2 questions---

1)how can you tell if your rim is true or not?

2)if it is bent, where is a good place to get it fixed? I live in Ky


My buddy rode my bike today, and he said he felt a wobble in the front end. I have never
noticed it, but then again, this is my first sportbike, so I may have just considered "normal"
and got used to it.

what we noticed is that when you let go of the bars at better than 50mph, the bars have a slight "wiggle".

He then rode up next to me and said it looks like my front tire isnt perfect at speed.

I know that there is a slight bend in the lip, where the PO hit a pot hole, but I never really thought that much about it.
tires holds pressure.

any ideas?

 

Firstly, pretty much all bikes "wiggle" a little bit when you let go of the handlebars, the road surface sure as hell ain't perfect. Secondly, don't let go of the handlebars, the road surface sure as hell ain't perfect. You could jack up the front end and spin the wheel and look for "hops" from the side view and then get in front of it and look for "wobbles", same concept as dirt bike tires. There's a pretty good chance that your wheel is fine. What your buddy is probably seeing when he rides beside you is that little bend in the rim edge going around.

 

Your probably right about the bent lip showing, although it appears, that its only bent on one side.(not the one we were looking at)
thats why when we first seen it some time ago we dismissed it.
However I rode his VFR while he was riding my F4I, his did not "wiggle" or "shimmy"
like mine did. I noticed right away how much smoother his bike was, and when we stopped, the first
thing he asked me about was the slight shimmy in the the front end.

Like I said, I never thought much about it, but now that someone else had ridden it, and its the first thing
they notice, makes me paranoid. I think tommorow I will put it on the stand and spin the wheel by hand
to check it out.

 

did you check to see if your wheels are balanced...does it smooth out at hi speed or grt worst

 

It could be out of balance, but I doubt it.
I have access to a motorcycle wheel balancer,
I need to check that out too.

I need to pull the wheel and put it on a balancer,
check to see if it runs true.

what about a place to fix it if it is bent?

 

The best place I've used to fix & true rims is Frame Straight System. They can fix just about any wheel. I'd had them fix a number of wheels (you tend to bend and brake wheels alot when you race), including some really bad ones and they've never done me wrong. Highly recommened.

Also front end vibration or wobbles can also be caused by:

Mis-aligned forks (one's higher than the other)
Mis-aligned fork clamps (the top and bottom aren't concentric)
Bent fork tubes
Bent axle
Warped rotors
Pads with severly un-even wear
build-up of pad material on the rotors

 

Another possibility is how stiff the suspension is set. This might be why your buddies felt "smooth" and yours was bumpy. Being how he has a VFR, the preload might be less then what your is or the fluid valve also is toned down for a smooth ride. I have my front suspension set pretty stiff and I feel the bumps in the road. Just another possibility.

 

OK, I pulled the rim this afternoon and put it on a balancer.

It is definately bent. On the right, the lip is bent from a pot hole, you can see it
no problem.
On the left, as the tire rotates, you can see it is out of true, better than a 1/8", few mill. It's
enough you can actually see the TIRE move from true, not just the rim.

guess I will send it off, I have found 3 places, anyone have any experience with them

http://www.motorcycleframeman.com/menu.html

http://www.drjohnsmfs.com/

http://www.framestraightsystem.com/index.htm --recommended by Jason748

thanks