Hey guys, new to the forum here an I have a question about my Nightster.

Alright so I have a 2010 Nightster 1200 an last year while at a little get together one of my buddy jumps on my bike who's never ridden an needless to say he no more than let the clutch out an dumped my bike in his front yard leaving a nice dent in my tank, folding my clutch lever around and bending my bars a little. Not to happy about it. Anyways when i let go of my bars now the front end starts to shake. The bike just turned 10k miles. Any ideas on what it could be? Wheel out of balance? Wheel bearings worn out? Any input would be great thanks!

 

Not sure on this but have you checked the steering head bearing to be sure it is within limits. Tech Manual covers procedure. Really simple to do

 

Hi from the UK and welcome to HDF. It is unlikely that dumping your bike wrecked your wheel bearings, much more likely that in checking over your bike since then that you have discovered things that were probably already there!

The usual candidates are front and rear tyre pressures, also tyre wear. If your tyres are original they are now around seven years old and past their best, so due for replacement anyway. As harleyrider4300 suggests, another is head bearings, which if loose can give a similar feeling.

When you say your bars are bent, do you mean damaged and bent, or twisted out of true? Either can alter how your bike feels. We can advise on correcting them if they are simply out of true.

 

Pictures would help. I'd guess head bearing adjustment. Certainly go over and resolve before riding more than around the block for testing.

 

Thanks for the responses guys, I'm aware dumping it won't ruin the wheel bearings thats why i posted the mileage (10k) not knowing how many miles people normally run before replacing wheel bearings. And it certainly didn't wreck the bars, like grbrown mentioned it tweaked them just a little bit so they're not quite true. As far as tires the back ones new and I believe the front ones original which I planned on replacing this spring anyways so i guess that'd be a good place to start.

 

besides tire pressure check the triple trees also the forks may have a minuscule tweak in them( this is very ,very rare better to to be safe than sorry) .If he folded the lever and applied a dent the crash was probably more violent then expected . also check the wheel if it is laced ( the spokes not tight ) the wheel could have a small tweak as well .

 

I don't see why you'd see more wobble when you let go of the bars. The wobble should be there whether you hold the bars or not.

 

OPINION follows:
Could be the drop tweaked alignment in trees/axle slightly.
When you let go, it may be trying to find its center while travelling.

If you have a manual, I would suggest, if not a complete teardown of front assembly at least loosening everything and retightening of all bolts in proper order and alignment per manual.

Opinion.

 

If you let go of the bars, the front end is allowed to move on its own, so it's more noticeable.

 

This makes sense to me. I'd start there.