Suspension upgrades front and rear will help along with everything else up to specs. But that will not correct the design flaw Eric Buell identified years ago. Anyways, if you ride very conservative and aren't banging the bike through hard turns or high speed (read 75mph and up) sweepers you probably are not in need of a stabilizing link. These links add the 2nd and 3rd links that are needed. Dynas only have 1 at the top of the motor. An interesting note my 08 has these issues while my buddies 03 does not. He also has longer shocks while I have slightly shorter. More food for thought.

 

You are absolutely correct. For the average rider, this "flaw" may not rear it's ugly head...I ride my bike hard and while at speed (70+MPH) through long sweeping turns, the bike just starts to get a bit unsteady. The rear end starts a slow "swagger" that makes the front end want to stray. I just installed a True-Track last week and took it out for a pretty decent ride over Saturday and Sunday. The bike definitely feels more solid. My ride this weekend was all two-up so I had to take it a bit easy but the ride was firm and I didn't notice any "swagger". One other thing that I have noticed made a pretty big difference was the rear shocks. I have been running Ricor 13" sport tuned shocks and while I had to send my shocks back due to an oil leak, when I put the stock shocks back on, I could not believe the difference. (fyi: current initial evaluation of the True-Track is with the stock 12" shocks). I can't wait to get my Ricors back and really have the Whole package that I have been working towards. I would recommend the True-Track if you ride your bike like it was intended....Hard!!!

 

Dyna Wobble or uneasiness in the sweeping curves....Yes it does exist for some of us less than lucky DYNA riders. Yes my 09 FXDC had it....I didn't like it one bit. I changed Tires, I watched the tire air pressure oh so closely, went with Progressive Front Suspension, I installed SE Fork Brace....then I got serious...I adjusted the Front Fork Fallout....major improvement.....Then I added the Sputhe Stabilizer system....oh the feel of riding on a rail!!!! Go for True Track or Sputhe....You will like the results!!! And oh yes you will cuss doing the install but it's worth it front and rear!!! My last touch was to remove Progressive 412's and go to Progressive 440's in the rear. After all this my Scoot rides so very nicely now and it loves the Twisties....Sure the Dyna should not have required all that effort....but I'm sure happy now....JUST RIDE

GARY

 

Ive already posted somewhere about this topic. I went with the Sputhe over the True Track simply because I think it blends in better and looks more oem. The TT looks kindy clunky up front. They both do the same job and it's worth the effort.

This accessory won't make the Dyna handle like a european bike but it does help.

Installation is a bit@h, especially if you are working alone. The rubber mounts like to flex around and complicate bolt alignment in very tight working spaces. I ended up reversing the position of the front mount to avoid compromising wiring on the right downtube.

That rear can be a bugger to install.

 

I have the Sputhe mounts on my T-Sport; and some other work, too. I can tell the difference and it was definately worth it to me...still no sport tourer in the European sense, but pretty nice nontheless.....

 

LOL...Hard to believe this goofy concept made it into production isn't it. I swear they could have used flex pipe on the frame backbone and acheived similar handling characteristics. The FXR chassis is considered by many to be the best handling HD chassis ever. The FXR also utilizes a rubber engine mounting system...the biggest difference is the FXR's swingarm is bolted to the frame like the other 99.9 % bikes in the world.

Tech23

 

The front doesn't seem to be the issue. My sporty has the same size front tire and tracks like it's on rails. My WG just feels like it's disconnected in the middle...probably cause it is.

 

Hard bolting the swing arm to the frame is not the best handling option for sport bikes, and is not used by the better sport bikes. Having the engine/trans float in relation to the swing arm causes other handling and power delivery problems. Most of the better performing (handling) sport bikes use hard mounted swing arms to the transmission.

For example, my Ducatti 916, arguably the best handling sport bike suspension system in the world, has the swing arm hard bolted to the transmission and engine, like the HD dyna chassis. What Ducatti does differently (and what Buell tried to correct) is the engine mounts to a stiff frame with very little or no isolation (i.e also nearly hard mounted). They can do this without annoying the rider because Ducatti uses a 90 degree twin engine that is well balanced. Other sport bike engines are also well balanced.

We all know Harley engines vibrate (that seems to be what customers like about the Harley, part of that HD feel). Soft rubber with a lot of play is needed to isolate the engine vibrations from the rider. This soft rubber combined with frame flex causes the angle of the rear tire to vary in relation to the front tire under stress which in turn causes variations in stability; what you may feel as wobble or a loose feeling. Chassis stabilizers do a good job reducing (but not eliminating) the engine/trans/swing arm to frame play in the direction that affect handling, but do nothing for frame flex. I think Harley didn't think it was that important for the target rider and chose to save a few $$ by not installing stabilizers as OEM.

Anything that solidifies the rear suspension, like stiffer shocks or a different/stiffer tire contour will help make the dyna feel more stable. As far as I know, in spite of the extremists, the play is not a safety issue. It is more of a feel of the road thing.

 

I would say my dyna never handled "bad". I will admit, I put on the Sputhe because reading threads like this made me think I had a problem. I don't regret it, but do no expect miracles or the bike to turn into a Ducati. The wind still pushes you around, big rain grooves will still move you, and you can't just sit on the bike with your arms crossed on curves. I won't take mine off, but I honestly believe 80% of the improvement is mental.

 

Ive had a lot of experience with both FXRs and european bikes (have several now). My 09 FXDC with mods will handle as good as any FXR that I built. I have good suspension on the Dyna (Ohlins rear, Works front, jacked it up 1.5 inches and installed low Sportster bars). The rubber mounting system is the biggest buggabo regarding Harley handling. It can be minimzed with good suspenders to soak up shock forces and a stabilizer set-up like TT or Sputhe.

The FXR did have the drivetrain attaced to the frame at the rear but it was done with rubber bushings called "cleveblocks." You had the same problem with the FXR as with the current Dyna. Several after-market suppliers, including Tru Track, developed rigid machined bushings or rigid bearings to replace the rubber cleveblocks. One outfit even sold a pair of stainless struts that you bolted to the sides of the swingarm to keep it from moving in the rubber bushings.

The European manufacturers tend to have much better balanced engines by design so rubber isolation is not a big issue. The 70's era Norton "isolastic" frames were a forerunner of the H-D system, though.

The European swingarms may be bolted to and integrated into the transmission for added strength but all of that is very rigidly attached to the frame, the trellis birdcage frame in the case of Ducati and the "paralever" in the case of BMW. There are no rubber isolation fittings. (Ducati has recently eliminated the trellis frame in favor of a system using the engine as a subframe with their new Panigale.)

I see no imminent change for H-D. The vast majority of H-D riders, as very evident from this helpful forum, are more interested in lowering their bikes, fitting forward controls and bolting up tall ape-hanger bars. None of these things go along with better handling and that's ok.

I imagine the only way to make a less-flexing platform for H-D would be for them to design a new, sportier frame to hold the balanced "B" motor. Again, I don't see that happening.

In the mean time, great improvements can be had by upgrading your suspension and trying to stabilize the rubber-mounted drive train.