Hello everyone! ill skip the crap and jump right in =)

History: 2007 cbr600rr was black but has new graffiti plastics. i bought it with a salvaged title a few weeks ago, the bike was stolen. The bike has damage on the left side so i know it has been down. the right handlebar and assembly was replaced. bike was checked out by a shop and certified 100% safe to ride.

Problem: handlebars are shaking, most noticeable at freeway speeds. when i take my hands off the bars the bike starts to coast to the right. costing to the right happens at low speeds also.

What i have tried to fix it:

tire pressure is fine.

i took it to 4 mechanics and the first one said that the rim was dented and he showed me a patch of rode rash on left side of the rim, on the lip. he also said that the forks were misaligned.

the second shop told me that i had a bent rim and gave me the number for a rim repair guy and said that a new rim would cost $700.

the third shop said he did not know and gave me the number for a guy who can check the bike with lasers and **** to see if anything is bent: frame, rim, whatever.

the 4th one said that he adjusted the front. it looks like he moved the forks up and down so that they are lopsided. this helped some. now at speeds 80-55MPH or so the bike coasts in a straight line, but after it has slowed past 55 or so it pulls to the right again. and the bars still shake. the shaking in the front end is so bad that the images in the side mirrors look fuzzy. before the adjustment just the left one looked fuzzy, and after the adjustment both look fuzzy. also one of the bolts holding the front wheel on came loose and almost fell out on my ride home from the shop today. my guess is from the vibrations.



What would you do im my situation? any ideas or thought would be greatly appreatiated.

Thanks!

top of left fork

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=DSC03833.jpg


top of right fork

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=DSC03834.jpg


front rim dammage

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=DSC03837.jpg

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=DSC03838.jpg

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=DSC03840.jpg

 

this sounds to me like you have a bent rim, and POSSIBLY a fork that is bent, causing the drift issue you're having. put your bars dead straight, sitting on the bike look down the forks and see if the fender looks like it isnt right.

also, your fork tubes need to be EQUAL height in the triple tree, having them at different heights can and will screw up how your bike handles, and cause it to coast to one side or another. first thing though, you really dont want to be riding this bike until a QUALIFIED technician has looked it over thoroughly, and made sure its all straight. a recovered theft that has been crashed may have other hidden damage you havent seen.

 

i just added to the post that the bike was checked out by a shop and certified safe to ride. ill do test you suggested in the morning =)

so you think that a bent rim can cause such enormous vibrations?

 

A bent rim could yes, its also possible that if he hit something with the front that he damaged the tire, and a belt has shifted. That can cause a pretty good pull. I would take it back to the shop that ceritified it and say here take this for a ride, then tell me straight to my face that this is right.

 

+1 on the advice given so far.

If Im not mistaken, there is a ring lock on the upper portion of the fork tube. when all of the bolts for the triple tree are loosened, let the triple tree slide down on the forks, they will both stop. This is the factory set for the position height of the fork tubes. This will also make it so they are both the same height, which is very important. This is something you can do yourself and restore the factory set fork height.

A bent wheel will cause all sorts of problems with vibration. From the pictures though, it is very hard to tell. The rash really doesnt say the wheel is bad. The rash doesnt look that bad to me, but if there is any out of roundness to the area, then I would replace the wheel.

However, 700 bucks for a new wheel? that guy issmoking crack. I believe even froma stealershipits around 550. But, you could get a good one on ebay for around 200.

I would also check your rear tire alignment when it comes to the bike going to one side. Your rear wheel may not be aligned correctly with the swing arm. Check the marks on the side of the swing arm. Make sure they are adjusted the same.

 

thanks for the help everyone. i think im going to have my bike put through the computrack. $150 and it will get certified which will help me sell the salvaged bike when the time comes.

 

What anyone should have said first is to NOT BUY A SALVAGED BIKE!!!!.....unless you are going to stunt the hell out of it!!!!

 

There is nothing wrong with buying a salvage bike as long as you INSPECT it (not just look at it). Alot of times insurance companies find it cheaper to pay for the bike than it would be to have a stealership fix it. And any vehicle sold at a police auction is issued a salvage title, unless it was used by the city, then it is issued a "municipal" title. I've been riding my salvaged F4i for two years now without ANY problems. After the auction, I started the bike right up (first try, after sitting for who knows how long), and rode it 100 miles home. Other than PMs and tires, I haven't done a thing to it, except fix the fairings.

 

Forks and all that aside, I think a VERY close inspection of the tire is in order. A tire with a shifted or broken belt can cause ALL KINDS of problems. If it were my problem, I'd get a stand under the front and spin the front tire slowly, examining every inch of it. Any variations in the tread, lumps or bulges, or lateral runout would condemn it for me. If you have access to a dial indicator with the "wheel tip", you can check the rim runout on both sides at the same time to help decide if you need to replace the rim too. If your vibration is that bad, I'm betting you'll definitely find the culprit somewhere in the front wheel and tire. Another thing I'd do is run a stringline or LONG straightedge along the sidewall of the back tire to see if it's adjusted inline with the steering head, if it's off, it will be steering the rear of the bike to one side or the other. It's also possible the the swingarm is bent too. That can/could be checked for squareness (with the rear wheel off), by measuring diagonally across front to rear on both sides. The measurement should be within probably a 1/16" to be considered square. If it's off, that could cause your tracking problem as well. I hope some of these ideas help,