Goldwing Wobble

Bike has wobbled since it was new and was cosidering the all ball bearing upgrade til I had a flat on the road and had to purchase a Avon and WOW[ I can even say it backwards] the wobble was gone.....Wondering if anyone else experinced this also......however I am running a c/t on the rear and don't know if that along with the avon did the trick.

The OEM tires Honda puts on it's bikes suck...not to put too fine a point on it...

My bud Dean had the same problem with his "Big Orange Couch" (his '02 I think wing)

The Big Orange Couch:


The OEM rear tire:

That tire looks like a Polar bear has been chewing on it.

Muntz wrote:That tire looks like a Polar bear has been chewing on it.

Heh...yep. The tread is seperated from the carcass for a good 10 inches each direction. You could run a screw driver under it. No excuse for it...just a cruddy tire.

Daniel, Hate a dunflop, but I had the same problem with my 2nd tire and it was a stone...go figure....By the way, I call mine a "couch rocket"

I run the Avon on mine and have been really happy with it. I also did the All Balls thing just because of the age and miles on my bike it was time to repack those bearings and the labor involved to get to it to repack it was the same as to get to it and replace it. Did it matter? I have no idea. I just thought that for another $35.00 I may as well change it at that point so I did.

Actually, other than needing fresh grease (what was there was very caked like dried soap), the OEM bearings looked to be in great shape so I probably just wasted $35.00 on the All Balls but sure haven't lost any sleep over it.

I also use an internal balancing system instead of conventional wheel weights. That has helped extend my tire life, eliminate cupping and noticeably improve my ride, too.

All of that having been said, I still believe that the single best thing you can do is to check your tire pressure as often as practical.

titaniumwing wrote:Bike has wobbled since it was new and was cosidering the all ball bearing upgrade til I had a flat on the road and had to purchase a Avon and WOW[ I can even say it backwards] the wobble was gone.....Wondering if anyone else experinced this also......however I am running a c/t on the rear and don't know if that along with the avon did the trick.

FOR A LITTLE WHILE!
HAVING THE ALL BALLS PUT ON TODAY BY THE DEALER.1-24-13
WOBBLE HAD GOTTEN OUTRAGEOUS.

Mine gas wobbled since I bought it, replaced front and it went away temporarily. With 33000 on it now the wobble is worse than ever. I will be doing the all balls this winter.

Exploding tire - WOW Living Proof - I found the reason for my front end wobble on my 2003 Goldwing.It starts with a sharp deep lean into a turn after about 2500 miles on the stock 180/90 tire. They make a tire very well know in our circles and I have never heard them admit any problems with their Tire. The Tire is breaking belts inside the tire. Funny after the Crash in Texas -I blamed the flat on possible chemicals in the road tar- I could not for the life of me even think that I broke a belt in the back tire. But soon after I made a U-turn on a banked rode way. (in front of 4 corners - I had passed the driveway to the entrance where you stand in the middle of 4 states.) I mean right after I made the turn the bike started a front end wobble. Three different times I stopped because the low speed wobble bugged me so much. I checked and inspected all over the bike . I could see nothing wrong. 200 miles later I felt a rear tire wobble at high speed. Humm ? rear low tire? - I wiggled the handle bars just a little. OoooooH that is a rear flat. Time to slow down...... I slowed enough as the bike started to dog leg it and (pictures of the crash site) just missed a drain gully. The Wing hit a pole solid! right after I jumped and rolled.
Six years later I am riding on the same type of stock tire - I lean in to a steep turn and -Wow "Thats weird" a front end wobble. I finished the trip up to Julian and then rode home fighting the wobble all the way. Got home and replaced the steering head bearings - put in progressive - changed the front wheel bearing - test drove the Wing and OMG that WOBBLE is still there!!! I read online where it was mentioned the problem may be in the back of the Wing. So I went to slide my jack under the mono-shock mount -- and I saw cupping REAL BAD CUPPING - this is not normal high speed non-balance cupping. This is internal tire damage cupping. I spun the tire around and the cords were showing in three of the deep cuppings. I finally put two and two together. In both instance I leaned hard in a turn. 200 miles later the tire was destroyed. If you have a wobble first try adjusting the rear air shock. Then buy an AVON!

Why put the inferior avon on there? Michilin primacy alpin 3 .... much better choice for a rear.

Glad you found the delaminated tire before it bit you again.

See you out there
Smokey

[quote="rockinrobin"][quote="titaniumwing"]Bike has wobbled since it was new and was cosidering the all ball bearing upgrade til I had a flat on the road and had to purchase a Avon and WOW[ I can even say it backwards] the wobble was gone.....Wondering if anyone else experinced this also......however I am running a c/t on the rear and don't know if that along with the avon did the trick

Nice looking tire in your profile pic. What is that?

A Bridgestone 709 completely solved my wobble.  I had always used Dunlop E3 and thought they were the cat's meow.  I will get another Bridgestone 709 to go with my Yokohama avid envigor 195-55-16 they make a good pair.

I have an 02, put progressive springs in the forks, all balls in the steering head and it still wobbled. Just learned to live with it. I did come to the conclusion that the real problem was really the rear tire cupping (even though the front tire cupped too). Then I went to the darkside and the problem just went away. I was so confident that the problem was cured that when I replaced the front tire, for the first time since I owned the 1800 I ran the front tire at the recommended 36 PSI. Now with 11K on this front tire, no wobble and no cupping and I feel better about running the tire at the correct pressure because it just make sense to me that it has more traction at the lower pressure.

I have had installed all balls bearings, super Brace, Centronics wheel balancers, new front tire. I have adjusted front tire pressure between 36-41. At first the wobble came on about 90, finally now I have it so it doesn't start until about 110. Guess I'll have to live with it,, Had an 02 that would do 130 and stay smooth as silk. so I know It's not just a WING problem.