Steering problem

[Tenderloin694]

Today arriving home from work. I got inside my garage and I usually U-turn the bike in the garage so I can go straight out in the early morning.

While turning left I noticed it only turned half way to the left but fully when turning right. I checked the forks. Nothing seems to be binding ie: cable or wires. This is a hard bind. Almost like the wheel lock is semi engaged.

So now I'm stuck. Moves freely to the right, but only moves half way to the left?

Any idea's or similar problems reported?

Who is responsible to tow the bike to the shop? Me or Kawi? I would think this is a huge safety hazard and potentially could of hurt me badly or killed me if the bike had locked up on the freeway. I feel like Kawi should come and pick up the bike. It feels like they are being callus and should show responsibility for their product.

[G-Mazz]

Put the bike on the center stand.  Then use a floor jack or have someone lift the weight off the front wheel.  Turn the handlebars to determine if there is binding or shake in the steering tube.  Some bikes needed to have the headset bearings tightened.    Add enough tension so the bars turn freely but are stiff enough that they won't flop to one side when turned slightly off center.  There is a special tool to tighten the adjusting cone.
Looks like this:



I hope you find this useful.  Good luck, Gary

[ARS]

What? You can U-turn in your garage?  What am I doing wrong?

[kwakrider]

Check that the retainer bolts that secure the main fairing bracket have not come loose and one is maybe fouling with the steering! Noticed any amount of play or movement with the fairing lately?

[Conrad]

Check that the retainer bolts that secure the main fairing bracket have not come loose and one is maybe fouling with the steering! Noticed any amount of play or movement with the fairing lately?

+1 A while back someone reported a similar problem and it was from some bolt or the other backing out.

[Conrad]

Who is responsible to tow the bike to the shop? Me or Kawi? I would think this is a huge safety hazard and potentially could of hurt me badly or killed me if the bike had locked up on the freeway. I feel like Kawi should come and pick up the bike. It feels like they are being callus and should show responsibility for their product.

Why are you ripping on Kawasaki before you even find out if they'll cover the tow or not?

[gPink]

I'd have to look for myself I think.

[VirginiaJim]

Why are you ripping on Kawasaki before you even find out if they'll cover the tow or not?

+1

[Shoe]

I see the problem. You don't have enough bikes in your garage. When your garage is full you will have to back out.   

[Rhino]

I see the problem. You don't have enough bikes in your garage. When your garage is full you will have to back out.   

+1 

[Tenderloin694]

kwakrider, You were right. Brought it over to the dealer. That's exactly what he said. One retainer bolt came loose and fell into a pocket near the steering causing a 1/2 block turning left.

I rip on Kawi because IMO they should have to cover the tow. This scenario was completely their fault from poor craftsmanship and I or someone else could have been hurt or killed. Not all of us are able to afford or have our own tow devices. My neighbor a Harley rider had AAA premier and offered to have my bike towed. I asked my local Kawi service center if they would tow and they said no. It was not their responsibility. But had I been hurt and the cause revealed. A lawsuit would have shown that it was their responsibility. Their customer service lacks!

Thanks to all for your positive input. To the rest. 

[Daytona_Mike]

Could you post a picture or someone show us exactly where this occurs.
I want to check mine right away. This potentially is a serious issue to watch out for.

[VirginiaJim]

Steering stem nut can fall off as well if not tightened properly.

Did the OP take it in for the 600 mile service.  They're supposed to check the nuts and bolts for tightness at that time, I think.  Even if they don't then I would think they'd still be on the hook for that..

[Conrad]

kwakrider, You were right. Brought it over to the dealer. That's exactly what he said. One retainer bolt came loose and fell into a pocket near the steering causing a 1/2 block turning left.

I rip on Kawi because IMO they should have to cover the tow. This scenario was completely their fault from poor craftsmanship and I or someone else could have been hurt or killed. Not all of us are able to afford or have our own tow devices. My neighbor a Harley rider had AAA premier and offered to have my bike towed. I asked my local Kawi service center if they would tow and they said no. It was not their responsibility. But had I been hurt and the cause revealed. A lawsuit would have shown that it was their responsibility. Their customer service lacks!

Thanks to all for your positive input. To the rest. 

From the tone of your first post it seemed that you were ripping on Kaw before you even found out if the tow was covered or not. I now see that it wasn't.

[VirginiaJim]

Thanks to all for your positive input. To the rest. 

I sincerely hope that tongue out is 'tongue and cheek' and not an insult to the rest of the group here.  The tone of this thread is typical of what happens in our threads.  Some good information and some cheekiness and some humor abounds.  If you can deal with it like that and have a thick skin then we'll all get along fine.  If I misinterpreted  the tongue out then I apologise, if not......you may not do so well here, unfortunately.

[Tenderloin694]

VirginiaJim, You did misread the smiley face. It was with a zipper across his mouth. I'll hold my tongue in other words.

In every day life along with your coworker's. You don't expect to get slammed the first several months till you get to know the people. I'm one of the biggest pranksters at work. But. I know those people well. The new people I try and show respect to until I can gauge that person.

I'm on this website to gather information from others. Good and bad. So I can apply that to my bike and know what to expect. But when I get useless posts to my potentially unsafe bike. You can keep those comments. I'm here to try and fix the problem and share with others that may also have a future similar problem.

I respect and see that you have over 5500 posts. And I'm sure most with good information. But I don't need you referring to me as having thin skin.   

[Conrad]

 

[VirginiaJim]

hApologies then on the smiley, my bad. Sounded like to me and a few others that you were slamming the dealer before you even contacted them.  I'm assuming that you did, now.  I can understand your frustration with the dealer, but maybe they had no way to pick up the bike (I'm guessing here).  You may even want to report this to the NHTSA as you are quite correct if it locked up whilst riding severe results could have happened.  This isn't the first time we've seen reports of this issue.

For myself, I have towing coverage on all my vehicles and the C14.  Never used it on the bike, though.  I've only called a car dealer once to come pick up a vehicle under warranty and that was when my 2000 Dodge Dakota crapped out after driving it off the lot to my local town.  I think that there was less than 10 miles on the odo.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/

Sounds like you do have thin skin...  Good luck here.

[VirginiaJim]

 

[B.D.F.]

Just my take on this but there are a lot of us who have been around here a long time and think of this place as a sort of social meeting place. We josh and kid and it seems like we are picking on people at times but really, this is a very kind and gentle forum overall. I agree with you about the new folks getting some slack but again, I think some of the longer term folks think of this place as a friendly neighborhood gathering and so the 'new guy' just gets thrown into the mix.

Hang around a while and I think you will find there is occasionally some useful information posted here, perhaps by mistake but useful nevertheless. And most of the people are fine other than Pokey, Conrad, VirginiaJim and Kirby.... especially Kirby- watch out for dem guies.

Brian

Edited to correct speeeling error kindly pointed out to my by one o' dem guies.

VirginiaJim, You did misread the smiley face. It was with a zipper across his mouth. I'll hold my tongue in other words.

In every day life along with your coworker's. You don't expect to get slammed the first several months till you get to know the people. I'm one of the biggest pranksters at work. But. I know those people well. The new people I try and show respect to until I can gauge that person.

I'm on this website to gather information from others. Good and bad. So I can apply that to my bike and know what to expect. But when I get useless posts to my potentially unsafe bike. You can keep those comments. I'm here to try and fix the problem and share with others that may also have a future similar problem.

I respect and see that you have over 5500 posts. And I'm sure most with good information. But I don't need you referring to me as having thin skin.