Handlebar looseness

[Jeriatric]

The tierod ends are of variable quality, I've had tight ones and ones so slack when new that I wouldn't put them on to the bike.

To check them you need an assistant: Put your hand around the joint and hold it gently but completely, have someone rock the front wheel side to side to load and unload the joint. If you feel it knock it has play in it.

You can reach in through the suspension to check the inner ones. It's not uncommon to have one good and one bad on the same side of the bike.

I don't know about your area but here it's not possible to buy just the end, we have to buy a complete tierod assembly. If you do this, check the ends before you fit them.

For info: If you rock the wheel top to bottom you can check for top ball joint play in a similar way.

Has it been your experience that the ball joint problem generally presents itself with a noticeable front end shake?

[Spyderlass]

Has it been your experience that the ball joint problem generally presents itself with a noticeable front end shake?

Well, it was a progressive wheel shake while braking that alerted me to a problem. The cause of the shake was an out of true front hub, discussed on another thread, but the tierod was replaced first and gave better control of the errant wheel.

So, to answer your question, I've not ridden with only the worn tierod ends. I wouldn't imagine you'd have a wheel wobble but I'd bet the steering would feel even more waney because the wheel would be free to follow road imperfections.