Last weekend I did a short trip driving my 07 Ultra. I was with three other couples, all riding Heritage Classics. I noticed at a stop light, the HC's handlebars were completely still , not shaking and baking like mine. I've also noticed that my Ultra vibrates enough to rattle my teeth at stop, and even vibrates up to about 1500 rpm so much that I can feel it in the bars and see it when I look at the windshield. I know the touring bike engines are rubber mounted to dampen vibration, but this vibration is really annoying. I read on the forum that some 07's have crankshaft problems that cause excessive vibration. Is my vibration normal, or should I take in to the stealer and have them check it? Should I take off the TD's, PCIII and drain the AMSOIL outto make everything stock before I take it back in case there is an issue covered by warranty?

 

My SG did the same thing when I first got it but as I put on the miles I noticed it getting smoother and smoother. I now have 9000 miles on it and at idle, or any other rpm for that matter, it barely has any noticeable vibration. It is almost as smooth at idle as my Deuce. The Tmax may be a large part of the reduction is shaking or it may just be the miles.Hard to say.

 

BigPapa,

Your vibration is normal. The Heritage is a softail and therefore the engine is hard mounted to the frame not allowing for vibration. The Ultra is rubber mounted allowing the engine to vibrate. I don't know exactly why they do that other than is nostalgic for a Harley to vibrate so they thought they would keep it. I too have an 07 Ultra and can sympathize with you.

 

Softails havethe B engine, B = Balanced with a counter balancer.

I bet your bike is smoother when your cruising, RPM's up above 2,000 it should be nice and smooth.

 

Hey
Went riding with a buddy this weekend who has a 07'Fatboy without the shakes, I ride an 07' Ultra, mine shakes, Guess I know its running, its all part of the Harley experience. I looked at his wife sitting on that puny seat and thought got I love my road sofa, so does my wife. Its normal. Oh yeah I have about 3,000
miles on mine. Laters Maddogge

 

I have NO idea why they dont put the 'B' engine into the tourers...do you?

Some say because the old school like the shake, I'm not sure.

My new SG is noticibly better at speed than the Deluxe I had before but at parade speed I did prefer the balanced engine.

Anyone know any other reason for keeping the balanced engine to softails only?

 

YOU DONT NEED TO TAKE ALL THAT STUFF OFF. MAYBE THE PC3 BUT NOTHING ELSE. NO ONE IS GOING TO BE ABLE TO TELL IF YOU ARE USING AMSOIL AND EVEN IF THEY DID IN SPITE OF WHAT THEY MAY SAY IT WILL NOT VOID YOUR WARRANTY. I USEAMSOIL MYSELF AND I BELIEVE IT IS THE BEST OR CERTAINLY NEAR THE TOP.

 

I've noticed the same thing with my SG, having just past 10k, and with the PCIII with 02 sensor eliminators it idles at a reasonable 900-950 RPM's. I personally like the lumpy idle over the sedate demeanor of the "B" engine, but obviously not everyone agrees, which I suspect is why they buy Softails.

 

My '07 RKC is my first Harley, and to be honest I bought it because it's a Harley and it looks the way it does. I didn't do any research whatsoever. Hadn't even looked at a website, or at a brochure in probably 20 years, when I saw it and made the decision.

[edit: it probably doesn't matter, 'cause who listens to my rambling anyway, but it should be known that when I moved to a much greater population-density part of the country 20 years ago I lost my nerve to ride, in part, and forgot until mid-January that my bike in the pole barn had just plain water in the cooling system, which sealed the deal. I've always said I'd get another bike; that it would be a big air-cooled v-twin; and that it would be either a Harley or a Ducati, depending on my mood at the time. That's the basis for my "it's a Harley" in the paragraph above]

The first weekend I had it, was riding with some friends, one of which has an '06 soft-tail. We were sitting side-by-side at a light and he looks over and says "wow, look at your engine shake!" (with an obviously envious tone and look)

I looked over at his, sitting there motionless like my old v-four Honda, and thought "well, what do you know 'bout that?" hahaha!

[I used to do some (legitimate and otherwise) road-racing on that Honda. I'm sure the more modern bikes of that nature would soundly eclipse it, but it was the best-handling bike I've ever ridden. I'm not able to ride them back-to-back but going by memory, and aside from the brakes, I feel like my RKC handles just as well as it did (while using them reasonably on public roads, anyway). Now, back to our regularly-scheduled program...]

 

I've got an 08 EGC and I'm not complaining but I also notice the bars shaking quite a bit at idle.

Jim