Crazy Wobble in higher speed turns

Ask Eddie Lawson, He would tell you it is a Kawasaki and it's just shaking it's head.

I thought these bikes were well known for head shake and high speed wobble. Roy :blink:

Roy,

I'm no racer. I'm sure if Eddie Lawson rode this bike and got the wobble at the threshold where I do, he would shake his head and switch to Honda.

I will certainly adjust my tire pressures.

I will also look into new rear shocks. Does any one have thoughts on Emgo shocks. I've seen them for $119. I don't see the point in looking for used shocks where I would be buying the same problem.

I just looked @Z1E. Shocks for under $100

8000 miles on the rear tire ?
Are they the stock sizes ?
Is it wearing flat in the middle ? That will cause a weave.

Weave = whole bike "weaving"
Wobble= Just the front end oscillating side to side

Tire pressure is low also.
32-36 might be better


Good aftermarket shocks make a huge difference. I've also had success with Koni and S&W, but as mentioned above they are pretty hard to find in nice shape. I put the S&W's on my GPz550 and it was SO much better it was hard to believe.

I was riding With a group of Kaws while at the meet in Ohio and we went around a sharp right turn and i was following a Z1 and a friend was on my Classic behind me .

The Z shook it's head, my bike shook it's head and my friend told me the classic did too.
I just powered out to get some weight off the front as we were exiting the turn and all was well.

The bike i ride now is the only kaw that i have rode that doesn't shake or wobble at high speeds. It is five inches over on the swingarm. Roy


Read the caption.
www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/122_...lawson/photo_11.html

steering damper is a small hydraulic piston with one end fastened onto ur forks,a bracket about midway fastwned to a downtube (or in my case the block) with an adjusting rod stickin out the back. Mine has 16 settings from 0 resistance to I can barely move the forks resistance.u can dial in the resistance to match the front end instability.Good ones arent cheap, and u have to be creative in mounting them. so they wont function as steering stops.helped my bike a bunch,especially on those long sweeping 75-80mph left handers where I was doing my best EL imitation and "Bad Company" wanted to shake his head vigorously that I was an idiot..Lol.bj

bump.Stock equipment on the H-3s I believe and lots of current sport bikes also have them as standard equipment.As I said mine is off a 600 Gixxer.bj

mjg15,
Tires are stock sizes. Rear tire is wearing flat in the middle. The bike does not weave at all. Generally it handles very well. Just at higher speed, heeled over curves, it wobbles and chops big time. I can feel the frame/forks twisting and flexing like mad.

I will definitely bump up my tire pressures. What do you guys recommend? The sticker on the bike and the FSM say 28 ft and 32 rr. Max shown on side walls is 42.

I'd get some fresh rubber and a good pair of shocks.

Do you have the proper fork springs? The stock ones are probably too soft even for you weight (especially after 35 years)

If you are going to ride somewhat aggressively at the speeds that you are going you should have that stuff well sorted anyway. If that doesn't straighten it out then you have atleast eliminated the basics.

Be careful with new shocks that are less than $100 they might not be much better than what you have.

Sounds like shocks to me too. When my originals wore out (at about 12k miles) I had similar symptoms. I put on S&W shocks and problem was gone. I now run Hagon shocks because they look more like stock, but the S&W's never wore out or got tired. I have them in my spares crate. Ed

it is the shocks..i would venture to bet......the stock shocks could do this behavior even new and were the first thing to get chucked by hot shoes.....and as far as buying a used set...the reason i wanted a used set was that sometimes the 99-199 $ restoration or upgrade modern jobbers are just decent cruising shocks ,but don't offer the adjustments and spring rates like the older hotshoe sellers do...imo.....

below is a picture of some but ugly S&w street strokers...back in the day they were the best cornering shocks under 500 imo , so many were made and sold..and because of that..they still can be found and if they look halfway decent then they still are and would be far above anything sold today unless you were gonna spend 400-1000 imo


sorry wrong pic...but it is too cool to erase...


next pic below

this should show a set of s&w street strokers...i have seen 6-8 sets auction in 2 yrs