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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Now it's hopping like a Rabbit???
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Message started by Thumpin on 11/20/07 at 07:24:42

Title: Now it's hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Thumpin on 11/20/07 at 07:24:42

i went on a ride to go eat lunch w/ my SO one day last week. Stopped to get gas, got back on the road and immediatly noticed a change in the way the front of the bike felt. The front wheel felt sort of like it was suddenly out of balance. I checked the existing balancing weights (it ran smooth as butter before this moment remember) and all where exacly in the expected places they had been in. I checked all of the spokes just out of curiosity - all tight. I already had the materials to do a brake job so in the process of elemination I did the brake job that I had been holding off on. Still this Sunday after doing the brake job, the front end has a hopping feel to it. One of my Harley wrench-heads suggested wheel bearings in the front wheel. Anyone have any similar problems and if so what was the solution??

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Savage_Greg on 11/20/07 at 08:37:10

Time to jack it up and give it a spin, I think.

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Thumpin on 11/20/07 at 09:08:20

Yea, that means its tiime to build a bike lift. Man, I was putting that project off til spring but ....

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 11/20/07 at 11:58:42

A decent rope & a come along is all I use.

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Thumpin on 11/20/07 at 13:11:45

I have to go to my home town for a little family water boarding so I won't get to it this weekend but I plan to try jacking/winching it up the following weekend. When I do what do I look for? I did try to wiggle the wheel w/ my wife holding the bars and felt no jiggle at all. This of course could be do to the weight of the bike still being on the wheel.

Long and short - once I get the wheel off of the ground what am I going to be looking for to diagnose this.

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by verslagen1 on 11/20/07 at 13:43:49

Quick and ~~easy~~ cheap bike lift.
you'll need one 4x4 stud about 3 feet long.
two 4x4 bricks.

Place 4x4 stud under the bike just under the driver footpegs.
lift the right side and side a brick under it until the stud touches the frame. the brick should be almost directly under the frame.
Now lean the bike over to the right. It should slide up the stud and over the brick abit.
This will raise the left side so you can kick the left brick under to hold it in place.

Sometimes I can do this single handed, sometimes I can't.

Front wheel should be in the air when you're done ;D

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by T-Mack1 on 11/20/07 at 17:11:56

Could also be brake issue. Crud on rotor, loose rotor, warpped rotor......

Or torn belt in tire issue (would show as a bump)......

Or .......

Or.......

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 11/20/07 at 21:38:05

Can you feel anything just engine off & roll it in neutral? The cement near gas pumps is usually pretty flat, if you dont have a flat, smooth driveway.
If not, what about riding & seeing how slow you have to go before the hop disappears.

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Savage_Greg on 11/21/07 at 07:05:08

Thumpin wrote:

This is my "Standard Lift" kit...

1. Get boards or blocks
2. Get spouse
3. Pickup front wheel
4. Spouse installs boards or blocks
5. Put down front wheel
6. Get macho beer

Then...

1. Sit on floor
2. Drink beer
3. Spin wheel
4. Stare at wheel
5. Repeat until problem is located

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b277/gmdinusa/GMD07_Frame_1.jpg

Happy Water Boarding!

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by jimbonerz28 on 11/23/07 at 09:30:39

my opinion, if it just started all of the sudden its probably a tire issue.

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Savage_Greg on 11/24/07 at 05:58:09

Of course, I don't think that I've ever seen a Rabbit that was hopping in a straight line, either.

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Thumpin on 11/30/07 at 09:45:02

OK I'm back from being waterboarded for thanksgiving. I rode the bike again cpl of days ago just wondering and noticed that there is a variance to (when looking straight down on the tire/wheel) how much of the wheel rim I can see. I'm not sure if I have a bent rim (I don't remember any sharp knocks or such) or the tire side wall is faililng in some way. As a local shop installed the tire I think I will make this as much their problem as possible. As the tire even seems a little "swollen" at one place I am thinking that the tire itself has failed so Im going to try and mke them replace it.

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by T-Mack1 on 11/30/07 at 09:58:34

Thumpin,
Check how well the bead is seated onto (into??) the rim. There should be a rib/bump/line (pick one) at where the tire meets the rim (see the baely visible red circle on the pict below). The spacing should be the same distance all the way around the rim (parallel??)

