The steering on my 01 R1 has been REAL loose since getting it. It's not loose like the head bearing is worn, I mean that I can slap the handle bars from side to side while standing still like they are nothing. Seems I should have a little more resistance than that.

I know I know, steering damper... yea, It's on order... want to make sure it's torqued right or if it's just designed that way???

Can someone with a service manual for the 00-01 look up the head nut torque for me?

Also, you 00-01 owners, how easily does your steering move side to side? Is it really that easy or is there more resistance???

Thanks!!

Hey jester.. checked on that and my "Steering stem nut" should have a 115 nm torgue. that's a bunch of torgue hehe.

If you stand your bike still and grab the tubes and pull hard back and forth you should feel if there is something loose. if there is.. tighten then head nut. If it still doesn't help.. your bearing is probably caputnik.. broken/need to be replaced.

Mine's right now very loose.. because i don't even have my steering nut on.

Jester, the slack in the steering head bearings is not affected by the steering stem nut. There are two ring nuts underneath the upper bracket that control the amount of slack. See the pic below ...

If the ring nuts are adjusted properly, the bars should move freely and you should hear no clicking noise when you rock the bike back and forth with the front brake locked. If the bars don't move freely, the ring nuts are too tight. If you hear the clicking noise, the ring nuts are too loose.

Thanks for the drawing man. That helps. I think I may have worded this wrong though...

The steering isn't "loose" meaning there is "free play" I just mean that my handle bars turn side to side very easily with very little resistance. Either this means something isn't torqued, or the R1 steering is just so incredibly smooth that it doesn't put up much resistance.

I've jerked on the forks and everything, and no clicking, so I think the bearing is good. It damn well better be, the steering has been like this since day one. I've got 1500 miles on it now, and I doubt it came with a bad head bearing.

I know my scotts will stiffen it up when I get it, but just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else horribly wrong. I'll check it out w/ your drawing later.

Thanks man. :thumbup

Jester.

The R1's steering is THAT smooth. I didn't ride my R1 more than 100 miles before I bought myself a steering damper.

Get one you too! A friend just went down on an R1 due to a slapper. He had absolutely no control at all and ran into a stopsign or some kind of post. The bike is TOTALLED!
Check the image attached.

It's just a warning. I really don't want to see one wreck because of a slapper. I have and it's not fun.

Thanks Swedie.... that cleared it up. It's pretty cool to know you have the best steering bike on the market eh?

As I said, I was getting a damper anyway, just wanted to make sure there was no underlying problem. I ordered my Scotts last week... should be here Tues or Wed of this week.

I blew off the idea of getting a damper (maninly sticker shock at the fuggin price! Woaha!!) when I got my bike. My gixxer came stock w/ a basic one... hey, it did it's purpose. So I dropped the cash on a slipon and some cosmetics. Now that I'm really digging into it on the canyon roads and such.... I've gotten 3 or 4 'near' slappers.... the last was the worst, and damn near put the bike into a dirt bank (saved it on the shoulder)... so yea, that convinced me to shell out the $$$$$ and order it.

Thanks again.