unterhausen

with a steel bike, the facing could be off. Otherwise, I would say something's bent. Probably the fork. Also possible that there was an error in manufacturing

BlazingPedals

A tight cable housing somewhere could do it, but I suspect something is out of alignment. I hear it's not too uncommon for post-weld heat-treating to warp a frame. Try riding through a puddle and looking to see if both wheels follow the same track.

PoorInRichfield

Not that I know the answer to the OP's question, but in my case, frame geometry seems to have played a major role. On my 2014 Trek Domane 5.2, riding with no hands was really difficult and so I rarely did it. With my 2020 Trek Domane SL7, the bike is so insanely stable that I could almost do gymnastics on the bike and not fall over.

rosefarts

Any legitimate road bike should allow you to pee whilst moving. Stage fright not withstanding.

Doug64

Take a close look at your lower bearings for brinelling. It can cause wierd handling issues.

sean.hwy

What kind of bike do you have?

I have a carbon fiber road with 23 mm tires and steep head angle where my feet will touch the tires when turning if at the 3 and 9 position. I find this bike twitchy and difficult to ride with no hands.

I have a gravel bike with 38mm tires. wider gravel handle bars. relaxed steering angle. My feet do not touch when turning the wheel etc.. That bike is easy to ride with no hands.

Holm

Hi! Thanks for the tips, i find it good the rule out several things.

To clear up a few things. Its a steel bike, Carbon fork with tapered pressed bearing cups. I got a Hope cup and bearing set that should correspond with the manufacturers specs of the frame. Im pretty sure its the correct bearings. Pressed all the way in with proper tools but facing not checked more than visually.

Could it be that the wheelset wont seat properly into the dropouts?? Ill try another wheelset. And try measuring if dropouts are straight. Sounds weird on a carbon fork but who knows.

rosefarts

Did you read my response? What kind of carbon fork? Specifically, how does the bearing sit on it? Let's start with the brand and model of the fork.

Holm

YES, I did! No inner ear infection doctor sez.

it's a Genesis Volare 853. With Genesis own house brand fork. 😉

motorthings

saddle setback from crank center will make a huge difference in this as well, so i'd double check that to confirm.

Telvis

I have the same issue with my Trek Checkpoint. I figure my 265 pounds and age (55) play a factor. I just make sure I keep a hand on the bar at all times. 265 pound old guys don’t fare well in crashes.

rosefarts

Just double check the fork. With the wheel off on a stand, turn the handlebar side to side. You should feel nothing.

Sy Reene

Is it the same tendency just wheeling your bike by hand? Eg. try and just push it along in a straight line by just pushing the bike from a hand on the saddle.

Miele Man

I had a nice red Bianchi frame set given to me because the owner ran into a stopped car with it and bent something on the bike. Just for fun I build that bike up again. I've ridden it lots of times and for good distances. I can easily ride it with no hands. This leads me to believe that the OP has either an alignment issue of some sort, or something somewhere is dragging causing the bike to pull off course when being ridden no-hands. Just for reference here's an image of that damaged Bianchi that I can still easily ride with no hands on the handlebar.



Cheers

Kapusta

if this were an alignment issue, I would think it would be consistently pulling to the same side.

When you ride in a straight line with a light touch on the bars, does it feel like the bike is slightly tugging almost randomly to one side or the other?

If so, this really sounds like an issue of the bars not turning freely enough. And if that is the case, it is likely the headset. Over the past 23 years, I’ve only had three head tubes that needed facing. In none of those cases could you tell by looking that they needed it. It only needs to be off by a tiny amount.

u235

Totally unrelated... That handlebar water holder? Any negatives? Any comparison to the type that mount to the seat rails? I have two in the frame, need more.

greatscott

Were you able to ride the same bike with no hands before? If so then somethings out of whack, asumming you didn't crash the bike or drop it hard on its side, and ALWAYS do the cheapest thing first: either you don't have the rear wheel centered in the dropouts with the frame, your wheels may be out of true, make sure the front wheel aligns to the handlebars, make sure the seat is inlign with the top tube, check the pedal and crank arms to make sure they're not bent, but if the bike hasn't fallen over then that's probably not a problem. Spin the wheels by hand and see if any of the wheels are to close or touching a brake pad (of course if you have disk brakes, you can't use the rim pad as a guide so instead use the highest point on your seat stay closest to the top of the tire as your guide

The headset as far as wear goes is easy to check, simply left the bike by the top tube without leaning the bike, put the handlebars in the straight ahead orientation and let go and see if the bars move to one side, if so you might have a improperly adjusted headset or worn bearings.

DeadGrandpa

You're not correct about this. I have the same issue with my Janis Renegade Expert (carbon frame and fork). There is an aspect of bike geometry called "trail". You and I have low trail bikes, which makes them feel very responsive while accelerating but a little "twitchy" at low speeds and while climbing. It's okay. You don't need to ride with no hands. Or if you do, get a bike with higher trail. More stable.

sovende

This thread has piqued my interest! About 15 years ago, I picked up what appeared to be a NOS Schwinn World Sport at a resale shop for a ridiculously low price (IIRC $10)! It was Wintertime and they were clearing out non-seasonal items. The head badge put it at mid 1990 manufacture. Basic "fluff & buff" put this bike in like-new condition! Once the nicer weather rolled around, I took the bike out to fine tune my "fit" and do minor adjustments. It didn't take long to find out that this bike's handling was pretty "twitchy". I have a collection of bikes and this one is the only one that I cannot ride "no hands"! I don't ride that way all that often but do like to be able to do so if I want to stretch a bit or get a drink. It's probably the only reason that this bike isn't in my "ride rotation".
As mentioned at the start of this reply, this thread has rekindled my interest in this issue on this bike. I have often wondered if the original owner also had this problem and either relegated the bike to a dark corner of the garage or perhaps returned the bike to the LBS for exchange? I had considered some of the potential issues mentioned in the replies to this thread (bent fork or misaligned frame) but didn't really know how to confirm the problem. So with fresh eyes on the issue, I pulled the bike out of retirement for further investigation. No noticeable damage to the fork or frame was seen. I did do a 20 mile ride and confirmed my inability to ride without hands on the bar. Otherwise no issues. It does need new tires and I'd like to replace the saddle. Those aren't like causative factors but once that's taken care of, I'll start checking some of the specifics mentioned in this thread. Report to follow.
Sovende