My Bike Won't Turn!!

[Seabass]

I had an interesting day on Sunday to say the least. I went and did a race on Sunday and a mile into it I notice that I'm having to fight my front end. It wouldn't go where I pointed it and it seemed to have a mind of it's own. In all the years I've ridden I've never experienced anything like it.

I spent alot of hours in the garage prepping for this race....new brake pads, new tires, lube all cables, grease rear linkage, replace steering head bearings, new chain slider, blah blah blah.

While bouncing off of large bolders and blowing thru creosote bushes, I figure mebbe my damper is set a tad too harsh. I back it off a few clicks and no change. I back it off all the way and still no change. I crank it almost all the way up....woah!! Now I can't turn at all. So the damper looks good.

I figure the castle nut that holds down the steering tube had tightened up. When I get home I take my damper off and my front end does not bind up in the least with the bike off the ground and the damper off.

I take the damper to BRP and they don't think anything is wrong with it.

Could it be the new Pirelli Scorpion front tire I threw on? Hmmmmmm. I can't believe a tire can cause this much instability. But if BRP can't find anything with my damper I should assume it's the tire, right?

[Indy_WR450]

It is most likely the damper has an orifce blocked or how it is mounted is causing some binding. Have a look at the bike on a stand with the weight off of the front wheel and see if the bars turn easily.

[hogusmc]

I recently raised my front fork tubes a little to far and it felt a lot like what you described.

[520Roost]

was it the Checkers race ? maybe it was all the ROCKS:eek: whatbike?

[baja4lif3]

well the fact that the wr's weigh 9000000000lbs doesnt help. But they still have a good motor!

[Seabass]

It is most likely the damper has an orifce blocked or how it is mounted is causing some binding. Have a look at the bike on a stand with the weight off of the front wheel and see if the bars turn easily.

That's the first thing I did when I got home. I was worried that the castle nut on top of the top bearing had cinched down while riding. After I took my damper off the handle bars turn with no resistance. BRP took my damper apart and I'm going by this afternoon to pick it up and see what they found. I'll post when I find out.

[Seabass]

was it the Checkers race ? maybe it was all the ROCKS:eek:? whatbike?

Yes it was the Checkers race and damn they had alot of rocks! On SUndays course there were some bitchin single track section thru a yucca patch with no rocks. When I came into it I was catching a group of guys that passed me when I got lost. As I came into this section I went to turn the bike and crapped myself when the bike would barely turn! I kept thinking to myself it was all the rocks and sand, but when I'd get into some whooped roads of flat trails the bike was all over the place, like it had a mind of it's own.