serious cbx headshake

[andy]

My 81 has a serious headshake when I let go the handlebars over 40 mph, checked whole front end for irregularities, replaced rear tire which only had 4500 miles and plenty of tread w/ new Bridgestone Spitfire S11 100/90-19 (stock size), still big time headshake. Only thing I can think of is the front tire I replaced 500 miles ago, Metzeler ME33 Perfect 3.50-19 (stock size), is not same brand as rear and doesn't match. Any similiar experiances? I'm gonna chuck the new front tire and buy a new Bridgestone S11, this is a process of elimination thats driving me nuts.

[cbxchris]

Just a hunch but I bet its your steering head bearings. It could be as simple as the races are to loose. I`d start there if tires don`t fix it.

[andy]

Well, I checked the steering head bearings- sort of. When I removed the fuse cover, it looks like a special tool is needed. Is that correct? Maybe somebody can walk me thru this adjustment?

[DynoDan]

Howdy: I just replaced the brakes, tires, and had the rotors ground on my 81. I noticed that the axle caps have a small directional arrow that should face forward when installed. I too had a little head shake after the installation of my last tires... I thought it might have been the steering head bearings too, but when I had the front wheel off, I checked for any looseness in the bearings by grabbing hold of the fork tubes and checked for any movement back and forth. Everything was OK, but to be quite honest, I had never noticed the directional arrows on the cap before. I made sure both sides were correct. Additionally, I made sure the front axle bolt was torqued as well as all other fasteners when I reassembled.

So far, no shake, but I will track the miles and make a post to the board after a couple of thousand miles.

Regards, Dan Clark So.Cal.