Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Need some advice

Fellas, I have been through it with my ride, 02 America. Chain guard nuked, destroyed rear tire, etc.etc. I have the bike back together and find myself in a twist. I have ridden the thing about 200 miles since the repairs. I am still getting a bad vibration above 35 MPH and if I let go of the bars at any speed the bike pulls, hard, to the right. I have had the dealership check balance on both tires and rear axle alignement, chain tension...they say everything is fine. I also have a wobble in the front end in any turn in either direction. I absolutely love this bike, and do not want to get rid of the thing. I find myself NOT riding it because I do not trust it. I am out of rope, patience and $$$. Can any of you think if something else to check?? If I cannot sort this out pretty quick, I am trading it on a new tiger. I have a sick feeling that I will forever miss my America if I do that but am at a lose. Thanks in advance for your thoughts/suggestions.

swing arm bushings and rear shocks as well as front tire buth sets of wheel bearings , wheel true as in spokes needing adjustment or rim warped. All the rear end parts took some heavy abuse from what you said before when the guard failed.

Ian, thanks for the reply. I am going to put a dial indicator on the rim tonight. I checked the hud/sprocket for run out when I put it back together but not the rim. I had a new front tire inistalled and checked all the bearings, none have slack or rough spots. I did not think about shocks or the swingarm bushings...Thanks, I will check those tonight as well.

I appreciate the info.

I'm right there with Ian, that's really good advice. Also, check out the new tire set up carefully, make sure they put the tire on correctly (the old red dot to tire stem check) and didn't manage to fold the tube which can cause those exact symptoms. Might put her up on a stand and deflate the rear tire and reinflate just to be sure. Ohterwise, spoke tenson, wheel true, etc like Ian said.

also check the neck bearing play.
there should be no play in the neck .
lift the bike and push and pull the front wheel forward and aft.
there should be no play in the trees or the neck.
check all bolts clamping the forks in the trees also.

Thanks fellas, I really appreciate the ideas. How does one go about checking spoke tension? Could the swingarm be tweaked?? If so, how would I be able to tell?? I know, lots O questions, thanks for taking the time to reply!!

I know the 'default' is to set the dot next to the valve stem as typically, this is the heaviest spot on a rim but I read an article about balancing and it was pointed out that the rim should be checked without tires/tubes on to find the real heavy spot and the lightest part of the tire (the dot) should be aligned there.

I doubt the swingarm itself is bent but the bushings where it pivots could have been damaged. I would be more worried about the rim being straight at this point and worry about tension once everything else is checked. You can grab each spoke and wiggle it with your fingers, you shouldn't have any play , you can also tap each one with a screwdriver or wrench and listen to the tone if you have one that is a duller or deeper tone that one is looser then the rest, Don't go tightening spokes if you don't have a good way to true it since any spoke adjustment will effect the way the rim aligns with the hub.

Any chance of a bent sprocket or transmission output shaft? That would do that.

I replaced both sprockets when everything got torn up. I will check the run out on the output shaft again tonight. Thanks.

I would check to make sure that new tire is seated all the way around. I've seen it happen before where the bead isn't seated all the way around. That would give you a vibration for sure. Don't know as it would cause a pull though.

Thats a good idea, I had trouble seating the IRC I bought and had to deflate it a few times and work it to get it to seat all the way.

Quick update:

Dial indicated output shaft total run out.003
Dial indicated rear wheel left to right out .040
vertical out the same .40
Checked the front end...solid no movement
Removed rear wheel and shocks zero play in the swing arm.

I took some measurements before taking it down.
I have always adjusted the chain with a dial indicator measuring the gap from the rear hollow of the swing arm to the front edge of the adjuster. Tonight I measured from the center line of the rear axle to the center line of the swing arm shaft and think I may have found something. The dr side measurement is 22 1/8" the pass side measurement is 21 7/8". In other words the rear tire is cocked to the dr side...would that not create a right hand push?? I am going to re-adjust to make those two center line distances match.

What do ya'll think? and is the wheel at .040 out enough to cause me problems? Thanks a ton guys.

I wouldn't worry too much about the .040 but the .40 is alot unless its the rim itself and not an adjustment issue. 1/4" isn't a whole lot for the wheel to be out on the adjusters but the better you can dial it in the better off you are. When I true a wheel I try and get 0 movement from the dial indicator. Sometimes it isn't possible because its in the metal itself and not the spoke adjustment. If both measurements are .040 I wouldn't worry about it but if the .40 isn't a typo might want to have it trued.

My bad man they are both 40 thousandths. Thanks for the reply.

I will check that tomorrow. Just got back from a lengthy test ride. The hard right "push" is almost gone...very slight. From 30-45 or back the other way, the front end is still shaking pretty good. I checked air pressure again, 32 in the front 38 rear...I don't think that is it either. I am sweaty,tired, etc.etc. will try again tomorrow. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

I had the dealer install and balance it. The red dot is in line with the valve stem. I checked the bearings when I removed the wheel...they were fine. Off to work I will tinker some more this afternoon. Thanks.