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CHECK YOUR BIKE!!!

M

mcgyver74

Member
Member
Well, on the way home from the Spring Fling, I was noticing a slight "wobble" in the bars at speed,  I figured I needed to retorque the head bearings again.

Well last night I went to check, and found that the center cap bolt (the one that takes the monster Allen socket and holds the upper tree to the stem) was so loose I could take it off with my fingers.  :-\     

Moral of the story, is always double check your work and make sure bolts are tight!!!

I plan to retorque everything I can see on that bike this weekend!!!
 
A few months ago I noticed mine was missing completely  :-\  I never noticed any difference in the handling, and the dealer replaced the parts under warranty.  I replaced using blue locktite and check it often now.
 
Those bolts fall out fairly regularly. Kawasaki was a bit negligent in torquing them to spec. when the bikes were assembled and a few people have had them fall out. I understand you left your loose after tweaking the headstock bearings but some of them were loose from brand new. In fact I was working on someone else's bike at tech. day in MA recently and just as I was about to really lean on that bolt to loosen it, it turned about effortlessly; loose from the factory.

One gentleman reported having his stem bolt fall out and bash a hole in his radiator on the way to the ground. I believe Kawasaki 'ate' that one including a new radiator if I remember correctly.

Brian



Mad River Marc said:
Well, on the way home from the Spring Fling, I was noticing a slight "wobble" in the bars at speed,  I figured I needed to retorque the head bearings again.

Well last night I went to check, and found that the center cap bolt (the one that takes the monster Allen socket and holds the upper tree to the stem) was so loose I could take it off with my fingers.  :-\     

Moral of the story, is always double check your work and make sure bolts are tight!!!

I plan to retorque everything I can see on that bike this weekend!!!
Click to expand...
 
BDF said:
One gentleman reported having his stem bolt fall out and bash a hole in his radiator on the way to the ground. I believe Kawasaki 'ate' that one including a new radiator if I remember correctly.

Brian
Click to expand...


that was me.
Yep ,mine fell out ,frt wheel spoke threw it back up into rad making a nice big hole.
I ate the cost of new 700 $ radiator .
I never even contacted the dealer or Kawasaki.
They might have helped, I dont know.
I know I just dont like even talking to them.
Mine is locktighted and indexed  now.
 
Yeah I prob didn't torque it when I first adjusted the headset bearings...it will be torqued to spec now and checked often :)
 
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