Crazy Wobble in higher speed turns

I'd get some fresh rubber and a good pair of shocks.

Do you have the proper fork springs? The stock ones are probably too soft even for you weight (especially after 35 years)

If you are going to ride somewhat aggressively at the speeds that you are going you should have that stuff well sorted anyway. If that doesn't straighten it out then you have atleast eliminated the basics.

Be careful with new shocks that are less than $100 they might not be much better than what you have.

Sounds like shocks to me too. When my originals wore out (at about 12k miles) I had similar symptoms. I put on S&W shocks and problem was gone. I now run Hagon shocks because they look more like stock, but the S&W's never wore out or got tired. I have them in my spares crate. Ed

it is the shocks..i would venture to bet......the stock shocks could do this behavior even new and were the first thing to get chucked by hot shoes.....and as far as buying a used set...the reason i wanted a used set was that sometimes the 99-199 $ restoration or upgrade modern jobbers are just decent cruising shocks ,but don't offer the adjustments and spring rates like the older hotshoe sellers do...imo.....

below is a picture of some but ugly S&w street strokers...back in the day they were the best cornering shocks under 500 imo , so many were made and sold..and because of that..they still can be found and if they look halfway decent then they still are and would be far above anything sold today unless you were gonna spend 400-1000 imo


sorry wrong pic...but it is too cool to erase...


next pic below

this should show a set of s&w street strokers...i have seen 6-8 sets auction in 2 yrs

Good info on the shocks. I am a little leery also about inexpensive repro shocks as well. Kind of like buying cheep $25 shocks for your pick-up, and expecting heavy duty performance. As for stiffer springs for the front shocks, what is available, where, and at what price? I'll poke around a little for rear shocks. Any suggestions as to where to look? I prefer to go new if $ is reasonable. The catch is that they must look close to stock.

Progessive Suspension has both shocks and fork springs. Z1 Enterprises should have both. The shocks are about $250 and the fork springs are probably $75 or so.

Money well spent.

The Hagons I bought work really well and look close to stock. Check the various configurations at the following link. Dave Quinn will set them up for you to match your riding style, weight, accessories, etc.

Hagon

Those Hagons look nice, especially considering cost, and the fact that you can get the proper length and spring rate. I like the chrome body/black spring combo.

Galactica wrote:

mjg15,
I will definitely bump up my tire pressures. What do you guys recommend? The sticker on the bike and the FSM say 28 ft and 32 rr. Max shown on side walls is 42.

Bridgestone recommend 36 front and 38 rear if my conversion is correct.
[ www.bridgestone.co.uk/bfe/tyreSelectorCo...step=4&country=Great Britain&hiddenCountry=Great Britain&hiddenMake=Kawasaki&hiddenModel=Z900&hiddenModelYear=&hiddenSite=Bridgestone United Kingdom&locale=en_GB]

Here's a pic of the Hagon's on my bike:

Ed,
Those Hagons look really sweet. I realize now that I've been running my tire pressures WAAAAY too low. After pondering all of the input on this thread I really looked at my tires. The rear is worn with a very wide flat section. I think that when I have the bike really heeled over at high speed it slips off of the shoulder of the flat section causing the bike to wobble and chop. Much like bad rear shocks might feel.

Having said that I'll get a new rear tire and bump up my pressures to 36 and 38. If that doesn't help then I'll look at new shocks. Those Hagons are on my list.

Ross

650ed wrote:

Here's a pic of the Hagon's on my bike:

Not to hijack .....but that's a sweet 650. Original or restored ?