Front wheel hop - do I need new wheel?
 

I have heard that the newer KLX-250S have stronger front wheels. I have front wheel hop on my motorcycle (2007 KLX-250S model) and my rudimentary spoke check really didn't turn up any issues. The front wheel bearing is in good shape so, I seriously doubt that it is affecting the wheel hop.

Do I need to have my factory wheel relaced and retrued with stronger spokes? Should I just take it to a dealer and see if they can fix it? Am I better off buying a new front wheel that is stronger? Should I buy a spoke wrench and tune by the "ping" even though I don't have any loose or broken spokes?

I ride pretty hard so, I'm thinking a better front wheel might be in order. I'm getting ready to start my riding season which runs about 1,000 miles a month so I want to get everything sorted in the next few weeks.

What wisdom do does everyone have? What are my best options?

I suggest that you check the tire. It might have become lop sided or might need a balance to correct any unbalances.

The tire was balanced when I did the wheel bearing check. The tire itself is a gently used Dunlop 606 in good condition.

Interesting problem, the wheel and tyre are balanced, the bearings are good and the spokes are tight. The wheel is round I take it instead of slighlty oval? Not to sure what to make of it.

Yes, that is what is so perplexing. The rim doesn't have any obvious deformation and appears to be round. I'm thinking I hit something at high speed (~40PMH) and took it out of "round" even though my uncalibrated eyeball can't see the "oval" shape.

Did you hit something before or after you had it balanced? If I remember from my schooling days 1 ounce out at 60mph is like 6 pounds of force hitting the road. Maybe you could get your front wheel off the ground so you can spin it and make yourself a pointer deal out of a coat hanger put it at the rim and spin the wheel you should be able to see if anything is out of whack better than your eyeball. If that checks out I would have the balance rechecked it's possible you have a bad tire.

I would suggest having it re-balanced or at checked out. Also, check for any bulges in the tread. Look for knobs that have less depth.

Another thought that crossed my mind. Check the fork shocks. Look for leaks. You might also want to air bleed the shocks too. Lift the front wheel off the ground and open the air bleed screws on each fork shock, then close them.

My guess is tire and/or tube.

I installed a new tube once and it was fine for a while but it kept "creeping" around the inside of the tire and it sort of bunched up in one area, causing a lump in the tread...

Changed out the tube and all was well after that.

Use lots of baby powder inside the tire to prevent tube bunch / promote free movement.

I had the same thing happen on a old KLX250. Tried balancing, trueing etc. I finally put a new set of tires on it and the prob was gone.

Actually that reminds me had a car and put a set of tyres on it, had a balance problem and 1 of the tyres was that far out of balance the tyres service place could not balance it