[revvinkevin]

I have around 5500 miles on my '12 wing, it has always pulled to the right slightly, just enough to bug me. I constantly have to push on the left grip to go straight. I took it back to the dealer and had the 4000 mile service as well as told them about the pull. They pretty much told me that there weren't any adjustments to change this. The other day I was washing the bike and noticed the front tire now has a strange ridge of wear on the left side of the tire. Any suggestions of how to handle this? I like my bike but don't like this, it's getting old fast. Help!

 

[Wingmaster12]

I have around 5500 miles on my '12 wing, it has always pulled to the right slightly, just enough to bug me. I constantly have to push on the left grip to go straight. I took it back to the dealer and had the 4000 mile service as well as told them about the pull. They pretty much told me that there weren't any adjustments to change this. The other day I was washing the bike and noticed the front tire now has a strange ridge of wear on the left side of the tire. Any suggestions of how to handle this? I like my bike but don't like this, it's getting old fast. Help!

I would think pushing on left grip would take it to the right? If it were pulling to the right it would require pushing the right grip to counter it. Anyway make sure you always have the proper tire pressure, balance, axel lined up properly, suspension set right, and hope you just dont have a bad tire. If its real bad I would put a new tire on and check all the above things to be sure.

 

[Ron Robertson]

Have you had somebody else ride your wing and see if they have the same problem.
I can see a bad tire or something mechanical causing it.
I can also see something psychical causing it. Misalignment in the spine causing one shoulder to drop slightly, causing a slight push or pull on the bars.
Just some ideas.
What would happen if one of the fork tubes was binding slightly ???

 

[Wingmaster12]

Remove the front tire and put it back following the procedure in the shop manual

 

[Tatanka]

I echo what wingmaster12 says. I had the same problem on my '85 Aspencade. In my case, it was just a matter of dividing my "package" between the right and left sides of the bike.

Seriously, though...something in your post doesn't make sense to me: You have a wear ridge on the left side of the front tire but it pulls right? It's new, but have you checked caliper drag on the right-hand disc. New or not, they can stick. Unlikely, but possible. Are the front discs equally worn, inboard and outboard?

 

[5260]

I posted a solution to the pulling issue once on this board, or maybe another board, and all of the old guys gave me a ration of **** over it. It works, but I will type it out again for you since I did not save it the last time I typed out the instructions.

Basically ... the problem can be corrected by a simple procedure. There are TWO approaches to this. One is to loosen the fork tube bolts on the triple tree and allow the fork tubes to "relax to center." The other, more easily done adjustment is to take out the twist tension in the fork tubes at the axle clamps. We will do this one, since it is FAR easier than working with the four or six triple tree bolts.

Note: It requires TWO people to do this.

Since the bike is pulling to the right, it means the wheel at rest is aimed ever-so-slightly to the LEFT. The bike is steering itself out from under you, establishing the lean and causing the bike to "turn" (pull) to the right. Your gentle pressure on the left grip adjusts for the n/100th of a degree of error, forcing the bike to go straight, however, this causes a camber adjustment to the tire, which is causing the uneven wear bar you see.

The misalignment of the fork tubes in relation to the axle is the problem, and it is EASY for an inexperienced assembler to overlook. I'm guessing that they aren't even aware of the potential to ASSEMBLE a pull into a bike.

Try this:

Get the proper Allen wrench to loosen the anchor caps on your front axle. Remove anything that is in the way of loosening and tightening them, but DO NOT loosen them yet.

Now, with a friend, pull your bike up to a solid pole, such as a parking meter pole or a flag pole. You can use a small tree, a stairway handrail, or anything else that is thin and stationary. A corner of a brick building also works, but it gives your assistant less room to work because the building is in the way and he cannot get in front of your bike.

Stay seated on the bike. The idea is to apply a slight pressure to the sidewall of the front tire at the 10-o-clock position while your friend first loosens, and then tightens the axle cap bolts. The pressure is applied by attempting to turn the handlebars in the desired direction (opposite the direction of the pull) while the tire against the pole resists the turn of the handlebars. You DO NOT apply your front brake while doing this, as the wheel needs to be able to rotate a tiny bit in relation to the fork tubes during this adjustment. To keep the bike from rolling, put it into gear. You also want to be seated on the bike with your feet on the ground for balance. Your weight will affect the outcome of the adjustment.

You need your tire to be adjusted slightly to the RIGHT which means you need ONE of your fork tubes to be tightened to the axle in a different position (degree of rotation). We are only talking about a fraction of a degree of change here.

Pull the bike up so that the LEFT side of the tire is against the pole and contacts the pole just in front of the fender with the wheel vertical. Don't lean the bike to make contact with the pole. Keep the bike vertical. You only want the rubber to touch the pole at the 10-o-clock position, not the fender, and NOT the 9-o-clock position as some would assume. The side pressure applied to the tire cannot be on the same plane as the axle. It must be above or below it in order for the torsion you apply to find its way to the axle via the loosened fork cap. The 10-o-clock tire contact point is best.

