Time to vent my frustration, sorry.
The other week I was on my way home from school and I felt a vibration when I turned. Then I found that it occurred with leaning as well. The vibration was so bad that I was concerned the bike would fall over when I was riding.
That meant I needed to figure out what was going on. I reached out to my dad and a friend at SCC that rides a lot, and I also looked things up online. Most places said that it was a stem issue. I knew the bearings in the stem were going bad, so I jacked the bike up and did the handlebar check, and there was a big notch feel there. They were bad. I went and got new ones the next day, and spent 7 hours getting it all apart and the bearings and races out. It was a major pain, and took WAY TOO LONG. But I got it apart and then then next day I was able to get it all back together.
AND… no change.
So, then the next thought was a worn out tire. I was able to get a new tire installed on Monday. It was very amazing to get it done quickly. Then I installed the tire back on the bike
AND… no change.
So, the last thing was wheel bearings in the front rim. So I ordered bearings and then showed up Friday. Bike back up in the air and wheel off (again), and took it off. Then today I had to get the bearings out of the rim. That was a lot harder than the videos online showed. I ended up getting them out by heating the rim up with my heat gun and using the bearing puller from autozone loaner tools. The heat was my dad’s idea. Thanks dad. Then I put the new bearings in, which went pretty fast (with the right tools). Tire back on the bike,
AND… minimal change.
It is slightly better so the wheel bearings were an issue, but it still wobbled. Maybe I didn’t get the stem bolt tight enough. That is my only idea now. The issue is that I have take the handlebars off, the triple tree top, and maybe the headlight. It isn’t easy to do, and will take a bit of time.
I am so frustrated and downcast about this. I want to give up. I won’t, but I want to right now.