Admittedly woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning, but decided to ride to work anyway. Bike felt tight out of the driveway and by the time I hit the freeway on ramp, I sensed something wasn't right, but couldn't put my finger on it.
Front end felt heavy and cumbersome during slow speed cornering.
Couple of trips during work, commute home and a few rounds around the block, I was able to put my finger on it.
When pulling through a low speed corner either from a stop, or low speed, the front end will not pull back up. When I roll on the throttle, the bike wants to pull down into the direction of turn. I need to physically apply pressure to the bars to right the bike through the corners.
Jacked the bike up when I got home;tire pressure spot on, no binding or play in the steering bearing, no no sign of forkoil loss. There is some drag in the brake pads, but seems both sides are the same, pads look good, fluid-check, no scoring, or odd wear on rotors and no excess pad dust. Also no increase in brake pressure when the bars are turned in either direction.
Thinking maybe a wheel bearing...Any thoughts?

Many years of riding mil installations, so I can't say the number of times I've been through the MSF. I got them slow speed handling skills down pat. This is something technial.
Thanks

 

The fall away is off. The main bolt on your steering stem needs to be tightened, probably quite a bit. It'll make the front end feel really heavy in turns just like you described. Makes you feel like you don't know how to do corners. Tighten it and all will be right.

 

Thanks much, the "makes you feel like you don't know how to do corners" comment is spot on.
I'll tag that section in the service manual and check it out.

Buddy also recommended I check the brake pad pins for scoring. Pistons may retracting, but pads could be getting hung up on scoring.

 

I ride a heritage and my good friend rides, rode, a fat boy. I picked it up for him while he was out of the country to have some work done and that's exactly how his bike felt. Weird feeling. His mechanic new immediately what the problem was and when I rode it back to the house it was a different feeling machine. Crazy that the steering bolt being loose can cause the front end to feel so heavy in a turn.

 

Always check fall away after changing fork oil out of habit. Just a good habit.

 

Ended up completely tearing into the front end. Major items I worked:
1. Adjusted head bearing by 1 notch (tightened) on the star nut. Pulled the upper fork brace to access star nut, because that sucker is hard enough to find, let alone access with the brace on.
2. Greased head bearing. This is something I've done for every service, but in the past I only gave it the standard 3-4 pulls on the gun. This time I noted the service manual says to lube until grease comes out of the bearing races. I probably ended up pushing a half a standard size tube before grease came out. And that grease was the grease I pumped in. Which tells me, they probably only apply grease to the bearing surfaces at he factory. Guess now, my entire neck is packed.
3. Replaced fork oil with SE Heavy using the "alternative from the service manual" method that I researched on this forum. Only 10 oz drained from the drain plugs after 2 hours (or roughly 3 beers). Flushed with 4oz and all the new oil drained out in 15 mins or so. So I was .8 oz low. This was my own doing from a couple years ago. Don't recall that I shorted the fill intentionally, but my front suspension was mushy.
4. Pulled and thoroughly cleaned front calipers and applied a thin coat of brake grease to the pad pins.
5. Front wheel bearings were all good.

Managed a quick 50 miles before the Superbowl and she handles like new.
Front end stands higher and although the suspension is a tad bit stiff, I prefer it that way. I typically run a higher than recommended air pressure in the rear.

Today it rains, but weekend forcast is outstanding SoCal style... See you on the road.

 

Nice.