This does not sound normal, whether the rims are CR 18 or Westricks/Raleigh. Pull the front wheel, re-set the cone, and then re-set the wheel in the fork making sure everything is together correctly. The adjustable cone (with the flats) goes on the left/non-drive side of the bike for the reasons the previous poster mentioned. If necessary, open the cones and inspect the bearings. Inspect the tire and bead seating too.
Once you establish that it is not the wheel or tire, check the fork itself for alignment and the headset for adjustment.
Originally Posted by
Salubrious
I've run into a phenomena that I wonder if others have encountered. I have found that if I go fast enough, the front wheel can develop enough gyroscopic action to freeze in one plane. The first time this happened, I was gripping the handlebars fairly close to the stem. I was thrown off the bike at about 25 mph and got scraped up pretty good, but glad I didn't break any bones...
The second time it happened I was gripping the bars normally. That gave me enough leverage to overcome the front wheel's desire to stay in one plane so I didn't fall down. But is scared me good (it took a month to heal up the earlier scrapes).
This is really making me think that I have to be careful not to go too fast on this bike ('72 Raleigh Superbe), but it seems like it might also be solved by less mass in the wheel circumference. Right now I am using Sun CR-18s, with Sunlite tires. Would I be better off with those Specialized Trisports?? Anyone else run into this?