Front wheel removal and balance

[rcase13]

I have a slight wobble in the handlebars between 35mph and 45mph. The bike is smooth above and below these speeds. I have spoken with another NT700V owner and his is the same. It might just be a characteristic of this bike. I am new to street bikes so I decided to error on the safe side and have the front wheel balanced. Another forum member Woodaddict just got a new Cycle Hill wheel removal and balance kit from the Charlotte Motorcycle show. I decided I wanted to be his first customer!

The first step is to remove the wheel. The Soundtechguy just put out two new videos on his YouTube channel that covers this in detail. I will let him guide you through the process. I big thanks to Soundtechguy. His videos are first class and a real pleasure to watch. Not sure if he is on this board or not. I am a big tech freak and always look forward to his videos.
Front Wheel Removal
Front Wheel Installation

The wheel ended up being perfect from the factory. I was impressed with the Cycle Hill wheel balance kit. It was very accurate. We put on an 1/16th of an ounce weight on the wheel and it was enough to cause the wheel to move on the machine. After we got the wheel back on we took a ride back to my house driving through Downtown Kannapolis. We passed by the historic Gem theater. The next day I took my family there to see The Lorax. We had a great time and the prices were awesome. Large Popcorn and drink was $6.50! The movie was only $3/person!

It was a good day and I learned something. I have never seen a motorcycle wheel balanced before. Here are a couple of pics. Sorry we were so busy getting the wheel on and off I forgot to take pictures.

Big thanks to Woodaddict for having me over. I can now say without a doubt that Silver is the faster color... Or he is just a significantly better driver than me. With over 250,000 miles under his belt I think he might just be a slightly better driver than me. I have about 783 miles of experience...

 

[Phil Tarman]

The wobble is not a characterisitic of the NT700V. It's probably happening when you're de-accelerating, right? It could be cupping on the front tire. It could also slightly loose headset bearings.

My first Concours had the same wobble. Over time the range of speeds at which it happened increased from 35-30 all the way to 55-30. I was told that it could also be something in the rear suspension. It ended up being the headset. I tightened it nearly a 1/2 turn and never had it happen again.

One of the long term possibilities with loose headset bearings (or ones that are too tight) is that the headset can be "brinneled." That means that the harder bearing can "notch" the headset races and then the headset will tend to stick when the bearings are aligned with the notches. This is not a good thing.

I'd check the headset bearings.