Fiance's Kawasaki 500LTD has locked up twice on curve.?

Question

Two times the bike has locked up going around corners at slow speeds (thankfully). This bike has only 650 miles on it so need some ammo when we take it to the dealer and hammer him.

Guess I should have said that she claims the steering became hard and she could not steer through the curve (once to the right and the second time to the left). Again, slow speed. She down shifted to 2nd gear before turning. Both times, the bike did not completed the turn and went off the side of the road. My obvious question is: What can be the cause of such a mishap??

I rode the bike home from the dealers and once since. Not enough to tell. This situation has only happened twice, so hard to tie down. She rode a Honda 350 for several years, so has some experience. I check tire pressure before we go out.. Since I'm not very mechanically minded, thought there might be a mechanical problem that the dealer would have to fix. Thank for all of your input.

Answer 1

You are going to have to raise the front end off the ground and turn the bars to the left and right and check for obstructions. Possible causes are improper cable routing or a front wheel that isn't installed correctly. A broken steering head bearing would do the same thing but that's as rare a defect as it gets. A separated brake pad or improperly installed brake is another possibility. If there is no obstruction and the bars turn free then check it again with the forks compressed. If you find nothing, return it to the dealer and have them test drive it under similar conditions.

If no problems can be found then test the bike yourself. If still no problems then I'd enroll your fiance in a rider training class because you probably don't want her killed.

Answer 2

The 500LTD is about twice the size of the Honda 350... Sounds to me as if your fiance needs more instruction on proper riding. If youre checking the tire pressures and they are okay, the only reason the bike would suddenly begin to feel heavy and unable to make a corner is because she is on the brakes while trying to initiate a turn - when you get on the front brakes the bike wants to stand itself up, and as a result, you almost feel as if you have to wrestle the thing to get it to turn.

Brake, then turn. Dont brake in the middle of a turn, or the bike will stand up... With 650 miles, I seriously doubt it is a steering head bearing problem - could be, but unlikely as it is a new bike. Unless she screwed up the bearings the first time she dropped it...

This, of course, is based upon your clarification that she said steering is hard or heavy - not that the bike is locking up. If she is actually locking a wheel while turning, its because she is still on the brakes!

Answer 3

I agree with aGhost2u, with the bike on the centerstand, put a jack under the engine and raise it until the front wheel is off the ground. Grab the wheel and turn the handlebars from lock to lock. An ungreased or over tightened steering stem bearing could be binding up...that happened to me but on a bike with lots of miles. Sometimes it would bind but not always. When it did, it was when turning. One other time, I'd adjusted the handlebars and one throttle cable would occasionally catch on a triple clamp bolt. Don't make the mistake of automatically blaming the rider. People who immediately jump to conclusions like that are the people I wouldn't want working on anything of mine. The last thing you want is for her to be injured because somebody convinced you her problems were just a "girl thing".

Answer 4

If your fiance knows how to shift and brake, the only other problem could be a sticky steering head bearing. You would only feel this when going extremelly slow, like under 10 MPH. Ask her if the tires are sliding. That would be a braking problem like John explained. Get on the bike and see if you can move the front wheel freely lock to lock.

Answer 5

I don't really read a question here?

Bikes don't usually, mystically "Lock up" by themselves, that would typically happen by going too slow in a particular gear and stalling or by poor braking technique.

*** Additional details, I would guess O.E. (operator error) either due to lack of experience or not being used to the new bike. Both maybe. Like maybe downshifting too soon and letting the clutch out too abruptly.
Have you ridden the bike and if so ,can you detect a problem?

Answer 6

i "locked up" my front wheel on my Harley the fist season i got it. i was making a turn on a rural road and hit some gravel. i grabbed both hand levers (clutch and front brake) as if i was riding a 10-speed rather than a motorcycle. luckily wasn't going very fast and thankfully i had a helmet on because when the front wheel locked up and the handlebars turned it was like a pro wrestler picked me up and body slammed me. when a passing motorist that saw me go down stopped to assist me he asked if i was ok. i responded with "next time i'll use my rear brake".

Answer 7

exactly what do you mean by locked up? the motor or the rear tire? which one be specific cause it sounds like rider error as in to slow a speed for the gear being used.

Answer 8

I'm sorry, your fiancee is the problem here. Guaranteed.