Put slight tension on the tire against the pole by putting a turning force on the handlebars. The pole should prevent you from actually turning the steering. Have your friend loosen the two bolts on the RIGHT fork tube. Do not make them too loose. The idea is to loosen them just enough to allow the axle to rotate in the hole created by the fork tube and the cap in the RIGHT fork tube, with moderate pressure applied to the handlebars, while still offering some resistance to that rotation of the axle.

The rotation of this side of the axle in relation to the slider tube will probably not be visible to the naked eye. The actual adjustment is measured in the thousandths of an inch, but if you are a techno-geek, you can use a scribe and a magnifying glass to check your results.

Torsion the bars to the left with moderate pressure, and have your friend fully tighten the axle bolts again WHILE the tension is on the steering column. Now release the pressure of the tire against the pole and take the bike for a ride.

If it solves the pulling issue, you're done. If it still pulls to the right but not as much, try it again, this time loosening and then tightening ONLY the LEFT fork tube clamp. If your bike now pulls to the LEFT, you have applied too much twist on the handlebars. You'll have to go back and try again, perhaps twisting to the RIGHT this time with less force, with the pole against the RIGHT side of the tire. It is GUESSWORK, but when you find that sweet spot where BOTH fork tubes are positioned correctly on each side of the axle, the bike will no longer pull to either side.

There is a twisting torsion on your axle right now, which is causing the pull to the right. It is created in the assembly process, because Honda apparently doesn't know enough to "relax" the assembly before tightening the axle to the fork tubes. How do you "relax" the assembly? You snug up the bolts and use two rubber mallets to gently whack the wheel on both sides in a drumming fashion. the vibrations will cause the axle to find the sweet spot using the path of least resistance as each fork tube releases the torsion on the axle caused by simple friction.

The easiest way to explain it is, if you KEPT the fork tubes tightly bolted to the axle and pulled the lower fork sliders off of the forks, you'd discover that they are not exactly parallel. It only take a th of a degree of misalignment (bolted to the axle) for them to cause this pull. Of course, when the wheel is bolted to the forks, the sliders are already ON the fork tubes and the natural assumption is that the axle will automatically align itself to relaxed center when you bolt the caps on. Wrong! If a mechanic just puts the wheel into place and tightens the caps, and perhaps leans a shoulder against the tire as he tightens one side, chances are that the bike will pull to one side or the other because the fork tubes were tightened to the axle while a torsion force was being applied.

My own 2012 also pulls to the right. I have not had the time to do this, but I assure you, I will! My front tire also shows the odd ridge of wear just like your bike does. We have the same problem. I don't believe this is a warranty issue. It is a simple matter of correctly assembling the axle to the fork tubes without incorporating torsion into the formula. The slight torsion cannot be seen with the naked eye, and it is "absorbed" by the fork tube slider bushings. Over time and many miles, if this is not corrected, you will see that the bushings are worn unevenly because they are suffering the brunt of the bad alignment, trying to keep two sliders parallel while they are fighting to be askew, because they are bolted to an axle that will not twist!

Now, for those of you who think I am nuts, so be it. I am on my 7th wing, and I have corrected four "pulling" Wings with this exact procedure. My 2012 will be my fifth!

 

[Two Wheel Wing]

WOW, BJ, those are some detailed instructions. I don't have that problem with my Wing, but I can certainly appreciate the time and effort it took to figure that out and write it all down. Thanks for posting... I hope it fixes revvinkevin's problem...

 

[Wingmaster12]

Rev
If you dont have a shop manual, they are well worth the money. It will give you all the proper torq specs for anything you do. I do most of my own work on my bikes, including tire change and balancing because I want it best I can get it, and doing it myself I take the time to get it that way. The first thing I did on my 12 when I got it home was pull both wheels and balance them and reinstall by spec. I have never had a problem with a bike pulling.

 

[5260]

Think of it this way...

The assembler lifts the front wheel and places the axle into position. Our assembler in this example is left-handed.

Now ... if he is lazy. Why should he continually move his Allen wrench from one bolt to the other, and fumble with a torque wrench, when he can simply bottom out one side of each end cap, and use the small gap to tighten down the axle using the other bolt? It will torque correctly before the other side of the end cap bottoms out, right? So why is that a problem?

The problem comes in when an assembler uses the same hand for the process on both fork tubes. On the LEFT side of the bike, he bottoms out the rear bolt and tightens up the FRONT (left) bolt with his wrench.

Now to the other side, what does he do? He bottoms out the FRONT bolt, and tightens the REAR (left) bolt to cinch the axle.