A innertube based tires can shift on the rim IF the air pressure gets low and you do some twisty road driving.

http://www.users.fast.net/~tommack/tire.jpg

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Salad_Shaker on 12/01/07 at 07:18:57

I'm with Jimbonerz28 on this. A dodgy tire gauge was all it took to get my front end hopping all over the place. Putting too much air in is easy to do, especially if the garage forecourt gauge is telling lies. Easily corrected to and once a more reliable gauge got things back to where they should be the front stopped skating and all was well. KISS is a good motto. Start with the simple stuff and work up as each possibility is eliminated.

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Thumpin on 12/03/07 at 06:09:07

Problem fixed!!!!!!

I got the tire off and started looking at the rim (actually I had already noticed the rim) It was not evenly bedded around the tire. I threw it in the truck and caged my way to the shop. Verdict? The tube had a good sized hole in it. The mech. was surprised that the tire had not come all the way off of the rim. The funny part? The tire felt as if it had decent pressure in it to the touch (bad method of measurment I know). The lower tube pressure had allowed the bead to stray on the rim causing a noticeable "S" curve in the tire, thus causing the entire front end of the bike to "wiggle" slightly.

Now its riding smooth as glass. Proof that you should check your tire pressure regularly.

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Savage_Greg on 12/03/07 at 08:10:38

Honestly though, if the tire had gotten that low, you should have noticed some really sluggish handling long before the tube or rim changed. It should have felt really heavy.

Remember that your air pressure specs are right there on the steering head...

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b277/gmdinusa/Vehicle_Info.jpg

Good that you got it fixed. Flats on the front are a real drag :P

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by bill67 on 12/03/07 at 08:40:47

I've never had a bike with air pressure on the steering head, Its on the belt guard. ;D I forgot there was one on the steering head I've always used the one on left side by the rear tire.

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by T-Mack1 on 12/03/07 at 10:25:34

So that next question should be, why was there a hole in the tube?

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Thumpin on 12/03/07 at 13:17:08

I have wondered the same. and maybe all air was not out because when you felt the tire it still felt quite hard. The ride was not mushy at all, it just jerked the bars back and forth. my best guess is that a rather small oject may have punctured it but not stayed in the tire (fell back out).

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Savage_Greg on 12/04/07 at 07:31:10

How long had that tube been in there?

Who installed that tube?

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by thegeeze on 12/04/07 at 18:06:40

Hey guys just joined the forum today and would like to throw my two cents in. I decided in the spring of this year that I could change my tires myself. I always drag my wife to swap meets with me so I went looking for some tire irons. I was told by everyone that I would hurt myself and my bike would shake because the tires would be out of balance. I found a tire that had never been mounted but it was really old and dusty for $10. I bought it then found one for the rear and got a pair of tire irons off ebay. Now I'm a lifelong gearhead so I have done many car tires with not so good tire machines. Worked in auto salvage for years. I got the tires off and the new ones mounted in about an hour. My hands were a little sore from arthritis and exertion but I got it done. The results were back tire no problem front tire had a hump around the inner tube valve. I took it off again a figured out that you can't tighten the valve nut until you put some air into the tire. Got the tire back on the right way but it wobbled because it was warped in the direction that it leaned up against the wall while sitting for years. I talked to a friend who does tires on heavy equipment he said overinflate the tire leave it alone for 2 days don't ride the bike then let the air out down to 35#. I did this and everythings fine and my bike doesn't shake at any speed. I guess I got lucky. But it was hopping like mad when I first put that tire on!

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Savage_Greg on 12/05/07 at 08:09:59

thegeeze wrote:

You are right. I change my own tires. I might do a couple things a little differently, but I do them for the same results as you. (I have a little tire bouncing trick that I use)

That is why I asked those questions :P

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by Thumpin on 12/05/07 at 11:55:33

The tube and tire had been on the bike for around 6 months to the tune of around 8000 miles. It ran smooth as glass up until the problem started and does now again. It still has around half of the tread (over where the wear indicators are) left. The stealership put the tire on. I live on my sail boat on the Tennesee river and my workshop is one end of my storage cube so I can handle minor jobs but i really don't have the room, the tools, or the room for the tools to do a tire change. I do my own oil changes, brake jobs and such but for tire work hell ith my living quarters as they are I jsut dont have the room ( give me a year we are looking for a permanent place).

Title: Re: Now it hopping like a Rabbit???
Post by thegeeze on 12/05/07 at 13:28:46

If a belt breaks inside of a tire the same thing happens it shakes and wobbles. At the junk yard we used to call uniroyal tires uniwobbles because just about every one of those tires we sold used to come back wobbling and hopping like mad.