• Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

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head shake solutions

Have a read about steering axis and trail. Head shake (instability) is when trail gets close to or in front of where the steering axis intersects the ground. Some of the ways to move trail behind the steering axis are;
- Lower the forks in the triple clamps
- Lower the rear of the bike
- Increase front tyre pressure

Proper spring and sag setup for rider and bike should get the geometry right to start with. Stability can vary with terrain such as sand which moves the contact point with the ground much further forward causing negative trail. This is where a steering stabiliser comes in handy.

I found a good book on the topic called "Race Tech's Motorcycle Suspension Bible" in the Kindle store online.
 
Eric Hamel said:
just read your post...i bought a strada with 5000km on it, changed the tyres for anakee wild,put on a high fender ...love the bike exept over 100 km ...wobbles like hell.very uncomfortable riding....decided to follow your advice and ordered a gpr v4d...hope it helps
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Not cheap but you wont regret it. Made my bike manageable, even enjoyable, at all speeds. Without the concern whether the speed wobble would make for a screwed up experience. Despite all the posts arguing the point, for some people the standard "air pressure and balanced wheel" doesnt work! Not wanting to spend the $500 originally, I really did try everything. Remember, however, that even the stabilizer in stock configuration didnt eliminate all the speed wobble for me either. It wasnt until I changed the GPR oil to 10 weight at the recommendation of GPR that I found settings for every speed/condition. Call the guys at GPR if you run into issues they basically told me if it didnt work with the higher weight oil the would return the stabilizer and refund the money 100%. Thanks.
 
Cured my head shake, a most important modification. Took it up to speed (99 mph) solid as a rock. Before I'd have to back it down around (80 mph) Not sure of the torque sequence, fork tube bolts 1st then steering head nut 2nd?
 
cell 013

Thanks for the input guys....sure hope it works...should be on by the end of the week...also ordered pulstar plugs....any other modifications worth doing while at it ? thanks in advance...would like to post a picture of the bike ....but seems complicated
 
Anyone own a Strada that doesn't experience a wobble at 120km/hr? lol. I just bought a 2013 Strada last week but won't be riding for another month or so…a few weeks back a deer took me and my KLR down on the hwy going to Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. Now i have all this time on my hands and am reading about all the work this 2013 will need!!
 

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AlbertaStrada said:
Anyone own a Strada that doesn't experience a wobble at 120km/hr? lol. I just bought a 2013 Strada last week but won't be riding for another month or so…a few weeks back a deer took me and my KLR down on the hwy going to Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. Now i have all this time on my hands and am reading about all the work this 2013 will need!!
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Yes I have a Strada that does not wobble at any speed or loading. I posted a video in this thread to show it up to 160 kph with no problems.
The wobble is all down to tyre pressures and rear suspension setting in relation to the load on the bike and can be cured without resorting to the (band aid) method of fitting a steering damper. Better to fix the cause of the wobble if possible, rather than to try and cover it with something else.
 
:oldman: What he said.

Don't have any problems with head shake and I'm not pedantic when it comes to suspension setting or air pressure.

It could do with some work by a suspension specialist to match the front and rear suspension as I have the rear settings quite soft and it feels light in the front with a load on the rack or giving it some, but OK with a pillion. Any issues, I would spend the money on sorting out tyres ( tyre profile can have a big effect on stability) and suspension before installing a steering damper.
My 2 cents worth
 
Johnn said:
:oldman: What he said.

Don't have any problems with head shake and I'm not pedantic when it comes to suspension setting or air pressure.

It could do with some work by a suspension specialist to match the front and rear suspension as I have the rear settings quite soft and it feels light in the front with a load on the rack or giving it some, but OK with a pillion. Any issues, I would spend the money on sorting out tyres ( tyre profile can have a big effect on stability) and suspension before installing a steering damper.
My 2 cents worth
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Like he said :-)
 
I really don't see what the issue is here. New tires are between $100. to $200. each. That spent equals $300 to $400. plus removal of the old and installation plus balance of the new. So best case even if you do the work yourself is $300. +- and your head shake may still be there. A gamble. New steering damper cost is $495. plus install and your done, problem is solved. No more head shake in all conditions, dirt or highway. Or so it was for me OMHO.
 
