Motorcycle Repair: Honda Nighthawk wobble, wheel bearings, steering damper

Question
Chris, I have a 86 Honda nighthawk s that when decelerating at around 40mph the front wheel will wobble back and forth. I once took my hands off the bars briefly and the wobble was so bad I would have crashed if I didn't grab the bars. I bought the bike used with 16000 miles on it. The wheel is balanced, the steering bearing are tight and feel fine. The wheel bearings are ok. Any ideas? Thanks in advance. Russ

Answer
Hi Russ.
 I have heard a lot of complaints about that as regards the nighthawk.  What you are going to have to do is get a steering damper installed.  It will reduce the wobble to something a lot closer to normality.  Appearantly, it is a design flaw in the bike, which is why Honda discontinued the model for so long.  I understand that the newer ones do not have that problem, but that is just what I have heard.

Good luck.
FALCON