23 Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer Wobble

[Dr Joe]

I have begun to notice a wobble of the front end (handlebars) on my T1200RE. 6,800 miles original tires. It is not wind (side bags on the bike, no top box). I took some video.

t1200 wobble 3x views

Anyone have a similar problem? I did find another post about this bike in Germany on another Triumph platform. No answers tho...

joe

 

[sikatri]

I’m not seeing what I understand to be a front end wobble. What it looks like to me is handle bar vibration. I’d have the front tire checked for balance and centering. Take it to a good motorcycle tire balancing shop.

 

[Qship]

My Tiger came with the Metzler Tourance Next as stock tires. While it was a nice grippy tire, it wore fast on the rear and the front wore oddly, cupping out the tread bad enough to cause vibes and needed to be replaced at 6000 kms. Apparently these tires are/were notorious for this odd wear as it was on quite a few forums.
Is there odd wear on the tires?

 

[Robert Harley]

I have begun to notice a wobble of the front end (handlebars) on my T1200RE. 6,800 miles original tires. It is not wind (side bags on the bike, no top box). I took some video.

t1200 wobble 3x views

Anyone have a similar problem? I did find another post about this bike in Germany on another Triumph platform. No answers tho...

joe

I had this happen years ago with a new bike I purchased. It was the tires. check the thread pattern.

 

[Rocketroy]

I’m not seeing what I understand to be a front end wobble. What it looks like to me is handle bar vibration. I’d have the front tire checked for balance and centering. Take it to a good motorcycle tire balancing shop.

I had a similar issue. I noticed mine at 65 mph. Swapped out the stock Tourance tires at 8k miles for a set of Conti Trail Attacks. The front tire still had about 50% in the middle and 30% on the shoulders. The rear has 60% and 80% respectively.
With the new tires, I noticed a slow weave starting at the same speeds, about 65mph.
In the settings menu, I switched the damper setting from Low Comfort to Low Regular and immediately gained 10 mph before the 'weave'. At mid Normal 75 mph, high Normal, 85 mph. I haven't tried the Sport settings.
I noticed a similar improvement in cornering. Really, it's night and day.

 

[atomsplitter]

Usually the head shake is a combination of factors, not just one. The rear suspension settings along with tire construction can adversely affect the handling. If your bike has a standard swingarm (not one-sided like my S3 RS) wheel alignmemt can be slightly off having the front end act oddly with gyroscopic effect. First thing to do is make sure the rear wheel is correctly aligned. Take it for a ride, is behavior changed? Then increase rear shock preload, take it for a ride, did behavior change? Then add some front preload and so forth. Changing tires first may mask the problem, not solve it. If NOTHING you do to suspension and alignment changes the behavior, it's your tires.