Hi, I have just recently purchased a ninja 500R (2000) ive been riding for about a month and just the other day when I did a left or right turn at a light the front wheel felt a little bit wobbly in about the middle of the turn. Being new and all I wasnt sure if it was just me or if i should check something. I took a look at the front wheel and nothing seemed to be out of place, loose or wobbly. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks

 

Hey Dan.
Your front tire is probably imbalanced or worn unevenly. It's very common with this bike because it's so light, it has a rear-ward weight bias compared to most supersport bikes and because the tires available for this bike are sadly not that good.
The way you can test it for this is to get the bike to speed on a deserted road. Put it in 6th gear, at at least 45mph; now, keeping your hands lightly around the grips , lean back and apply no input on the bars. They'll probably start to wobble back and forth like crazy, so don't let go completely!
When tires are cupped like this, the best (only) way to fix it is to get a new front tire. You ~might~ be able to fix it by getting the tire re-balanced, but good luck finding a shop or dealership who'll do that for you without trying to sell you a new tire.
If you can take your hands completely from the bars and there is no wobbling, it may simply have been a bump in the road that introduced that mid-corner wobble you felt. A cornering motorcycle is a very delicate balance of forces and it doesn't take much to upset that balance.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
-CCinC

 

hi, first thanks for the help.

so i took the bike up to 80 km/hour (45mph) in 6th gear and it did wobble a fair amout. scared the crap outta me the first time. So i did that a few times on different roads and it would only wobble at the 45mph speed in 6th. on my way back i took every side street possible to corner and see how that was. And i didnt feel the wobble at all or so im pretty sure i didnt. When i bought the bike the guy had told me that the mechanic that checked it out said it would probably need new tires next season, so im thinking its worn unevenly and thats waht caused it. What do you think from what i told you?

 

As long as you're not pushing it too hard, it's probably not going to kill you. Still, it is safer to have good, balanced tires on.
It seems like all of my bikes get a little wobbly when the front tire is getting worn, but not as badly as the 500R.
You could possibly save a few bucks by getting every last mile you can out of that front tire, but if you crash it probably wouldn't have been worth it, yes? Penny-wise & pound-foolish.
Either way, good luck and ride safely.
-CCinC