What the assembler has unwittingly done is to BUILD a torsion into the axle. The sliders cannot rotate on the axle like hands on a clock because they are being restrained by the fork tubes, so the LEFT slider which was tightened to the axle with the front bolt is firmly affixed to the axle and pulling forward, and the RIGHT slider which was tightened to the axle with the REAR bolt puts torsion on the axle and is pulling backward, in the very same way you apply torsion force to your throttle grip when you accelerate. However, the sliders are forced to remain on the same plane by the fork tubes and the triple tree, so where does the torsion manifest itself? Does it just disappear? Nope! It shows up in the only lace it can, as a very slight rotation of the front axle in relation to the steering tube, causing the bike to pull to one side as it attempts to steer itself out from beneath you.

This is why I contend that most of the pulling bikes are not a problem. It is only a matter of loosening the axle bolts and allowing both sliders to find "relaxed center" in relation to the axle, so that the center line of each slider and the center line of the axle are all on the same plane, and so that no torsion forces are being applied to the axle.

Gosh, I hope this helps people!

 

[Randy Hawes]

Any of us that have spent a significant of time riding dirt bikes have probably had to deal with the same problem, often a more severe pull. I have no doubt Joe has nailed the problem and the fix. It will take patience, but it will be worth it once the job is done.

 

[ironhorse54]

When I first got my wing it had e3s and ran straight and true down the road. I then put on the 709 and a car tire. At this point is started to wander slightly to the right and it is annoying. I was thinking maybe it was the car tire being bigger and wider and was grabbing the road angle differently. However, my brother has a VTX 1300 and it also has the slight wander to the right while riding. I put more weight in the left saddlebag but it really didn't help much at all. I got over 18 K on the front tire with no uneven wear, and just had the bike inspected with no unusual wear on the brake pads or rotors. I just put on the Bridgestone battlax on the front and still wanders a little bit to the right. Out of the five bikes that I have owned, the wing is the only one that has had this problem. What biker Joe says makes sense. Maybe when I get a chance i'll run by my local Honda dealership and ask them about it.

 

[Chopin]

I assume all this pulling and/or drifting to the right is with the hands off the handlebars ?


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[Ron Robertson]

Could it be that this to the right has anything at all to do with the fact most road are crown ( sloped down) to the right for drainage.???????

 

[dsurley]

I am thinking like Ron

before you can truly clam a pull to any direction,
one really needs to ride or drive on a divided highway, with a grassy median,
so you can be on both sides of the crown. If it still pulls right or left when you are
on the opposite side of the road.... then you indeed have a problem.
In my area.... there are some roads that are tooo flat... really have to watch for ponding water during a rain.
Others are crowned so high..... there has to be at least 6in difference between white line and yellow line on a two lane, two way road.

 

[Chopin]

Could it be that this to the right has anything at all to do with the fact most road are crown ( sloped down) to the right for drainage.???????

In short, road camber.

 

[GoldWingKing]

Actually, the fork tubes will find their own home due to the top and bottom anchoring points. The brace is not meant to correct alignment, it is to add solidity to the front end. I just learned that adding a fork brace (for example, superbrace) at times will cause fork binding due to pulling or pushing the forks one way or the other since there are slight variations of spacing from bike to bike. The spacing is not perfect and not exactly identical on all bikes. This was a lesson learned from Traxxion Dynamics when they did my front end. What they said makes perfect sense and they have designed a fork brace that will conform to all bikes and eliminate any issues that can come from the adding of a brace. Their world works in .0001 increments and the precision is actually more important than we all think. (Myself, anyway....)

 

[captaink100]

I have a 2013 Gold Wing that has always pulled to the right. My dealer said it was due to torque. I thought that was a BS answer. I also have a BMW R1200RT that tracks straight and true (and might have more torque that this bike).

I would have thought that it was a warranty issue as the bike should be set up properly (and it sounds like this is a common problem).

I will have to try this. Thanks much!

 

[Chopin]

My 08 leans to the right . I attribute it to the camber of the road. Most roads are cambered to the passenger side for water runoff .

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[Chopin]

Yesterday I was on a stretch of road that cambered to the left. I got in the left lane and took my hands off the bar. She stayed pretty straight and plumb compared to riding on a right hand cambered road. So there is something to be said that a Wing may be " right side heavy ". I wouldn't say my '08 pulls to the right, but with hands off the steering wheel it definitely wants to lean to the right.

 

[NREMTP]

Yesterday I was on a stretch of road that cambered to the left. I got in the left lane and took my hands off the bar. She stayed pretty straight and plumb compared to riding on a right hand cambered road. So there is something to be said that a Wing may be " right side heavy ". I wouldn't say my '08 pulls to the right, but with hands off the steering wheel it definitely wants to lean to the right.

Now that is a modification that I want to see.