Advice needed - high speed front end shake

[1moreroad]

I think I know the answer, but I need confirmation or disagreement. 

Just finished an 1100 mile ride. At speeds over 75 I get a shake in the handlebars. The faster I go, the more it shakes. It's a visible shake, not just a vibration.

I think the front wheel wasn't balanced well enough. 

A new front tire was installed 500 miles ago, but this was the 1st time I had the bike over 75 since then (all commuting on 65 mph or slower roads). When I picked up the wheel, I noticed fewer wheel weights than before and in a totally different position but it was a Dunlop Qualifier instead of a Roadsmart so I figured it was the different tire. I installed a new skid plate at the same time. I replaced the oil pan 400 miles before that. 

So... I'm figuring the tire wasn't balanced well enough. It was installed at Cycle Gear and I've had good experience with them before but they had a new machine (don't know if they got a new balancer or new bead breaker or what).

I think it's just the front wheel out of balance. From this forum and techs asking me when I get new tires installed, I know the front wheel takes a lot of weights to balance. 

Anything else I should consider? I haven't done anything else to the front end except front tires in 7000 miles/10 months. 

TIA

[craz1]

If it didn't shake with your last tire it very well could be the new tire/or balance/or not seated on the rim/or air pressure. Check all of them. You didn't say how many miles are on it but if you have several thousand I would also be checking the stem bearings.

[Your_Boy_Yuriy]

1 hour ago, craz1 said:

If it didn't shake with your last tire it very well could be the new tire/or balance/or not seated on the rim/or air pressure. Check all of them. 

Agreed, Could be a defective tire too. 

[lolocastsb]

Take it back to Cyclegear and insist they re-balance. I brought my DR650 front wheel in to get changed and they didn't even get the bead seated properly last week.

[1moreroad]

10 hours ago, craz1 said:

If it didn't shake with your last tire it very well could be the new tire/or balance/or not seated on the rim/or air pressure. Check all of them. You didn't say how many miles are on it but if you have several thousand I would also be checking the stem bearings.

Thanks. Visual inspection looks like the bead is consistent all the way around the rim. Tire pressure is 34 which is what I set it to. Stem bearings were checked by a shop I trust about 10 months ago when they installed new fork springs and declared good. 

I'll get the balance sorted then I'll see about a bad tire. 

[whisperquiet]

I bought a used 2019 Tracer GT with new tires installed.  It shook bad at around 75-80 mph and I removed/rebalanced the front wheel/tire assembly.  All was good afterwards.

I have a NoMar static wheel balancer and make sure that every front tire is balanced to near perfection…..the rears are balanced to less than 5 grams.  

[1moreroad]

I had to COMPLETELY rebalance the wheel. Not enough weight and totally wrong position.  Hopefully this fixes the problem. I'll ride tomorrow. 

EDITED TO ADD: Took it out today and no more vibration after balancing the wheel myself. 

[bwringer]

Thanks for reporting back!

This is pretty common.

No disrespect to Cycle Gear in particular (our local store is tiny, and doesn't even mount tires), but back before I mounted and balanced tires myself, I encountered balance problems several times after having tires mounted at various shops.

Balancer machines are pretty touchy, rarely maintained, and training can be hit or miss. But there's a computer, flashy lights, and it goes beep, so people sort of blindly trust these things.

I can get it to within 1/8 ounce with a plain old homemade static balancer and five minutes.