No hands headshake

[rwthomas1]

On a long stretch of highway I'll set the throttle lock and take my hands off to stretch my hands, wrists, do shoulder rotations, etc. My 13 is stable as a rock. I run Angel GT's with a fork brace.

I do the same, just one arm at a time. I'm a bit too paranoid about hitting something that would upset the machine at speed. Riders need to do what works for them.

RT

 

[kiltman]

From my reading steering head bearings should be retorqued after 1000 miles after installing. In theory the first service that is recommended after purchasing the bike this should be done. It is costly to have done by the dealer so it gets passed over. The handlebar shimmy doesn’t get noticed until the 40-60k mile mark and by that time tires are usually blamed for the shake. Retorquing the bearings may help when it reaches that mileage but in most cases it’s too late, the bearings are out of round and it’s best to replace them and retorque after the first 1k and check them every few years after that.
I found the shake bothersome, fatiguing and aggravating...I should not have to constantly have a firm grip on the bars to prevent the low speed wobble.
Having said that, one cannot rule out tires, as many have experienced that changing the tires have eliminated the wobble, as well as making sure the forks were aligned properly, and distributing the weight on the bike. If however you raise the front wheel and slowly go from lock to lock and detect a bit of notchyness then inspect the steering head bearings.
For the record, 99.999% of my riding I have at least one hand on the bars if not both. . Please be safe

 

[ST Gui]

I haven't had occasion to do so on my ST but on my CB750K/VF1000F/VF1100S/GL1000 I'd ride without hands while swapping out gloves or taking off my jacket or some such minor thing. Doing so on a clear stretch of road is probably no more dangerous than doing a tonne down a motorway where a car or other vehicle makes a sudden unannounced lane change.

All my bikes had throttle locks so there was no concern of getting a little wiggle wobble if the bikes slowed down. If this is not uncommon with 1100s then it might be even more common with 1300s since their steering geometry promotes quicker handling.