My 13 heritage belt is offset to the left. It pulls left slightly with pressure off the bars. Will try centering myself, as they seem its not a big worry.

 

Is that so as not to mess with the belt tension?

Good info... I'm gonna have to give this a shot.

 

I too was told it was the weight of the primary on my 09 Heritage. I keep my tool kit in my right bag. seems to help.

 

You guys actually want to check that the bike is tracking straight? Forget about the marks on the swingarm. Forget about measuring from the pivot to the adjusters---CHECK THE WHEELS POINT THE SAME DIRECTION. That's what matters, nothing else.

You COULD place two florescent 8 foot light bulbs alongside the rear tire and see if the front tire is dead straight in between the tubes up front pointing the same way. But if you slip and bust a bulb it sends glass particles all over the shop.

So I use the string method. You take duct tape and tape a real long string about six inches off the ground around the back of your rear tire. Then you pull the string tight up the left side AND pull the string tight up the right side under the bike and try to center your front tire in the middle of the string while looking down the string from the front. You will need to roll around in the dirt to do this but with practice you can tell exactly how both tires are pointing AND IF THEY AGREE...

I usually place a brick or some other shim under my side stand to make the bike sit there a little more upright than usual. It makes it easier to compare the left and right sides if the bike isn't laying over on its side stand so much.

You will have to double check to make sure you aren't kidding yourself---but just by eyeballing the gap on the way the string crosses the front tire you can tell if both tires point the same or if the rear is cocked... You are doing exactly the same thing that 8 foot light bulbs would do...you are using a straightedge to see that both tires agree!

Adjust the rear wheel to get rid of the cocked alignment and then check the belt tension didn't get too tight or too loose. Keep going back and forth until belt is great and BOTH TIRES ARE POINTING EXACTLY THE SAME DIRECTION WITH THE FRONT ONE CENTERED IN THE GAP OF THE STRING.

I have used this method for 50 years. It is easy as pie to do once you have done it a few times. And it will mean you now know your bike is EXACTLY straight. You will NOT have to ask. You will KNOW. Check it once a year or so. Or whenever you pull the wheels to change a tire.

Doing this, doing the frame neck bearing fall-away tightness, checking wheel bearings for wobble or noise...these are things any Harley rider should be able to do in his sleep. They are what makes your bike fun to ride 'cos it tracks and rides without wobble, pull or any other nasties.

By the way the reason your rear wheel is offset to the left is because of weight. Harley builds plenty of different models and to get the mass centered and to get the drive belt to line up with the tranny it is cheaper to just shove the wheels to one side or the other than it would be to build a different frame for every cotton picking different model.

Your primary side (left) is usually heavier than the pipe side. Thus the left shift to compensate.

But it matters not at all as far as how the bike TRACKS. Tracking is strictly a function of whether the two wheels are pointing in the same direction. Changing the pipes will alter the weight balance a little bit but not enough to matter as far as pulling one side or the other. Pulling is strictly because the wheels are cocked.

Onward Ho! YeeHaw!!