In my opinion you are simply "lucky" that you dont have wobble issues when changing from the stock tires.
I firmly believe these bikes by design are on the ragged edge of stability and it does not take much to push them to one side or the other.

I happen to have 2 wheel sets. The Terra 21/18 & the Strada 19/17.

I am currently struggling with issues with the 21/18's.
I have checked the steering bearings, the wheel balance & wheel alignments.
I have tried every possible tire pressures.
I have raised & dropped the forks & made every possible pre-load adjustments.

BTW, when I throw the 19/17's on.......the bike is stable and is so almost regardless of pressures or set ups.
That said, it was not stable when I first spoon new tires on them, it does take a few hundred miles of wobble before the bike settles in.
The bike was also stable with the stock tires on the 21/18's, again almost regardless of pressures & suspension set up,

Interestingly the only other bike I remember struggling this much with tires & wobble was my BMW X-Challenge.

I hate to spend the money, but I am leaning to getting a stabilizer vs trying to find a tire combo that works on the 21/18's
 
I must be one of the lucky ones because I don't have any issues on my Terra (21/18) with the stock Metzlers, and I've run them at both fairly low and fairly high pressures depending on whether or not my route involved dirt. In fact I find the stability to be very reassuring, and I'll push the bike as hard as I dare considering the semi-knob nature of the tires. I use the bike to occasionally ride with a local sport touring group often reaching speeds to the mid-nineties indicated on twisty (by SE Texas standards) roads. (They really get a kick out of seeing "the dirt bike" hang with the fast guys.) Straight lines, flowing turns, quick transitions. The bike never seems to put a foot wrong.

Too bad the TR650s are as rare as dodos. It would be interesting to get a few that wobble together with a few that don't for to try and work out what the differences are.
 
As noted, I have not had issues with the stock Metzlers either.
In fact I ended up putting the Metzlers back on my X-Challenge after struggling with wobble issues using other tires.
 
On the question of steering stabilizers, has anyone tried to adapt one of the cheap generic stabilizers that are on eBay for peanuts to wor with the TR? I've been racking my brain to work out how to make one fit as an experiment.
 
^ You & me both.
I thought of trying to connect to the steering lock bracket, but it is not very stout.
Kind of wacky and would make oil checks a pain, but maybe a plug that threads into the oil fill hole?
 
DeLewis said:
On the question of steering stabilizers, has anyone tried to adapt one of the cheap generic stabilizers that are on eBay for peanuts to wor with the TR? I've been racking my brain to work out how to make one fit as an experiment.
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Yes, there is a guy here in Philippines who is doing it.mini-DSC_0757.JPG

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They appear to be working but I would not buy one. As far as I am concerned aftermarket Steering Dampers are like putting a Band Aid on a problem that can often be fixed in better ways.
 
This is an odd phenomenon that seems to have as many cures as folks who experience it.
Fwiw I'll throw out my experience. Rock solid with the stock Sahara tires. Soon as I went to
Tkc80 front and heidenau rear, it shook bad at 65+ mph. But not always. Couldn't pin down the cause
Can't remember everything I tried. Next set of tires, kenda big blocks, it's once again solid. If I try and wiggle
The bars at speed, it doesn't head shake but feels maybe just a bit unstable. But that could be because I'm sensitive to it.
See, my 13000 miles of tr650 experience didn't tell you anything did it.
 
I've had the same exact experience. The stock Saharas were rock solid at all speeds. They just didn't provide much confidence in the dirt.

I switched to tkc80 front/ Heidenau rear and it is bad above 65. The more air pressure I run in the front, the better it is, but even at 40psi in the front it will shake bad sometimes. If it's windy, or bad air, then it's downright scary.
 
Anyone here try removing the front sail of a fender to see if it helps? Do Strada owners experience this shake?

When i go above 100 kph on mt Terra the bars dont shake by themselves but if i give them a little wiggle it feels really unstable. Is this what happens to you guys or do the bars shake themselves without and input from the rider?
 
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