, which may have summat to do
with it.

GTR - Yup, wobblewobblewobble
GSX600 - Nope, no wobblewobble
GSX400 - Yup, wobblewobble
XJ750 - Yup, wobble
XJ650 - Nope, no wobblewobble
GT550 - Nope, no wobblewobble
GT750 - Yup, wobblewobble
GT750 - Nope, no wobblewobble
XS1100 - Yup, wobblewobbleweavewobbleweavefuck
CB750 - Yup, wobble


Some of the above were/are not my bikes. The XJ750 didn't wobble on
Dunlop tyres, but did on Maxxis and Pirelli. The XJ650 just plain never
wobbled. It didn't wibble either. The GTR is second only to the XS1100
for the bars flapping about when slowing down on a motorway slip exit if
an equal weighting isn't kept through the bars. In fact, I was almost
glad to hand the XS back to its owner. It didn't seem to like any speed.

I just keep my hands on the bars when slowing dowm. Works for me.

So, in conclusion from the far from scientific data presented above,
wibble flip dibble doo

 

Must be different for bikes and cars then. I stand corrected.

 

Well, steering wheels shake, but they don't flap from side to side
IYSWIM.

 

I have and I do ride road bikes (admittedly I have only owned about 20-odd
bikes in the last 17 years) and modern bikes don't wobble when you take your
hands off the bars unless the front's out of balance. If they did wobble
like you claim most of them do I would've crashed the Daytona right in front
of Zymurgy this afternoon (or the R6 the other week, or the my GSXR750 a few
years ago, or the ZX9 I rode a few weeks ago, or... Every road bike that
I've ridden that was built after the mid/late 80s and had a correctly
balanced front wheel) and, as I'm not in hospital, I get the feeling that it
tracked nice and stright - just like a gyroscope held in a pair of forks
would, in fact.

"GS 850 x2 " - Ah! that'd explain your statement. I will concede that SOBs
designed in the 70s *do* waggle the bars a bit. But modern ones don't. So
why don't you try riding a few modern bikes and then "tell me your
knowledgeless shit" (whatever that means....)

 

Do you have tourettes syndrome?

 

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote

Heh, in vicious crosswinds in France I was passed by Bonners doing
60MPH more than me.

The fact I was (allegedly) doing 3 figure speeds at the time didn't
seem to worry him

Cheers

Paul.

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "WavyDavy"

You seem to be totally ignoring what you told the op, that it was wheel
balancing. You also described what I'd said as 'bollocks'. Irrespective
of the age of the machine, there will always be a speed at which the
front wheel will wobble if undamped (hands off bars), and even though
modern steering, suspension and tyres have improved the situation, that
speed is still around the 40-50ish mark when there is some wear in
componentry (not enough wear to render any one component u/s, but
cumulative wear in head bearings, forks, rear suspension linkage and
tyres).



--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the

Do you have a problem comprehending plain English?

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

message

Wot the Ole Geezer says:
The FJ with a nicely balanced front wheel still likes to wobble at
precisely 55 mph when the front tyre gets a bit worn.

The weird GTS likes to wobble at about 50 mph, also when the front tyre
gets a bit worn.

 

Not wanting to nit-pick, but if the tyre is worn, then ain't it possible
it's no longer properly balanced....?