This page is devoted to a maintenance task that is, I think, especially well suited for presentation on a Website; the adjustment of the steering head bearing. As you may already know, a head bearing has to be at the right tightness and the way to test for that is by raising the bike's wheels (both wheels, to keep the bike level), removing any interference of the clutch cable (by unattaching it from the handlebar) and then turning the handlebars all the way in each direction, letting go and observing how much the front wheel swings.

When letting the wheel swing as described, the front tire should swing past the straight-ahead point and then begin to swing back towards the straight-ahead position before coming to a stop. If it swings past the straight-ahead point for a second time, the steering head bearing needs a bit of tightening. This too-loose condition is demonstrated very clearly in the first video below.

If the front tire does not swing past the straight-ahead point or, if after passing the straight-ahead point, does not begin a swing back to the straight-ahead point, the steering bearing is too tight.

Having the steering head adjusted too tight is not a good thing, so that must be avoided. A steering head that is adjusted too tightly might result in the bike being unable to correct a high-speed weave. You may notice such a bike also tending to resist riding in a straight line (e.g. tending towards the centerline of the road).

A steering head that is adjusted too loose will result in the handlebars beginning to shake. A way to test for that condition is to take the bike up to a speed of about 70 or 80 km/hr and then let go of the handlebars, letting the bike decelerate on its own. If the steering head bearing is too loose, you will notice the handlebars start to shake (perhaps quite violently) once the bike's speed drops to about 65-60 km/hr.

Since it is hard to judge this adjustment only by means of the Service Manual's description, this page provides a video of what the front tire swing of a too-loose head bearing looks like, followed by a video of what the swing should look like after being properly adjusted. Remember to loosen the fork's pinch bolts before adjusting the the steering head nut (and don't forget to re-tighten them afterwards).

If the after-adjustment video seems to show too little swing, perhaps keep in mind that the testing shown here took place in -20 Celsius temperatures, so the grease in the bearings was a little stiff. As far as the pre-adjustment video is concerned, the amount of play you see there was enough to cause handlebar shake during the hands-off road test described.

You should also check to determine if the steering head bearings are damaged. Since the wheel spends so much time pointed straight ahead, a flat spot may have developed on the bearings. If that is the case, you should replace the bearings (a procedure that was not necessary in my case - even though the bike shown has over 200K kilometers on it with the original bearings). You can check for flat spots on the bearings by feeling for any roughness/jerkiness while slowly turning the handlebars left and right with the front wheel raised off the ground.

Please note that the information on this page is presented only as a record of my own experience and should not be taken as authoritative. After performing an adjustment like this, a careful road test ought to be conducted to ensure the bike's handling has not degraded.

In this case - with the steering head adjusted as shown in the second video - the bike handled very nicely when tested afterwards. I also conducted the 'hands-off' test; which revealed that the handlebar-shake syndrome had disappeared.

This page is devoted to a maintenance task that is, I think, especially well suited for presentation on a Website; the adjustment of the steering head bearing. As you may already know, a head bearing has to be at the right tightness and the way to test for that is by raising the bike's wheels (both wheels, to keep the bike level), removing any interference of the clutch cable (by unattaching it from the handlebar) and then turning the handlebars all the way in each direction, letting go and observing how much the front wheel swings.

When letting the wheel swing as described, the front tire should swing past the straight-ahead point and then begin to swing back towards the straight-ahead position before coming to a stop. If it swings past the straight-ahead point for a second time, the steering head bearing needs a bit of tightening. This too-loose condition is demonstrated very clearly in the first video below.

If the front tire does not swing past the straight-ahead point or, if after passing the straight-ahead point, does not begin a swing back to the straight-ahead point, the steering bearing is too tight.

Having the steering head adjusted too tight is not a good thing, so that must be avoided. A steering head that is adjusted too tightly might result in the bike being unable to correct a high-speed weave. You may notice such a bike also tending to resist riding in a straight line (e.g. tending towards the centerline of the road).

A steering head that is adjusted too loose will result in the handlebars beginning to shake. A way to test for that condition is to take the bike up to a speed of about 70 or 80 km/hr and then let go of the handlebars, letting the bike decelerate on its own. If the steering head bearing is too loose, you will notice the handlebars start to shake (perhaps quite violently) once the bike's speed drops to about 65-60 km/hr.

Since it is hard to judge this adjustment only by means of the Service Manual's description, this page provides a video of what the front tire swing of a too-loose head bearing looks like, followed by a video of what the swing should look like after being properly adjusted. Remember to loosen the fork's pinch bolts before adjusting the the steering head nut (and don't forget to re-tighten them afterwards).

If the after-adjustment video seems to show too little swing, perhaps keep in mind that the testing shown here took place in -20 Celsius temperatures, so the grease in the bearings was a little stiff. As far as the pre-adjustment video is concerned, the amount of play you see there was enough to cause handlebar shake during the hands-off road test described.

You should also check to determine if the steering head bearings are damaged. Since the wheel spends so much time pointed straight ahead, a flat spot may have developed on the bearings. If that is the case, you should replace the bearings (a procedure that was not necessary in my case - even though the bike shown has over 200K kilometers on it with the original bearings). You can check for flat spots on the bearings by feeling for any roughness/jerkiness while slowly turning the handlebars left and right with the front wheel raised off the ground.

Please note that the information on this page is presented only as a record of my own experience and should not be taken as authoritative. After performing an adjustment like this, a careful road test ought to be conducted to ensure the bike's handling has not degraded.

In this case - with the steering head adjusted as shown in the second video - the bike handled very nicely when tested afterwards. I also conducted the 'hands-off' test; which revealed that the handlebar-shake syndrome had disappeared.