Folks,

Been travelling 70 miles per day round trip to work and back lately.

Have a right front fork seal that has been weeping, leaking slightly.
Have not fixed it yet.

Noticed that lately when going into one of my long continous radius favorite sweepers...the bike starts to wallow back and forth, when leaning over pretty hard..enough, to be disconcerting.

Am carrying a lot more tools than when was just ridng solo.

The folks at work are amazed about how many tools, (carpenter), that I have routinely stuffed in the panniers.

Went out just now to figure out how and dial up the Ohlins rear as well.

...and am continuing...

Looked hard at all of the steering bits, looked hard at the rear shock mount. Looked hard and did try to rock the rear tire and assembly.and had no play in that.
Skins/tyres/tires are getting worn. They are about at the end of the line, but have enough tread to be OK in the wet, for a short time.

Question is, could some loss of damping fluid from that one fork, cause the machine to be unhappy when asked to lean over pretty hard?

Thanks for thoughts.

Some quick questions that will give more information:
Is the leaking fork on the inside or outside of the curve when this is happening?

Are the panniers evenly loaded for weight?

Are the tire/tyre pressures correct for the weight of the tools.

I have had issues with handling when loaded just based on pressures alone, an imbalance in the loading/luggage would exaggerate it to the point I was checking head bearings etc.

Finally a leaking fork seal won't heal itself....bite the bullet and get it done!

88

Find the threads on here related to adjusting the steering head bearings. be sure you get them tight enough to get some "pre-load" on the bearings citing the "fall away method" in the threads. This may not correct the issue, but it's free & worth a try. This when set correctly will create a "dampening" effect on the steering. Also, try running the tires up to near max air pressure, at least as an experiment
Regards, ibj...

My first K had a wallow on high speed sweepers. It seemed to come from the rear and never developed into anything dangerous. Turned out to be a rear shock lacking in damping. Changing to a Koni fixed it. As you already have the Ohlins try adjusting the rebound damping to a firmer setting to see if it makes a difference.
Another recent experience from a guy I know in Vic. His bike had been a bit weavy for a while and they couldn't find the problem. A couple of weeks it suddenly got worse, the bike wasn't really rideable and they rode home verrry slowly. Both front engine mount bolts were missing! From the dirt on the mounting hole one bolt had been missing a while. I've never heard of this happening on a K before. Its a K100RS 8V

Al

My handling was similar but changed completely with new fork oil and new Sports Demon tyres and firmer setting on the rear shock.

Loss of rebound damping on the front will cause the rear to wallow every bit as much as a bad rear shockie.
The front will rebound quickly changing the geometry quickly making the back wallow. A steering damper can help but there is only one solution and that is fix the front end.

How many miles on the Ohlins?

They are service items. My experience with Ohlins is that although they are good they do need servicing.

That said, I'd deal with the obvious thing first; change the fork oil and replace the leaking seal.

For what its worth I sometimes carry a lot in the panniers. Dont underestimate the tyres, I had a similar experience and tyre pressure was my problem. Ended up inflating them to higher than recommended to make it diesappear. I also repalced head bearings, was like a new bike. But before even looking at too much tyres and fork seals must be good.....do them first. Front tyres seem to wear in funny patterns.

Thanks very much for all the fine advice/input.

Haven't been able to respond individually yet due to a crazy work schedule.
Work/Sleep, Work/Sleep, etc.
I was wrong...have a Koni shock.

Anyway...will address all the ideas stated...soonest.

You folks are Great, and appreciate the helpful ideas.

Best,

Jim

RT wrote:My handling was similar but changed completely with new fork oil and new Sports Demon tyres and firmer setting on the rear shock.

+1 When I first got my K she wallowed in bends draining the fork oil and putting new in sorted her out. if the levels in both sides aren't the same that would cause a difference in handling as well