We'll have a better idea once Mchad can verify his bars are indeed straight when torqued in the upper clamp. His posting the word 'drift' is why I assumed it was just the bars not straight in the clamp.

I always believed HD's would naturally drift left due to the primary and the final left side drive. I know my bike drifts; it's a subtle and slow drifting to the left that I can prevent by shifting my body position slightly right in the seat, that left drift is nothing that happens fast. Now, for the safety nannies, I only play that hands off the bars game occasionally on one specific road; that road is smooth, flat, straight, and very well maintained; the rest of the roads around here? Forget that nonsense, hold on

When my bike was new off the floor it did pull left, and there was nothing at all subtle about it; let go of the bars and you're heading for the other lane. My bikes alignment was out and the front isolator was distorted and contacting the engine bracket causing all sorts of vibrations, especially on decel. My bars were perfectly aligned when I rode the bike but she pulled hard when you let go of the bars. No one touches my bike but me so I replaced and shimmed the front isolator and performed the alignment at 600 miles on the ODO, ever since then there's been no vibration problems or tracking issues with hands off the bars; just that subtle 'HD' drift.

Just because a bike is new doesn't mean it's actually in alignment; hopefully Mchad's problem is nothing more than the bars sitting a bit akimbo in the bushings

 

Harleys are kind of unique with the drivetrain/rear wheel alignment, but another thing common to them and most bikes is the fork/triple tree front end. I've had forks slightly twisted in the clamps, and with the bike tracking straight, the bars will be off. I've had a couple where I loosened the clamps and with the front wheel locked between my legs, just tweaked the bar till straight, and tightened it back up, and that worked. I realize that wouldn't be so easy on a Glide with that big fairing; even loosening the clamps can be a job (I've pulled the front end off a tour glide, pita). But if all else fails... maybe... but that would be the last thing I'd check on a road glide.

 

Oh, im talking about my Dyna, not the bagger. I'm gonna loosen and re-tighten my risers this weekend and see what that does before pulling more stuff apart unnecessarily.

 

Twisted Trees, I thought you were headed this way too.
I knew you were talking about the Dyna and I feel the same way looking down at mine without the fairing on. I took the squarest milk crate I could find, made sure it lay flat on all 4 corners on a mirror, then held it against the triple tree faces top and bottom trees at the same time. They did not seem to be off with this crude measurement but, it's the best I could think of. I hope someone has a better method than mine because I'd still like to be positive. I however have not replaced the riser bushings with neoprene as I should have by now instead of just living with it.

 

To off set the left drift on my previous bike , I added about 30 lbs to my right saddle bag. Used large lead fishing weights. Primitive, but did the trick.
Roger

 

Mine did the same thing after my last tire change. More than likely going to be rear wheel alignment or engine alignment.

 

I ordered a set of alloy art gooden tight bushings - already have poly's, but if I'm going to pull it apart I figure I'll change them anyway. But i don't think it's the bushings. Looking carefully while riding (not the easiest while doing highway speeds) it looks like the trees themselves are also cocked off a couple degrees to the right. The drift I mentioned earlier isn't significant, and based on Tin's comment, a slight lean does offset it. So I'm not worried about it, but the trees definitly seem off by a degree or two.

Read somewhere that loosening the pinch bolts, fork brace and fender bolts may allow everything to "self align" but since the bike tracks pretty straight, I kinda feel like if I mess with the forks and get the bars aligned, I'll end up pulling the other direction. Ugh.

I'll try the bushings first, the tree alignment may be all in my head, who knows.

 

Have you chequed your rear Wheel ?
(I use a small laser tool, more precise than the coathanger method )

 

I have this exact same issue. When riding down the road, the bars and triple trees are pointed slightly right.

 

As long as the front is aligned with the rear wheel, the bike should track straight; the handlebars offset instead of the wheel. I've had front forks off a bit, and fixed it with that loosen and tighten procedure, but when you loosen it, you'll have to physically move things around, won't just fall into place by itself. I just held the wheel between my legs and moved the bars. It can turn into trial and error till you get the bars to match the wheel, hard to really get it perfect by just looking, might look fine but still be off a little in motion. Just tweak a little bit till it gets there - if that's actually an issue with your bike. On a big twin Harley, making sure the drivetrain/rear wheel alignment is correct is ahead of everything else; you don't want to try correcting a rear wheel misalignment with the forks, would end up re-doing everything.