[eggman65]

While riding my 2010 C5, I can feel what seems to be a front wheel hop.
The bike has only 270 miles and tire pressures set to owner's manual specs.
I feel this hopping when riding between 30 and 40 mph.

Thoughts?

Wheel balance?
Steering head bearing?

[Desi Bike]

My first guess would be wheel balance. How does the hop come on, suddenly or does it build up in intensity? You say that it has 200 or so miles, has it been doing this since new, or is it a new occurence? If possible, you might get your dealer or yourself to rotate the rubber tire on the rim and see if that changes anything. Its a low tech way to change the ballance a bit, but not a final solution. The final solution would be to get the tire rim combo balanced properly, should be covered under warranty.

[Vince]

     An out of balance wheel hops progressively worse as speed builds. If it smooths out after 40 MPH it probably isn't a balance issue. 30 to 40 MPH is the classic speed indicating a steering bearing issue. The steering head bearings will probably need to be snugged down.

[Maturin]

Another possibility is that the front rim - or tire -  is out of round, although this should be more obvious at lower speeds. But it´s easy to check, you only have to put some weight on the rear until the front comes up and rotates freely. If the brake pads don´t touch the disc, you´ll even recognize an unbalanced wheel, although I´m with Vince here: steering bearing is most probable.

[eggman65]

Thanks all. I'll pay closer attention to the "hop" and see how it changes at higher speeds.
I have a bike lift and will us it to get the front wheel off the ground and make some checks. If the steering head bearing needs tightening, that would be the big nut just below the speedo, right? Is there are torque spec?

[Ice]

 Not counting the rims I bent, the most frequent cause of wheel hop or wiggle in my Bikes with spoked wheels has been the tires beads not seated concentrically on the rims.  Deflating, re seating and re inflating fixes it.