For the last year or so, I have had a funny clunk/rattle feeling in my handlebars like my steering head bearings are WAY loose, and I have looked/fixed/replaced/checked everything I can think of to find the source of this problem. I can also hear the clunk.

I have checked the engine mounts, gas tank mounts, how the shocks are mounted, changed the oil in the shocks, adjusted the steering head bearings, replaced the steering head bearings, replaced the wheel bearings, checked the torque on all front screws/bolts on the fender, brakes (calipers and rotors), fairing (had all three main parts off for the steering head bearing replacement) and handlebars. I checked the mounting of all gauges and the radio in the fairing, checked all of the metal parts in the fairing (no cracks). I have emptied the lower fairings of all items (sunglasses, rags, rotor lock, etc) and drove around my favorite bumps and still - clunk.

I have checked along the bottom end of the bike, including the jiffy stand and the Wheeldock EZ-lift center stand. I have replaced the headers and checked the fit and tightness of the exhaust system all the way back to the exhaust tips (not related to the clunk, but rather to install Tucci's decatted header). The battery is tight, nothing loose in the gas tank, all lights and fittings are tight. Nothing loose in the wiring channel under the tank. I am just stumped.

I had the dealer's service manager ride my bike. He dinked around with stuff after confirming there is a clunk (glad I'm not entirely nuts). My mechanic checked the bearings and all the fittings - fairing front off, gas tank, rotor and caliper bolts, etc, etc. She can't find it. She did say she has heard some rumblings about the source of this loose feeling, and is searching the MOCO end of things. Aha! I thought I would check with you all to see if anybody has experienced something similar and maybe found the solution. I did search a number of times which ended up convincing me to replace good steering head and wheel bearings.

I just turned 28,000 today on a 2010 Ultra. Thoughts? I love this bike and will keep riding until something falls off or breaks, but would just like to fix this dang problem.

 

Have you checked to make sure the hard connectors inside the nacelle are tight, mine every so often "clunked" until i added more zip ties. Sounded like a muffled hammer hit the chrome.

On my RK when they replaced my front wheel bearing it was done incorrectly and i had the same feeling, i could feel the vibrations all the way up in my hands, and it seemed one of the *****/ rollers would get hung up every so often and it would. Clunk...

Just thought i'd put it out there.

 

I've looked pretty hard thru all the fairing parts - I did find some connectors that had come loose from the clips on some of the metal parts in the fairing, but all that was pretty light stuff. I think the first set of wheel bearings were the original bearings, but after changing them out, no change in the clunk feeling. If I ever hear of a cause from my mechanic, I will post so others will know.

Thanks for the reply!