I need some advise. I have all kinds of crap going on. First of all I believe my front wheel needs balanced. I have a wobble when I'm going around 40-60 mph, then it goes away completely around 65 and faster. I also have a really bad wobble/chatter when braking hard, when I'm almost stopped and rolling slowly it feels like the pads are gripping, then slipping causing a slow wobble or chatter. Not sure what to call it. It sucks and I am thinking pads and rotors. Is that the best idea and then take the tire in to be balanced or could it be something else. I'd hate to purchase new rotors if thse might be fine.
I'm also wondering that if I need to get rotors to maybe go with just one up front for now. I have no funds for this but don't want a dangerous bike. Right now it is bad and although I can stop it quickly it sucks cause it shakes me and the bike a bunch.

Replace the front tire first. Bad brakes wouldn't cause the 40-60 mph wobble. Bad front tire could cause the wobble and pulsing under braking. Twice I've thought my rotors were warped... both times new tires fixed it.

Replace the front tire first. Bad brakes wouldn't cause the 40-60 mph wobble. Bad front tire could cause the wobble and pulsing under braking. Twice I've thought my rotors were warped... both times new tires fixed it.

+1

Yup it's your tire, Kawi sportbikes are very sensitive to worn rubber, all mine get scary (unstable) after about two thousand miles on the BT-016s.

How many miles on your tires and what are they? If you hit a pothole hard enough you could have seperated a ply and it will cause what you are describing.

No problems with mine but I am pretty gentle on brakes generally speaking. Still have stock pads at 25500 miles. Try runnning your hand over the tread. You may feel a wavy surface that you can't see. That's called cupping and it is what happens to a bike front tire from from hard breaking. If you have cupping that is a definite indication that new rubber is in order.

The pictures below are from a BMW K1200 RS I owned a few years ago. The cupping on these tires resulted in wobbling of the front end at a specific speed only, for me, it was around 30 MPH. The tires had 6,000 miles when the pictures were taken. Check if your front tire has this type of wear pattern. Replacing my front tire cured the wobbling.

Why does it seem like most BMW owners I talk to have issues with front tire cupping like that? Is that a fork issue or bad tire or..?

Great pics, runnerhiker. That's some pretty extreme cupping! I'd expect some wobble with that tire.

In my case, it's never been that bad. The second time I had some brake pulsing, the tire looked fine.

I read in a tire manufacturer website (I don't remember which, I think it was Dunlop), that front tire cupping is the normal wear caused by breaking. I have no idea why this tire cupped as much as it did, after this tire, I switched from Battalax to Metzeler. The Metzeler cupping was much, much less. I could see a little bit of it, but never to the extend in these pictures.

That's some pretty extreme cupping! I'd expect some wobble with that tire.

Any tire with tread blocks like on the above BMW will cup. On the front the braking forces cause the leading edges to cup and on the rear the trailing edges will cup due acceleration forces. The only way to prevent this on any kind of bike riden hard and fast will be to choose a tire that doesn't have this type of tread blocks. If you'll notice tires manufactured specifically for sport bikes and hard sport ridding won't have tread blocks, they'll have a limited number of rain grooves instead and the more sport oriented toward track use or extreme canyon riding they are the fewer grooves they'll have. For 2 main reasons 1. More tread contact = more grip and 2. to prevent this type of issue.

Tire has 5k-6k miles on it. Just replaced the rear and was waiting on the front. Times up I guess. I'll be relieved if this takes care of it since I was looking at some rotors and they are pricey. Thanks for the info, just ordered my tire. Now just have to wait a few days.

You could of had a hard braking a long time ago ! now that would get worser now over more miles so now the tyre at 5-6 k miles you should definately replce the front tyre an just get them to check the bearings on the front wheel just to be safe .

Tire has 5k-6k miles on it. Just replaced the rear and was waiting on the front. Times up I guess. I'll be relieved if this takes care of it since I was looking at some rotors and they are pricey. Thanks for the info, just ordered my tire. Now just have to wait a few days.

Chances are if you aren't getting a pulsing sensation through the brake lever while braking then your rotors are ok and not warped.

It's a Bridgestone fer gosh sakes.No telling WHAT yer gonna get from one o' those!Just check out the model name...."battlax"....heavy,hard,primitive!(not to mention....extinct! )

* Last updated by: blue07 on 3/16/2011 @ 5:17 PM *

Im'inn'ah new to walking.

I'm'inn'ah walking for miles trying to figure out how come my one shoe is flapping and I can see the bottom of my foot when it lifts.

I'm'inn'ah tripping down the hill anshit, I'm getting ha hang of this. Say, I got an idea!

I'm'inn'ah buy one new shoe so I don't be tripping watching my hangnail a fip'inn, I chatter when I stop to look.

I'm'inn'ah gonna see if I can walk again like when I had the new shoes is one old one knew who knew?

I'm'inn'ah not gonna believe you that I'm ha gonna ride with a knife sharp front end and a flat bottom end I am gonna handle like a dream when I enter that wobble!

Oh, I can feel the step in the back now... She IT... I love dis bike!

I'll see your octopus and raise you a Sando!

Well, I got the new tire on the bike. No good. I mean, the tire is fine and I needed it but I still have the shaking. It's annoying and makes me not want to ride. What else could it be. Absolutely no pulsing in the front or rear brake levers. How about the brake pads themselves, or should I do the front bearings, which I forgot to ask them to check them dammit. Anyway, what do you guys think? I might have to have them diagnose it for me and spend the hour of labor.

Look down at the plastic steering dust cup. You are going to sit on the bike, hold the front brake, push the bike forward, pull the bike back, never let go of the front brake; what she look like, what did you hear?

If you could get a sheet of course sandpaper between the pads, tape the sandpaper on the discs, you could scrub the pad surface, see if that shut the chatter down. If it's spooking you, it needs a good shot down an off ramp LOL! If you don't feel you can hang a ton and hit the binders, your next step is to scrub the pads on the cement. Fastest/cleanest way, IMO.

Thanks for the advise Hub, will try those ideas out and see what happens.
Have to put a carburetor on my car first though. Seems like everything starts breaking at the same time. Go figure.

You could always take the wheel to a shop and have them check the rotor run out before you assume they are bad and blow hundreds on new.... just a thought, but if it wasn't the tire, then I'd bet it's your brake system.

You can always lift the wheel and look at the gap between the pad and rotor as you spin it and see if it's outa whack that way first.