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Old Jun 5, 2014 | 09:42 PM
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Default tracking straight

Is the bike supposed to track straight when you take your hands off the bars? It seems my fatboy starts to drift right almost instantly. Rear tire seems evenly worn, front too, belt tracks fine too.
 
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Old Jun 5, 2014 | 09:47 PM
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As far as I know yes it should providing, as you mentioned everything else is set properly. Wonder if you shift your weight to the left if it'll self correct? Just a thought.
 
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Old Jun 5, 2014 | 09:53 PM
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I have to physically move off center to bring it back
 
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Old Jun 5, 2014 | 10:15 PM
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Originally Posted by pat.h
Is the bike supposed to track straight when you take your hands off the bars? It seems my fatboy starts to drift right almost instantly. Rear tire seems evenly worn, front too, belt tracks fine too.
Is it an older bike that can be aligned? Mine is out of alignment and I'm getting it worked on over the weekend. My bars are are not square with the bike at all, and if you try to straighten the bars out, you get a hard left lane change. I'm getting sick of looking at not square bars.
 
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Old Jun 5, 2014 | 10:24 PM
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04 fatty, bars are fine, even if they weren't, bike tracking wouldnt be affected
 
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Old Jun 5, 2014 | 10:33 PM
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Originally Posted by pat.h
04 fatty, bars are fine, even if they weren't, bike tracking wouldnt be affected
Not sure that's true. Mine will also pull hard if you just turn loose of the bars. I suspect alignment is your issue.
 
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Old Jun 6, 2014 | 02:40 AM
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A hd mechanic buddy has two tools to make sure the back wheel is aligned with the frame. He tweaked mine and it was much better. But the other side is that some bikes are built offset a little, like mine the front and back wheel are offset to one side by the factory, design.
But first make sure the back wheel is cocked to one side. If you did a search I'll bet the laugh info is on here or there might be something on YouTube. Good luck.
 
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Old Jun 6, 2014 | 07:56 AM
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Originally Posted by Rodzilla6
A hd mechanic buddy has two tools to make sure the back wheel is aligned with the frame. He tweaked mine and it was much better. But the other side is that some bikes are built offset a little, like mine the front and back wheel are offset to one side by the factory, design.
But first make sure the back wheel is cocked to one side. If you did a search I'll bet the laugh info is on here or there might be something on YouTube. Good luck.
Agreed. Yes, some bikes have built in offset, like some 2007 Fatboys had some CRAZY offset in the front tire. Unless the brake is dragging, and based on the age of the bike, I'd say check the alignment.

I have a 2009 Fatboy and I can take my hands off the bars, set the throttle lock and cruise as long as I want, even leaning into some slight curves if I have to.
 
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Old Jun 6, 2014 | 09:16 PM
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Interesting, ...I wil clear the crap off the maintenance book an run the alignment checks
 
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