Tony: I've had a 58 cm Atlantis since '03. With only a light load as you describe it never shimmied.
My first experience with shimmy was the first time I had it loaded for a tour, and all of the weight was on the rear. Others suggested getting some weight forward, so after that I started experimenting with loading. Eventually I came to the conclusion that some front bias was preferable. While the above doesn't seem applicable to your situation, I suggest moving your rear bag load to the front. At one point in my experiments, I was able to induce shimmy with only a small rear saddlebag with tools, tubes, etc. A specific set of conditions was req'd as well as me sitting bolt upright on the bike. Simply moving that bag (<3 lbs?) to the handlebars solved the problem. Simple experiment to try. The needle bearing headset may be beneficial but I don't recall anyone claiming it to be "the cure" for all shimmies. Shimmy seems to be an elusive problem with lots of possible sources, so tough to ID a single source in a specific case. dougP On Tuesday, August 23, 2016 at 9:02:58 AM UTC-7, Tony McG wrote: > > From the beginning: The original owner purchased it as a frameset in '99 > because at the time, the future of the Atlantis was questionable. He built > the bike and never rode it because he found a Waterford that he liked > better. I bought it barely used a few years ago and have put a few thousand > miles (mostly gravel) on it. The headset would never stay tight no matter > how hard I dared wrench on the locknut. I took it to a LBS and they removed > the headset and machined the frame so that the headset would fit better. I > rode it for a year, and I still had problems with it loosening. I then took > it to another LBS and they installed a spacer (seems like the headset might > have bottomed out on the threads???). I now have a tight headset, but > I also have a shimmy when I let go of the handlebars. I used to be able > to ride this bike without hands at any speed, but now it wobbles, even at > 10 mph. I don't have any load on the bike except a small seatbag for > tubes/tools, and the tires are the same Soma Cazadero from last year. > > Any suggestions on what might be causing the shimmy or how to fix it? > Shall I replace it with a NeedleBlasteur from the Riv site and see what > happens? > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
