Front shimmy

[guatdoc]

I am new owner 2001 GL1800 CSC trike. On first road trip. Have noticed when slowing from cruise have a front wheel shimmy. Not bad but is this normal?

 

[tfdeputydawg]

Is it raked?
Jack the front up and check for front to back, side to side movement of the fork sliders.
Check tongue of the steering head
There are some that have head shake on decel from around 50 down to 30 or so. Usually taken care of by keeping both hands on the grips.

 

[tndragonrider]

I am new owner 2001 GL1800 CSC trike. On first road trip. Have noticed when slowing from cruise have a front wheel shimmy. Not bad but is this normal?

First, have your owned a GL1800 before? And if so, did you ever experience the dreaded front end wobble?

 

[guatdoc]

No. This is my first trike.

 

[tndragonrider]

No. This is my first trike.

Well the GL1800 is know to have a front end wobble. Many have over the years claimed it was caused by various factors. Bad front tires, forks in need of a brace or steering head bearings that were designed for a Schwinn bicycle crank from the 1950's. As long as your front tire appears good with no cupping, you might want to verify if it has been raked yet and if the rake kit included changing the steering stem bearings to All Balls (a brand of bearing). They are tapered roller bearings, both top and bottom instead of the garbage that Honda puts in from the factory. If they have been swapped then it could have been improperly installed and not torqued correctly as a friend of mine just discovered with his GL1800 (2 wheel). Once he replaced the All Balls with a new fresh set, including the races and torqued properly according to the procedure. Then his front end wobble disappeared.

 

[Lee H. Mann]

i am new owner 2001 gl1800 csc trike. On first road trip. Have noticed when slowing from cruise have a front wheel shimmy. Not bad but is this normal?

what air pressure are you running in the back tires and what pressure are you running in your front tire ?
Try 20 psi rear tires and 41psi front tire and see if there is a difference.

 

[tfdeputydawg]

The truth on tire wear:
http://www.rattlebars.com/tirewear/index.html
From this article: If you never scrubbed anything off your tires, they would never wear out. It takes some pretty good stiff forces to come into play for pavement to scuff stuff off of your tires. This scrubbing of material off your tires becomes evident in what is called cupping,

I suggest trying 36psi in the front tire! Much smoother ride! Wet down your paved driveway and put about 30psi in the rear tires. Keep running over the wet pavement letting air out of the rear tires until you see a full width tread track. That's the rear tire pressure you want to run!
I have a Hannigan with offset rear end. My pressures came up 24 in the left rear and 26 in the right rear due to the weight of the off set rear end!

 

[Dirtydan]

Deputy, great read and info on the link you posted. Thanks. I like your way of arriving at proper rear tire pressure. Makes perfect sense. I'm still in last part of my Victory/Champion build. I've noticed that when I jack the bike up the left side drops a bit or "hangs" lower than the right side. I'm sure it's due to that big heavy chunk of adapter/spacer on the left side. The wet driveway should do the trick in finding my correct tire pressure per side. Thanks for the info.

The truth on tire wear: http://www.rattlebars.com/tirewear/index.html From this article: If you never scrubbed anything off your tires, they would never wear out.

It takes some pretty good stiff forces to come into play for pavement to scuff stuff off of your tires. This scrubbing of material off your tires becomes evident in what is called cupping, I suggest trying 36psi in the front tire! Much smoother ride! Wet down your paved driveway and put about 30psi in the rear tires. Keep running over the wet pavement letting air out of the rear tires until you see a full width tread track. That's the rear tire pressure you want to run! I have a Hannigan with offset rear end. My pressures came up 24 in the left rear and 26 in the right rear due to the weight of the off set rear end!

 

[Papa Zook]

what air pressure are you running in the back tires and what pressure are you running in your front tire ?
Try 20 psi rear tires and 41psi front tire and see if there is a difference.

^^this^^

 

[Downtown Cowtown]

I am simply amazed, Ive never heard a bad word about Honda wings, ever, but in all fairness those bellowing, the virtues of wings were truck driver friends of mine.

Since im dyed in the wool Harley guy, maybe thats the reason, but i think they never had this prob, or spoke on it.

I looked at and rode, and considered a wing trike, but my damn feet jus wouldn't go where im used to. Sometimes i wish i bought the wing i liked in willow park, but jus couldn't make the leap.

Its like a car dealership, bowtie baby's holler its the best, but the parking lot is full of pickups and others that need work on them. Just like all brands.

Its beyond nice we have a forum so that a person can get some info without having to lose their mind and wallet in the process.

Kudos for the info boys, and or girls.

Best to the forum, an no i haven't found a stabilizer yet for my streetglide or trike that make me happy, the ohlin looks to make me poor, but it might make me happy, we shall see.

