Front end wobble on 800gs

Running the stock battlewings, no wobble, to 95 MPH. I put on TKCs for some off-roading in Colorado, and experienced the same wobble above 75mph with a single rider. Adding the wife on back, and the wobble range increased to ~85 mph, so extra weight on the bike definitely makes a difference. The wobble lessened some after 1000 miles or so on the TKC80s (all on about 4 days) That may have had something to do with rubbing the corners off the knobs.

Justa noob view.

I am getting the same speed wobbles after switching to TKC80's. Did BMW of Utah swap out your rubber? They swapped out mine! I wonder if they dont balance them after they swap? Did you end up pulling the weights off of the front wheel? PM'ed



Matt

I threw a set of TKC on my bike and forgot to balance them. They had a pretty noticeable hop at around 35-40 mph, but on the highway they were smooth up to about 80. Never got above that, and no wobble for me.

They were 1.5 ounces out of balance when I checked.

I could feel how the front end became less stable when putting on a metzeler karoo 2 (without the T). Nothing huge just more nervous so to say.

Increased pressure to 2.2 bar and since then I dont notice as much.

What I am experiencing is exactly what I expected when I switched from my r1200gs with wider and smaller front wheel to this proper narrower and larger wheel of the f800gs.


I guess that every thing you do to make the bike handle better offroad will cause it to handle worse onroad...

What is 2.2 bar? A European measurement?

True!

32(ish) PSI

Hmmm... at what point did I say I expected a smooth ride? I didn't. There will be a wobble, there will be movement in the front, even at much slower speeds. What shouldn't happen are death defying full bike sways from left to right that had my companion convinced I was going to die that day. That shouldn't happen.

And no, I was not overloaded, me and my gear weighed less than many of the riders alone weigh who have 800's, so that was not the problem.

The standard conversion is 14.5 PSI= 1 bar

Things I'd check:
Tyre pressure,
Wheel bearings,
Headstock bearings,
If all those are okay, try street tires and balance the wheels for the street tyres.

Only problem I've had in this area was my bike liked tracking straight a bit too much, turned out to be headstock bearings (replaced under warranty).

Gaaahhh!!! It just sucks to be doing investigative repair work on a bike that has 700 miles. I know its the rubber knobbies. The first 600 miles were free of any kind of problem. No wobbles, nothing!

Has anyone tried a front tire (knobby) that didnt shimmy and shake?

My KLR didn't. Ran dunlop 606's.

My 800 with the TKC front is scary on the freeway at 75+ with trucks. It's terrifying. In 100k miles of riding it's the worst wobble I've had on a (street) bike.

Going back to a street oriented tire completely fixes the problem. I guess running a knobby up front will mean fitting a steering damper.

Ok, here's another data point.

On a recent trip out west (running TKCs) I had the F8 up over an indicated 95mph on asphalt without any wobble. The TLCs had maybe < 500 miles on them, running 38psi rear, 36 psi front. Had Jesse bags on, tent, etc strapped across the rear rack.

On the way home I had about 1,400 miles on the TKCs, same loading, same tire pressures. Running up around 80 (indicated) mph I could detect a very slight "shimmy", nothing scary though.

My hypothesis is tire pressure and wear is the cause of any issue with the TKC. It's hard to plan for where you might be riding; however if I think I'll be doing mostly asphalt & gravel I'll run tires like Tourances or Anakees....

Still, I do want to give the Heidennau's a try when the 150/70 is available.

I am gonna air my TKC's up a little then and see if that helps.. Right now I am running about 32 all around because of how much dirt I am doing.