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SERVICE

Putting a damper on the wobbles

I've got the wobbling blues. I just put a K&N Filtercharger kit and a 4-into-1 Kerker pipe on my 1982 Suzuki GS1100E. It now goes like a rocket ship, but when I reach 100 mph the handlebars wobble almost out of my hands. My dealer says I could add a fork brace or a steering damper but that they still might not correct the problem. Everything is tight, I've got brand-new Metzelers and the balancing is right on. Any suggestions?

Pat Angelopoulis Fitchburg, Massachusetts

Your dealer is leveling with you. But before you spend the time and money to graft any more accessories onto your Suzuki, first ensure that the rear wheel is precisely in line with the front wheel.

And don V rely on the chain-adjustment marks stamped on the swingarm; more often than not, they're way off. Neither should you align the rear wheel by sighting down the chain; it's more important to get the wheels in perfect alignment than it is the sprockets, particularly when tracking down a wobble.

There are several ways to align the rear wheel with the front. One involves using two long, perfectly straight boards or pieces of angle iron laid alongside the tires; another is to loop a long piece of string around the forward edge of the front tire and pull it taut along the sidewall edges of both tires. But you can get the alignment surprisingly close—close enough not to be the cause of your wobble—simply by getting down on your hands and knees several feet behind the rear tire and carefully eyeballing its alignment with the front tire.

If wheel alignment doesn 7 help, a good steering damper will most likely be the best solution, if not the ultimate one. The GSI 100 Suzuki happens to be one of those bikes which are very sensitive to certain changes from stock condition—tire selection being one of them. The OEM tires were designed to work in harmony with the particular character of the GS1100 's chassis; and the very qualities that make the Metzelers top-quality high-performance tires—minimal carcass flexibility, quick, relatively undamped reaction to steering inputs, etc.— contribute to the front-end wobble of the GSl 100. So, don 7 be surprised if at least some of the wobble is still there after installing a steering damper.

No skidding

I would like to know if there is any motorcycle currently available that uses anti-lock front brakes. If such a bike exists, is it possible to fit these brakes on a 1987 Honda Hurricane 1000? If not, do you know of anyone who could make such brakes for the Hurricane? Joseph C. Mizzi Richmond Hill, New York

Somewhere around June of this year, BMW will begin selling a special K100RS model with anti-lock braking on both wheels. It will be the first production motorcycle ever to use an anti-lock system, and will sell for approximately $ 1200 more than a standard K100RS, which is a pretty accurate reflection of the system 's cost.

Fundamentally, this system is an elaborate electromechanical bolt-on that could be adapted fairly easily (if not cheaply) to any K100; but since it was developed by BMW almost exclusively around the K-bike, it's impossible to say whether or not it would work adequately on any other motor-

cycle. That's a moot point for right now, though, because BMW has no plans to sell the system 's components separately. They probably could be ordered as individual replacement parts, but that would likely add considerably to their cost—if you could even get them. BMW says that it intends to expand the ABS concept to other models in the line once the idea catches on, and that the system might become available as a kit sometime in the future.

Otherwise, we know of no one who sells anti-lock brakes to fit anything, let alone a Hurricane 1000. Honda has in development a clever anti-lock system that is purely mechanical and contained within the wheel hubs, but there is no word on when or if such a system might be available or which motorcycles it will fit.