 

[pcombe]

If all else fails?

How many miles does the bike have on it and perhaps the front end needs a rebuild?

They do have a life span regardless who makes em?

 

[JaysGone]

I suggest trying 36psi in the front tire! Much smoother ride! Wet down your paved driveway and put about 30psi in the rear tires. Keep running over the wet pavement letting air out of the rear tires until you see a full width tread track. That's the rear tire pressure you want to run!
I have a Hannigan with offset rear end. My pressures came up 24 in the left rear and 26 in the right rear due to the weight of the off set rear end!

Im a firm believer in running 36psi in the front always have on every trike and bike Ive had over the last 40 years.
With my Mich Pilot. Its all cupped to heck at 14K that I have put on. I cant swear the tire was or wasnt new when I bought the trike 2nd hand.
Even if its only 14K. Ill take the much more comfortable ride over any 40 plus psi most use here.
The front end on my 99 Valk was terrible. My 2010 is no better. Worst front end design of any top dollar premium bike Ive ever experienced.
Bye the way I also run 24psi in the rears. Goodrich TAs, not doing much better at 23K.
All 3 will be changed in the next few months. I have about 1/4 inch of tread on the right rear.
Lefts a bit better.

Edit: as per the tire article. Its only the left side of my front tire that cups. Same amount on both my GW trike and my Yamaha Road Star. To me its normal wear and tear. Seems to me you make a heck of a lot more slow lefts then rights. Not just a pressure related issue.
Again in my book comfort over mileage any day. I will always use 36 psi no more then that. Regardless of tire life.

 

[pcombe]

Im a firm believer in running 36psi in the front always have on every trike and bike Ive had over the last 40 years.
With my Mich Pilot. Its all cupped to heck at 14K that I have put on. I cant swear the tire was or wasnt new when I bought the trike 2nd hand.
Even if its only 14K. Ill take the much more comfortable ride over any 40 plus psi most use here.
The front end on my 99 Valk was terrible. My 2010 is no better. Worst front end design of any top dollar premium bike Ive ever experienced.
Bye the way I also run 24psi in the rears. Goodrich TAs, not doing much better at 23K.
All 3 will be changed in the next few months. I have about 1/4 inch of tread on the right rear.
Lefts a bit better.

Edit: as per the tire article. Its only the left side of my front tire that cups. Same amount on both my GW trike and my Yamaha Road Star. To me its normal wear and tear. Seems to me you make a heck of a lot more slow lefts then rights. Not just a pressure related issue.
Again in my book comfort over mileage any day. I will always use 36 psi no more then that. Regardless of tire life.

There are so many differences of opinion?

I have found with my old tour glide that running 40 (the max inflation recommendation makes it easier to steer and the wind doesn't blow me around so bad when it catches my fairing. I run a rear tire the exact same size as the original front tire (turned backward rotation? for a couple reasons.

The rear tire is made of much harder rubber than a front tire and there is not so much side flex. ( I don't need side flex to corner) I need a good gripping tire that will wear for many, many more miles than a front tire.

I am running a Dunlop elite and it has around 18,000 miles with no cupping and has just a whole lot more miles left in it.
When I rebuilt my front end last fall I put in some heavier progressive springs (relatively inexpensive) and it sure made a difference in the ride. I also kept the anti-dive system when I converted so I also have some air pressure working in my favor.



I run about 24-26 lbs. rear

 

[JaysGone]

I should add as a few here already know. I use my trike to commute with daily rain or shine and more rain here in the Sunshine State then sun.
If and I have tried my front at 41 psi cold. Its 44+ psi hot. Makes for an ever stiffer front end ride.
Maybe its just my bike?? Which I doubt. The front end lacks in my opinion any real dampening due to the way Honda makes these fronts.
I believe too that this bike already has progressives in it as Im not the original owner. Since no need yet to service the forks time will tell.
If it does have progressives. They will be tossed immediately and the OEM springs put back in.
I should also mention I have a fork brace and no handling issues at all.
Im just used to a front end that has an actual honest 3+ inches of real travel.
This bike has no more then 1.5 inches of dampening UNLOADED. Drop the front end and its not even an inch of actual movement in the fork legs.
My Yamaha is a lot more comfortable to me and was better after I tossed the progressives. I tossed them after less then a week. Whats a little bit of nose diving under hard braking between most of us??
Nothing.
Again Ill take comfort over being bounced all over the road from a front end being overly stiff. A little tire wear is worth that price to me.
Some folks like a well handling car like almost all newer sedans. Me Ill take a 70s Cadillac mushy cushy type ride over anything built today.
To each there own...........comfort over stiffness every time.