Help with wheel wobble ('02 Ninja 500R)

[fhqwhgads]

Help me out, folks...

This is our 2nd full season with the 500R. This is my wife's bike, so I only ride it occasionally. Last night I took it out and noticed that I was getting some significant shake in the handlebars. The worst case I was able to create was backing out of the throttle and coasting down from 50 mph. I could see the front wheel flopping side to side and the bars were visibly moving - probably about 1/2" at the bar ends.

By the way - I checked the tire pressure before I went out last night - spot on at 32 psi.

Last summer my Dad took the bike out for a ride and raised the same issue. For some reason, I couldn't replicate the problem then, so I didn't really know what he was talking about and how to start tracking it down. However, one day I was taking in a wheel from another bike to have a tire mounted, so I took the front wheel off the 500R and had them check the balance. It checked out perfectly, so I'm fairly sure this is not a wheel balance problem.

After my ride last night, I suspected that something was wobbling on the front end. I confirmed that this morning by mounting a dial indicator to the fork leg, running the wheel around, and measuring the rin and the rotor. I have a pronounced "high spot" (I'll define "up" as "farther to the right") and a pronounced "low spot" on the wheel; the difference between the measurements at these two points is about .010". The rotor seems to be running parallel with the wheel - the high spots and low spots on the rotor are very close to being in phase with the wheel and the difference between them is about .008". Just to be sure, I mounted the indicator on the other fork leg and confirmed the measurement - same "high spot", same "low spot", same .010" difference from "high" to "low".

At this point, I am concluding that something is bent and I am going to need to get it straightened to make the wheel run true. But I'm not 100% sure that this diagnosis is correct, and if it is, I'm not sure exactly what it is that's bent (maybe the wheel itself, maybe the axle?). We live in Michigan and our roads completely suck - it wouldn't surprise me if the rim was bent from hitting a pothole or a buckle in the pavement.

Please chime in; this is uncharted terrotiry for me and I've gone about as far as I can without some additional clues.

[Cale]

Take the wheel for balance. They can find something.

[grilldcheese]

Originally Posted by Cale

Take the wheel for balance. They can find something.

I believe he did that already

[ZX-2R]

Put that tire an wheel, so that the centerstand is up and then put a box or brick up next to it, and see if the side to side wobble is present at the edge of the rim...if it is then mark it with tape, chalk or something, then check the disk/rotor and see if it has a wobble at the edge of it. mark it with a piece of take or a magic marker...then take a straght edge and go from the axle nut/bolt across the brake mark and wheel to see if they line up...if they do, remove the disk/rotor and then reinstall the wheel and see if you no longer have the wobble...not difficult just takes a little time...