Steering head bearing adjustment

[kdxdazz]

What is the correct way to adjust the steering head bearings on a kdx or any dirt bike. I'm referring to how much tension should be on them. Yesterday went for a ride and swapped with my friends xr250. His bike seemed to track so well and we both agreed mine didn't. When we lifted both bikes on to the side stand mine had very slight resistance when moving the handlebars but his xr250 had zero resistance. I thought I read somewhere that it's good to set up steering head bearings using a fish scale or is that just for road bikes

[bufftester]

Hand tighten the stem nut so there is no play and very little resistance to turning. Make sure you do the final tightenein and torque the lock nut after the front end is fully assembled so you have weight on the bearings. Your bars should tip side to side with no help.

[kdxdazz]

Just went check my bike again and have a think. What I noticed is when it's off the ground and I turn the handlebars from side to side even though I feel the tension is perfect the transition from side to side is notchy. Would this really make my bike track erratically

[KDXGarage]

Notchy equals too tight or bad bearings. It would have to be pretty dang bad to overcome a human's manual input by way of the handlebars. There is a good bit of leverage when twisting it left or right. The width of the bars give it that.

[bufftester]

Yeah, notchy is not good, time to check the bearings and races. If you're geometry is off (based on your other thread about your dogbone lengths) that would contribute to poor handling as well.