Freeway driving--Wiggling
 

Does anyone have the wind affect how you guys drive your bike? I keep wiggling or get pushed to the side when wind hits me from the side.

Is this common or just me?

It's a fairly light bike, with a tall profile, and skinny tires. I think it's normal to get moved around by wind gusts and turbulence from following traffic. Make sure your tires are properly inflated for highway running. If the wiggling feels more like rhythmic weaving, it could be time to check the steering head bearing tension.

My problem is keeping the bike from slowing down in a headwind. Climbing a hill into the wind is an exercise in futility! Yes, it wiggles too but its light.

It'll get better, or at least you'll know how to ride the bike better on the highway after alot of hours on the highway. I don't know how long you've had the bike. I'm being presumptious in assuming you've had it a short time since you've recently joined the site.

I've managed to rack up over 13,000 miles on the KLX which are mostly highway miles. Highway riding is particularly difficult when you get behind tractor trailors. The first few times I was on the highway it felt like the bike was just gonna wash out from under me from the wiggling/wobbling.

Heavyfuel is exactly right. You'll always get moved around on the bike from turbulence from other vehicles. Especially taller profile vehicles like SUV's. But you'll get used to it.

Mike

you can do about the wind, ive had the bike at 45 degree lean angles going stright on the freeway.

Yeah my KLX250 has 2,100 miles on it of which 600 miles are mine :)

Makes sense

The KLX just isn't completely at home on the slab. Be careful that you are not unwittingly stiff-arming the bars or making sudden movements. Even a jerky clutch motion (pulling rather than squeezing) while shifting will cause oscillations.

Much of the stability issues have to do with geometry of the bike. That's why it's so responsive and flickable at slower speeds.

When I had my suspension tuned for motard, the shop decreased (I'm pretty light) the rear spring rate and increased the fork spring rate, effectively relaxing the geometry a little bit. The bike is notacably more stable at highway/freeway speeds now, but it will never be completely at home in that environment.

Anyway, what you're reporting is not uncommon and people who encounter what you speak of on this bike rarely if ever find anything wrong with the steering head tension, etc. It's just the nature of the beast, but I guess it doesn't hurt to double check such things. Getting your rider sag properly set can help. How much do you weigh?

I had steering problems (weaving) related to steering head tension (all the way back from when the bike was new). I brought it back to the dealer. I thought they took care of it but I now believe all they did was crank it down a bit. When I finally took the time to check the steering head bearings myself, it was too late, and I had to replace them. After that, the bike was far more stable going down the highway.

After setting up suspension and tire pressure, I intall an SM front fender when I will do more highway than trail riding, it helps a lot. I also put a WER damper from a KLX300 on mine, cranked to max it eliminated all highway headshake.