98 F3

With my F3, I feel every single road vibration, I did a ride up to Santa Ana, I was not white knuckling the throttle, barely had any grip on it but kept consistent throttle, and after I got off, my hands were numb and shaking badly.

Noticed too Once I get to say 65 MPH, If I let off and take my hand off the handlebars, the handlebars fiercely move left and right at 55 MPH, then once it gets to 45 there straight again.

Could it be:

Forks Need to be rebuilt
Tire still has good tread (Dunlop). Maybe the Dunlop is bad?
Front Tire needs to be re-balanced

Oh and btw, I had to take my left hand off most of the ride the vibrations were so bad. I was contemplating on getting a cruise control thing but I don't think that will solve my issue.

 

i think it's balance because it's better and worse at certain speeds. is there any accompanying noise (maybe also a wheel bearing if there is a noise)?

 

Would the wheel bearing on a motorcycle sound similar to a car? I have no idea what it would sound like since this is my first motorcycle, but me 'pedaling' the bike to move it, etc. I haven't heard any noise coming from the bearing.

Just that all my plastics around the cluster gauge rattle like crazy because of the resonance

Also I feel the vibrations anything over 35 MPH. No rattles besides the plastics and windscreen as I said.

 

How old is your tire? It may be separating.
Check the pressure and balance first. If that all checks out, then look to the forks.

The road to Santa Ana is not a good place to judge vibration. Try to find a smooth road to test on.

 

Not sure how old the tires is. The tire still looked good when I had to buy a new rear one. So I kept the Dunlop on. But I am noticing like little cracks inside the grooves. So it could be dry rotting.

I have a racing air pressure gauge so I set it at 35 PSI cold. Although everytime I move the valve stem, I loose air, so the valve stem is bad too. I just don't wanna keep replacing 1 tire at a time. I'm trying to get them in a set for even wear cause my front as I said is Dunlop, and the rear is Bridgestone 016

How would I go about inspecting forks? I don't know many smooth roads at all in San Diego, some of the worse roads I've been on and I'm from Pennsylvania

 

There is a 4 digit code stamped on the sidewall. That's the date code. first 2 are th # of the week it was made, the second is the year. example: 1209 would be the 12th week (last week in march) of 2009. If it's over 4 or 5 years old, replace it.

lift the front in the air and spin the wheel and tire. You will see separation as you spin it.

As for the forks, look for oil on the tubes. You should be able to tell if they're extra bouncy by compressing them. If it's been a long time, if ever, replace the fluid and seals anyway. Get new springs for your weight too. You will be glad you did.

If you need help sometime, I'm just up the road a bit. (halfway to SA)

 

Okay cool. I'll go outside and check the date on the tire.

Is there a easy way to life it up with just myself to check the tire or do I need another body?

Well I checked out the forks, applied the front break and lifted up, and did a full compression. Still pretty bouncy from what I could tell. I could be wrong from more experienced riders.

I do need to get the rear adjusted for my weight. It's super soft and feels like I may bottom out when I hit bumps.

UPDATE: just checked my front and rear just while I was out there. my Bridgestone had no 4 digit code. Nothing that made sense for 52 weeks in a year. My front tire is a different story. I got this motorcycle in Feb 2013. And It says 29th week of 2013... Future made tires?

 

Front stand or ratchet it up to a beam in a garage.

 

Not sure if that's the right 4 digit number. All the ones I have seen are inside an oval. I could be wrong of course but its worth a second look

 

That's not the right number. Keep looking. It should be in an oval area, like joe said.