Anyone have ideas how to fix this? The front wheel is rubbing against the headers on stoppies/endos ... I've tried changing preload & compression dampening settings with no success...

Tire melting & the headers


Cheers

 

By the looks of it you need a new tire anyway.. buy a smaller one.

 

I am willing to bet that your frame/forks may be bent, or your steering head bearings are waaaaay loose. Something is amiss with the bike if your tire hits the exhaust.

 

I'm putting Pilot Sport's on soon... just wanted to sort this problem before I melt those as well.

Is there any way of telling if the frame/forks are bent? e.g. measuring from axle-to-axle? As it 'looks' straight. As for the head bearing, I think it's loose cause there's a "click" noise when I hit the brakes hard and if I roll any more than 10 feet it wobbles... but I'd assume bad technique/form before a mechanical problem.

 

it sounds like the steering head bearings are really loose or maybe broken. I would pull them apart and check it out. If you post pics here of the steering head/frame spar junction, I can probably tell you if the frame is bent....a side pic of the bike would help too. Does the tire hit when the bike is parked, or only when you ride? The wheelbase for your bike is 54.9 inches.

 

Took the front end apart... the wheelbase was just a hair over 54" ... but that could be affected by weight on the bike and where the chain tension is set... (in this case, bike was on sidestand and new chain)

Here's a profile of the bike


And a closeup of the nose


There was definetly something wrong w/ the head bearings, cause I could move the forks/wheel front and back a bit and it was rough to turn..

Took it apart and the top bearing was missing a ball (could have fallen while I was taking it apart) but I also noticed this:


Can't see well on the pic, but there's a weld bead on the inside towards the bike... not sure if this should be there or not... anyways, should I just get new bearings and see if it works?

Cheers and thanks for all the advice!

 

That frame looks tucked to me. Has that bike taken a hit to the front? I can't see bodywork fitting on that unit even with good bearings unless the front end was about to fall off when you snapped those pics.

 

Deffinately replace the top and bottom bearings. If you can get a better pic of the bearing races would probably help too.

 

I agree with both Lb3 and Kyle. The front looks slightly pushed back, and that weld shouldn't be there as far as I remember.....try to get a better pic of the beairng races (in the frame) and that weld if you can. You can usually tell if the weld was done with the frame cold (after the bike was built). If someone welded on it, it usually has some black in the weld, and it isn't as smooth as the others as far as porosity goes. Try to take the races out of the frame...they should fit tight enough that you have to pound them out. If they just push out, something is bent or out of round.

 

Your neck is definatley bent.

 

I agree, something doesn't look right with the neck/upper tubes.

 

Just did a search on 929 frames... are they really over 1500$ ?!? Can a frame neck be straightened or am I gonna have to find another one?

Here's the bearings




And it's definetly welded on the inside...


Wish I'd noticed this before I got the damn bike

Thanks for the info guys!
Cheers

 

I have seen them fixed, but only when the race area was damaged. If the frame is bent, it's bent. Try www.framestraightsystems.com. They're here in Mi. A friend of mine has a 929 that hit a wall, and they did a great job getting it straight. Also try G.M.D. computrack.

 

i have like a brand new triple tree and forkes and brakes all together in my garage make me an offer

 

Ya that thing has deffinately took a nasty hit. I can't believe someone tried to weld that like that. Hate to say it but that one is probably trash.

 

Get a new frame

 

he pmed me and he is gettin one, he's got it figured out

 

Ya, I'm gonna look around over winter and put a straight one on for next season (there's only a few weeks left before the snow arrives)..

Thanks again for the help.

 

dum dum duuuum

a friend of mine had the same problem on his 97 900rr, but that's the only other time i've seen it, but he looped his shiat a couple times. i guess if you push those frames the wrong way, they're destined for doom.