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HD wobble

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Old Mar 15, 2015 | 01:11 AM
  #1  
Big ALbert's Avatar
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From: La Quinta CA
Default HD wobble

Ok My brothers. Have to vent out.had been riding Bikes for over 40 Years,and thousands of miles.
Got A 13 Ultra Limited just put Brand new Tires and when on a tree hundred Mile trip tire pressure was good bike has 16 k on it never had any Problems
Everything stock.
Started out the trip was fine at about 150 miles front end felt loose like floating
But it was kind of windy on I 10 coming out of LA. All of the some at 80 miles per Hr The front end started wobble out the control Ibarely got to stop on the shoulder.for minute there I thought I was. A down rider very scared never had this happen to me bike its on the garage going to the shop on Monday
Had to get some answers to this I will not ride it again till its Fix
 
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Old Mar 15, 2015 | 01:31 AM
  #2  
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my guess you were loaded heavy and tire pressure was not high enough.
you did not say the pressure but try adding 2-3lbs and repeat the ride at 80.
I threw away5 pencil gauges after finding they read different and pressure was lower than reported, so try other gauges
 
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Old Mar 15, 2015 | 04:51 AM
  #3  
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From: Annemasse (border of Geneva-Switzerland) facing Mt-Blanc.
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OP, wife and I faced extreme riding conditions because I didn't understand Croatian emergency traffic warnings. The bike was new, we were climbing a bald mountain pass at 75MPH on a winding motorway when Tornado wind blasts suddenly occurred. No shelter in sight, no tunnel and 360° exposure to violent nature. The EG performed extremely well, was predictable and stable but I had to reduce my speed to 15-25MPH to remain on the pavement.

The drag of my chest exposed to side wind was the problem, not the Harley.
Could you be in such a situation ?
 
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Old Mar 15, 2015 | 05:51 AM
  #4  
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How much air was in your shocks? If you were loaded up and didn't add air to the shocks, the front end will feel squirrelly.
 
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Old Mar 15, 2015 | 06:48 AM
  #5  
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Originally Posted by Big ALbert
...... just put Brand new Tires........
What brand tyres did you buy? If they are any brand other than stock then check their website for recommended pressures, as not every brand uses the pressures in your owners manual. Avon for example use higher pressures and running them soft is likely to give problems.

There are other possible causes, such as fall-away of the steering head bearings, which is well worth checking.
 
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Old Mar 15, 2015 | 09:13 AM
  #6  
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I had a similar situation years ago on my 2011 ultra. Riding at 75mph all of a sudden front end wobble, almost lost control, thought I was going to fall off. Finally got to a gas station and my front tire had 28 lbs. Maybe a slow leak that I failed to realize. Nothing else showed up as a problem Never happened again. I changed the front tire because I had heard Harley had some bad tires during this time. Anyway never happened again. My fault for not checking pressure every ride.
 
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Old Mar 15, 2015 | 09:25 AM
  #7  
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An overloaded tourpak will cause the same thing. Something about all that weight over the far end of the rear tire makes for some strange behavior.

Something to consider maybe.
 
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Old Mar 18, 2015 | 07:44 PM
  #8  
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From: Niagara Falls Canada
Default steering neck loose a bit

the fall away test suposedly lets u know if the nut on top of steering columb is a bit looser than it should be-- i couldnt let go of the bars any more to do coat up any more-- did the test and its was almost to the spec and decided id tighten the nut up a bit, pain in the *** had to take radio out to get at the 2 nuts, didnt take much of a move to get the steering columb to swing less when released, then when u tighten the lock nut on top it gets even tighter. took me a ferw shots to get it , high speed wobble seesm to gone and now i can take my hands off the bars to do my coat up again. was afairly long post on this cpl years ago in here
 
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Old Mar 18, 2015 | 08:31 PM
  #9  
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From: Shaconage
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Here's my experience with the wobble. I bought a new FLHTCU in 2012. For about the first 500 miles, the bike seemed unstable at about 55 mph. You could call it floating. I called it unstable. There was a definite unsteadiness or wobble to it. It felt like I was fighting it for control. The unsteadiness eventually settled down into a normal and stable condition.

At about 3K miles, I decided to swap put the stock OEM EG wheels and tires with new take-off Street Glide wheels and tires. Again, I was back to brand new OEM tires. To my surprise, the exact same unsteadiness reappeared at almost the exact same speed. And once again, the wobble disappeared after I got a few miles on the new tires.

You can draw your own conclusions. But from my experience, it had something to do with the new OEM tires.
 

Last edited by ZenGlide; Mar 18, 2015 at 08:36 PM.
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