What's up guys, Happy early Fathers day to you guys that are Fathers.

QUESTION: I have a 2014 FLHTCU, has a lot of nice accessories but nothing that throws off the bikes balance or has added to the weight.

I am getting a violent side to side shaking on the front end at approx. 90 MPH on the back country roads here in Florida. The handle bars were shaking hard and I had to really muscle it to stop the handlebars from moving left to right and down shift quickly to reduce speed, the vibration had a tremendous amount of force behind it.

I've had 14 motorcycles, got my first Harley when I was 12, never had front end shake like this at a fairly moderate speed on a long open country road. I contacted Harley and asked them if they had a stabilizer they could install on my bike, they said "no" the trike has one built into it but none of our 2 wheel bikes do.

1) Have any of you guys experienced this?

2) Do you have any idea or could you steer me to an extremely competent modification specialist that could build and install one for me.

I hate f**king with my front end, but this bike is dangerous to ride and a bit unpredictable when the heavy shaking and instability of the front end will surface.

I live in Tampa Florida, but have no problem shipping it somewhere on the eastern side of the U.S. if anyone knows of an amazing fabricator or a company that may already have a stabilizer manufactured and ready to go. Any help would be gratefully appreciated...

The sport bikes have these stabilizers built in and can safely break the sound barrier with no front end shake. Not that I'm out to run hard like that often, but the pack was moving fast and I was just keeping up with the boys.

I think us Harley owners deserve the same safety option, a front end stabilizer, especially since there seems to be a trend in much bigger, more powerful motors hitting the market.

Thanks in advance guys, be safe out there..

SC

 

One last piece of information: I had Harley install their Premium Front End Suspension Kit, absolutely no improvement at all...

 

How many miles on the bike? Loose steering head bearings can cause an instability. I think the bearing preload helps to dampen the steering. I adjusted my 15 Road Glide at 14k miles & it's much improved.

 

I'm not surprised, as unfortunately the problem wasn't sorted by changing stuff. If you have had your bike a decent time and it has recently started doing this, then you have to look at your bike as it currently is, identify the cause and sort that out.

The things that can cause handling problems, especially at the speed you mention, include tyre condition and pressure. If your tyres are worn or show an unusual wear pattern them change them. Ensure that your pressures are correct. Only yesterday I read an article by a dealer who commented that the most common cause with customers who take their bike to him with handling problems is low tyre pressures.

Steering bearings, as jockotwin points out. The resistance to turning (in other words how tight the bearings are) is important and if yours are too loose, that alone can give you a fright.

Although the problem is at the front of your bike, sometimes the rear end can actually be the problem. Once again tyre condition and pressure are important, as are the rubber engine mounts. If the above don't sort things out find yourself a local indy, who can check your bike for you in person. There is only so much we can do over the internet!

Do you have any mods to your bike that we should know about? Just because other owners fit stuff doesn't make it safe at 90mph.