Hit a big ol' pothole on I-75 with the Softail and bent the Fat Boy front wheel. The local Harley shop told me I was fortunate that they had one they could order right away, and if I call the service dept. first thing in the morning, they could have it back on the road in about two weeks. I think I was fortunate not to wreck the bike, but I don't see anything fortunate about taking two weeks to put on a wheel. I am thinking of replacing the wheel myself, except for mounting the tire, I don't have the tools for that. I bought this 2002 Heritage Softail about a year ago with Fat Boy wheels on it. It has about 22K miles on it. My questions are do I need to replace the bearings when I replace the wheel, and are there any bearing and/or spacer differences between the Heritage and Fat Boy wheels that I need to be aware of?

Thanks

 

Not that anyone is following this thread, but I had the local Harley dealer install a new FB wheel today. I'm broke, but I can ride now.

 

Call your county office/road dept...here in NE if the pothole wasn't reported you can file a claim w/the city & get reimbursed for the damages. Glad you're back on the road!

 

potholes do suck. too bad I did not read the thread last week, I would of given you a Fatboy front wheel.

 

The 2002 Heritage and Fatboy wheels and bearings do interchange. If your new wheel doesn't come with bearings you can use the ones in your bent wheel.

Why not get another HD wheel? I'm running a FB chrome on the rear and a HD 6 spoke on the front of my Heritage. They didn't cost much more than stock wheels.

TWO weeks to get the wheel in and installed? I'd be checking with another st ... er ... dealer bout that!
.

 

Potholes can be lethal on a bike,be thankful,,hope you get going soon

 

Agree, bill the *****! We pay taxes for decent pavement to ride on. If there's a pot hole big enough to bust your bike, someone isn't doing their job. Make 'em pay!

 

Try ridin' the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway or the Cross Bronx Expressway if you wanna see potholes!

 

Fishtail, did the wheel have a real obvious bend to it or did you notice it from the bike wobbling or handling funny. The reason I ask is that I hit one of those stupid raised manhole covers the other day. It was probably only about three inches or so high but I hit it doing about 30 (sun in my eyes) and got a pretty good jolt from it. I've put about a hundred miles on the bike since and everything seems fine handling wise, I'm just wondering if I should get the bike checked out just in case. I looked pretty close myself but didn't see any obvious problems.

 

this is why I love this forum!!!