Weeble Wobble

[LBURNERS]

Hello my Dr starts to do a little weeble wobble when i get it over 75mph . Im wondering if this is a normal occurance and i should just slow it down or if i might have an alignment problem. thanks for any assistance and or suggestions.

[396]

I get it sometime too. Kind of a twitchy feeling. I have heard that it is caused by the huge high front fender catching air.

[TT66]

May be the speed rating of the tire also, mine will wobble at 95mph and up.

[BCRider]

350 or 650? Also what sort of tires?

But in most cases sitting a little further back on the saddle will cut the wobble down to pretty much nothing. Sort of like the same thing as riding on loose sand and gravel.

[lousymechanic]

Yep. Moving your butt back will usually stop it. If you can go faster, accelerating up a few miles an hour will also usually help. My 350 wobbles between 72 and 74 mph, but not below or above.

[Navaho6]

It could be tires. If you want to feel some serious wobble, get on a DRZ400S. It makes the DR feel like a Busa in comparison.

[LBURNERS]

Ahhh this is nice to hear some people having the sam sort of issues. I run the Kenda tires on a 650. It might be like lousy mechanic said at just a certain speed. I always end up slowing down assuming it will get worse. Perhaps i will try kicking it up 5mph next time.

[repmuht]

i've got a new pair of d606's and the wobble starts ~70mph. Sure does make you pay attention. Leaning back, speeding up, holding the bars more tightly all help.

[Flealami]

A fork brace has also been reported to help, although I personally haven't tried it yet.

Flea

[RobertN]

It's called BALANCING your tires!!! My 606's did this till I had them balanced. You can't expect to throw a knobby on and get great handling above 60mph without issues if they aren't balanced.

At speeds over 80 and in heavy winds, that's when air under the front fender can cause buffeting issues.

[snow4aaron]

I also get the wobbles. A well balance tire is a good place to start. Also try increasing the airpressure. This helped me out also. When my DR650 was loaded with Dirt Bagz, water and camping gear the additional weight on the back reduced the wobble. When I had a head wind it would return. Sitting as far back on the seat as possible also helped. I have heard others say to tighten the steering head nut. I just tried this and will get back to you. I have a Scotts damper and a fork brace and I sometimes still get a wobble! I reduce the throttle until it fades away and then increase the throttle again. ALso the pressure you put on the bars will cause wobble. I put as little forward pressure as possible unless the wobbles won't stop, then its white knuckle trying to dampen the movement. With street tires and higher gearing I have not had a wobble. Next I will try a fender support to reduce the buffeting.

Aaron

[fl-cracker]

Check for the proper torque on all of the clamp bolts. Do not over tighten the steering stem nut. It will age the bearings rapidly and create another steering problem (the slow weave effect). And a fork brace absolutely does help. The faster you go, the more power to the ground down low, more wind resistance up high; this extends the forks to where the solid shinny part is not sticking into the slidey part very far causing it to get pretty flimsy. (Fork brace justification).

[doyouwantfrieswiththat]

I also get the wobbles. A well balance tire is a good place to start. Also try increasing the airpressure. This helped me out also. When my DR650 was loaded with Dirt Bagz, water and camping gear the additional weight on the back reduced the wobble. When I had a head wind it would return. Sitting as far back on the seat as possible also helped. I have heard others say to tighten the steering head nut. I just tried this and will get back to you. I have a Scotts damper and a fork brace and I sometimes still get a wobble! I reduce the throttle until it fades away and then increase the throttle again. ALso the pressure you put on the bars will cause wobble. I put as little forward pressure as possible unless the wobbles won't stop, then its white knuckle trying to dampen the movement. With street tires and higher gearing I have not had a wobble. Next I will try a fender support to reduce the buffeting.

Aaron

What do you have your Scott's damper set at? I've had mine on for a little over a month now with the only changes being a half turn CW on the base valve and it seems pretty good so far. I've noticed all freeway woobles, inlcluding the rain-groove tracking woobles are completely gone up to just shy of 100mph thanks to the damper. When I had my tires installed, they said don't bother to balance them if you off-road because they'll immediately fly off.

[Wybs]

You should also check the sag front and rear. The angle of the forks can be off if the sag is not set right.

Lowering the suspension will also help, keeps the forks "solid shinny part sticking into the slidey part" farther and the fork is stiffer.

My 01 with stock fender, pirelli scorpions (unbalanced b/c they have not needed it) and a lowered suspension never wobbles at any speed

[Chas_M]

When I had my tires installed, they said don't bother to balance them if you off-road because they'll immediately fly off.

Bad advice. If you do any higher speed riding, both front and rear tires require balancing especially if running single rimlocks, and the balance weights will not 'fly' off.

[jrs200]

The bike is really pretty light with a high center of gravity for fast highway riding. Ever notice it is not as bad with a passenger? Like navaho6 said the drz is worse, lighter. That is why I got the 650 a little heavier and a little less wobble. You might be able to do some of the things mentioned to lessen it a bit. Maybe some luggage and fill it up with cement. Or get a Harley low rider. I prefer to just hang on and have fun.

[SgtMike]

I run Dunlop D606's change them myself and haven't ever balanced them. Maybe I'm Lucky but I've done this with all my other bikes that have had knobby tires and had no problems with them either. The shops I know will also say that they don't balance knobs.

As snow4aron has said and I agree is that low pressure will surely induce or aggravate a wobble. For all around riding I run 20lbs. in my tires and have no problems at speed. I learned the hard way that while lower pressures are the ticket for more traction off road you've got to air back up for the return trip home.

What happened was as I went to pass someone that was poking along, when I hit around 70 the bike got into an uncontrollable head shake that continued until it got back down to about 30mph. I guerrilla gripped the bars and hung on till it stopped. Bout the closest I'd ever come to dumping it at speed on asphalt! Scared the crap out of me for sure so I always run at least 20 lbs. if I'm to hit the pavement.

Mike.

[doyouwantfrieswiththat]

Bad advice. If you do any higher speed riding, both front and rear tires require balancing especially if running single rimlocks, and the balance weights will not 'fly' off.

I guess since I don't run rimlocks or I'm just lucky but I've never had an uneven feeling and have never balanced my tires and constantly take it up to 90 mph. Maybe it has to do with different tire brands being more uneven than others?

[fendermon]

An Acerbis supermoto fender makes things much less spooky at speed. It also does a poor job of deflecting things..water especially.

[bing]

Snow4aaron,

Do you have any pictures of your Scotts setup. I have a Scotts damper on my Ducati Monster and would like to use it on my DR650 as well.