Front end wobble!
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4th Gear
Joined: Nov 2013
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From: Santa rosa
Front end wobble!
I have an 06 night train and recently put some detachable bags on the bike (which weigh like 50 pounds) and whenever the bags are on I have to keep a form grip on the handlebars while decelerating or the front end will wobble. It seems to be a weight issue because when I take the bags off it's barely noticeable. I've been told that I should adjust the bearing balance in the forks by one person and another says I should stiffen up my preload which I just had set at 2 full rotations soft front complete stiff where it was but with the preload I have it at it should support up to 300 and I weigh 200. Since someone else adjusted the shocks I don't even know if they evenly adjusted them either
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+1, I have put more weight on my bike than that and never noticed any wobble at all. When a person adds more weight, they should also check their tire pressure. It works on the same principle as if you had somebody riding with you, you need to add more air for that too. Hope this helps
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4th Gear
Joined: Nov 2013
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From: Santa rosa
I just took it to the Harley dealership and the tire pressure is fine but the front tire has just a smudge of cupping on it (where some parts of the tire around the treads are higher than others). It's a more expensive fix with doing this I'm thinking about tightening the bearings first to see if that works
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Joined: Jul 2008
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From: north jersey
Good luck. That front end wobble is scary.
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4th Gear
Joined: Nov 2013
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From: Santa rosa
I found a source that says the fallaway can cause cupping so I'm going to adjust that and let you guys know how it goes thanks for input too
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Novice
Joined: Jan 2010
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From: Clarksville, TN
Don't know if this helps but just figured out the cause of my front end wobble. First was adjusting the spokes then replacing the neck bearings with no luck. The problem ended up being a slightly cupped front tire which i replaced. Wobble gone. Good luck.
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Road Master
Joined: May 2011
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From: Utah
In my experience once a tire is cupped, it is done, and can lead to weird handling. When I have had them cup it was usually due to not checking the tire pressure often enough and riding too many miles with lower than ideal pressure.
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