Hello reader(s).
Sorry for no postings this week. I have been super busy with things related to something I will be posting about in the nearish future.
But life is generally good. The ladies in my house all were at Girl Scout Camp this weekend. Some had a good time and others didn’t. It happens.
My weekend was filled with… motorcycle work (on top of the regular weekend stuff). Friday I went to take the motorcycle to SCC for Game Night. Well, I headed out of my neighborhood and every time I leaned or turned the bike started wobbling. At first I was like, “What was that?” So then I headed further, and sure enough it did it again. In fact it was so bad that I was momentarily concerned I was going to fall over. So, back home and switched vehicles and went to game night. That was fun hanging out with co-workers and a few students I knew.
But back to the bike. After some online research and calling my dad it was determined that it was most likely the stem bearings. I knew they were going bad from the “notch” feeling when moving out from center, and sure enough when I jacked the bike up the “notch” was pretty bad. So, I got parts from the Kawasaki dealership in Mesa (Kelly’s Kawasaki). And I spent all afternoon and into the night tearing about the entire front end of the bike. It took me a few hours of pounding and hammering and calling my dad and frustration to finally get the races out from the stem. I finally got the lower out after buying a very long and large flat blade screwdriver from Harbor Freight. The bearing and races were definitely bad, and had to be replaced. Then It was time to get it back together which went well. I got almost all of that done yesterday and I had to finish it up after church this morning.
Then it was time to ride it once everyone was home.
And the problem was still here. Crap! I now have no perfect idea as to what could be wrong. I jacked the bike up again and I tried wobbling both front and rear tires to see if anything felt loose (wheel bearing), but no. I check tire pressure and both were plenty fine. I then inspected very carefully both tires. And I see nothing wrong with either. The front has more wear, but it is an older tire. Neither tire is at the wear bars. The front, I think, has plenty of life left in it.
So I am frustrated with that. One idea my dad had was that maybe a tire was separating. The problem with that is there is little to no way to know for sure if that is happening until the tire comes apart which I certainly don’t want to happen while riding it. But at the same time if that isn’t the issue I don’t want to replace the tire since tires are expensive. And it takes time to take it all apart and replace the tire. So, More internet searches are in my future on this, and an email or two to other motorcycle riders I know.
On the plus side the stem bearings are replaced and I learned how to do more repair work on the bike.