I have a vibration in the front end and am going through the process of eliminating the causes that are easiest before I get to the harder ones. Currently my front wheels is at the shop making sure it is balanced right and that it is not bent in any way along with the rotors. But, I am trying to prepare myself for if it is not the wheel. I have looked but havent found much on it but, does anyone have experience with replacing the neck bearings? I have about 50k on the bike and while sitting on it was backed into by a woman on the phone in a minivan! (long story). That happened over a year ago and i took it into the shop and had it looked at and it came back fine. But Ive put about 15k on it since and will probably need to replace them soon.

Any advice?

 

Yes I've done, albeit a long time ago now. It's all in your FSM! I found I could tap out the outer races using a drift and hammer (carefully!), rather than using a fancy extractor. No doubt there are videos on-line. Sponsor Howard of Motorcycle Metal has a useful downloadable DIY note that's worth checking out.

 

it would be unlikely that a bad neck would cause a "vibration" ...

 

check your wheel bearings

 

I know it is not likely that it is the neck bearing but, just want to be prepared in the case it is! I am going through other aspects before diving into the work involved in replacing the neck.

I replace the wheel bearings when I replace the tire and the tire is, for the most part, new. At least since I was hit.

I am testing the wheel now. I was on a ride to Tennessee with a group when I hit a large pot hole. I started to feel a serious vibration in the front tire and knew at the speeds we were rolling that I needed to get it replaced. It was a good call. It cause the tire to have issues and could have possibly failed. The dealer I went to used beads. when I got home i noticed the wheel was not 100% balanced and I took it back to a dealer to test again. It was out of balance. They did NOT remove the beads and just added weights to the outside.

I went a couple ride since then and noticed a vibration at certain speeds and RPMs. I changed shops and am now working with a local cycle shop and they are testing the wheel balance as well as looking at the bearings and the rim.
Fingers crossed it is a simple fix.

 

Need to get rid of weights or the beads.One or the other to get a good tire balance.

 

This ^^^

 

I used to work in a frame and fork repair shop. We'd see a lot of steering heads with the lower bearing race notched or broken when there had been a hit hard enough to bend the front forks. Sometimes, severe rust on older bikes.

The symptom is, it feels like there is a notch in the steering trying to keep the front end in one position. Like the tone controls on some stereos that have a notch to tell you where the neutral or even position is.

Races are usually easy to drive out with a drift, and you can make a thing to press the new one in out of heavy all-thread and some metal plates with holes in them, or heavy washers if you can find them.

We'd pack the bearings with this grease that's made for boat trailer wheels. Its waterproof and prevents water getting in and rusting the bearings.

 

They are supposed to be serviced at 50k anyway.

 

Got my wheel back today and a lot came from taking to a indy shop instead of a dealership. He spent the time to figure out the issue of beads and weights and found that they were off together but even more so the beads that were in first were off completely. He also found a really strange wear pattern on the tire and asked if I had hit something hard on this tire. I told him I hit a pot hole that about cause the GF and I to fly off the bike. He said he sees the damage from that hit and that as the tire spins you can see how it gets worse as the speed goes up.
I am going to replace the tire and I am hoping this resolves it. In the mean time I did a tire fall test and my bearings seem to be good and do not need to be adjusted since the last time that was done (right after I was hit).
Thanks again for all the advice!