I recently purchased a new factory front wheel, new tire (and balanced), new bearings, and new brake rotors and the first time back on the road noticed an unusual wheel hop between 40mph and 50mph. It seems strange and hasn't happened before but wanting to know if anyone had an experience similar or might know what might be causing this hop. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
K5 Front Wheel Hop Between 40-50mph
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I have it up on stands now and tried to spin it to see any possible issues but with the spec torque it doesn't free spin that easy. I will loosen up the axle some and see what it looks like. Thanks for the replay.
I bought the wheel from a dealer near by that when out of business and had some random stock items and jumped at the wheel. I paid $250 which i thought was pretty reasonable. I purchased the tire through Cycle Gear and had them balance it. I was thinking balancing may be the issue as well. I am going to pull the wheel off and bring it back to CG and have them re-balance it. I appreciate the replay.
I'm inclined to say that the bearings weren't properly installed if you have to loosen the axle nut to get the wheel to spin freely. They will fail quickly if so. Did you install them?
This would be a good time to check that your steering head bearings are OK.
This would be a good time to check that your steering head bearings are OK.
Well I checked the bearings and they are all flush and took the wheel to get re-balanced and it zeroed out, so there goes an easy fix 
. I was told that the forks and associated bearings should get looked at (thanks for the advice BillyV). I made an appt with a shop near by and hope they can determine the issue. Thanks for the advice all, much appreciated!
. I was told that the forks and associated bearings should get looked at (thanks for the advice BillyV). I made an appt with a shop near by and hope they can determine the issue. Thanks for the advice all, much appreciated!Yes, Cycle Gear in Tacoma, WA has an electronic motorcycle wheel balancer. It takes them like 5 minutes and they add the weights accordingly.
"I checked the bearings and they are all flush"
You're talking about thousandths of an inch here. The bearings should be installed by tools that press on the inner and outer races at the same time. See the service manual and the tools that are used there. Drivers that only push on the inner or outer race don't leave the two races correctly aligned.
I don't know what Cycle Gear uses but I'm not a fan of clip-on weights as they scratch through the paint.
You're talking about thousandths of an inch here. The bearings should be installed by tools that press on the inner and outer races at the same time. See the service manual and the tools that are used there. Drivers that only push on the inner or outer race don't leave the two races correctly aligned.
I don't know what Cycle Gear uses but I'm not a fan of clip-on weights as they scratch through the paint.
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