I was reading a bagger magazine todayand there was an article on the bagger wobble. the writer was recommending a stabalizer. anyway, he said he personaly experienced the wobble and it was a major pucker moment. i assume that means he was scared.

my question, has anyone experienced the wobble and what can you describe it and does anyone know of anyone dropping due to the wobble.

i never experienced it, at least i don't think so, and i do ride by the motto "ride like you stole it".

 

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I took my hands off the bars of my 07 Fatboy to change glasses at about 25mph and I was surprised to see a wobble and I put my hands back on immediately. I found a quiet street and performed some experiments, and even got my girlfriend on the back to shoot videos (ok maybe not the smartest thing). When I took my hands off, it started to wobble and with eachiteration it grew more violent - I let it go about 2" back and forth before I stopped it. I was holding my hands about 1" away from the bars, so I could grab it quicky. I googled this, cause I was really surprised as I saw lots of harleys coming to a light, and the rider would put a cigarette in his mouth and light it, taking both hands off for a little while. While googling it (you can google yourself) I found a lot of incidences, and several deaths. The most publicized seemed to be an auto dealership owner, who got a wobble at 55mph and died - with lots of witnesses. they called it a "tank slapper". I read the biggest issues with wobbles were 1) Loose Spokes, and 2) inproperly inflated tires 3) deceleration induced wobble. I don't have spokes on my bike, I have the solid wheel, and I checked the pressure and it was fine, and I tried letting go in neutral also. I have a friend thats an ex-harley mechanic, and I emailed him the videos and he said to take it to the dealer immediatey. I called the dealer, and first he said thats normal, all his rental heritages wobble if you take your hands off, and he told me that I'm not supposed to take my hands off. I told him I don't have spokes and it shouldn't wobble, and he told me to not to ride it anymore and they will send a truck to pick it up and they did. While it was in, they took everything apart, I could tell because the wiring, cabling and bars was different, and put it back together. The dealer told me that they didn't find any problem. They also told me that they took everything apart, and retightened it to specs, so they don't know if something was out of spec or not. It took me a day or two to get up enough courage, to try it and I performed a bunch of tests, and even increased the speeds to 45mph, but there isn't any wobble at all any more. My guess is that there was something loose in the front end, or an out of balance tire.

http://www.goingfaster.com/angst/lawsuit1.htm
http://www.bikernewsonline.com/2007/...ley-wobble.htm
http://www.macon.com/198/story/271654.html
http://www.*****************/forums/tw...on-wobble.html
http://www.1personalinjurylawyers.co...ry-harley.html

Oh, I read about other bikewobbles, its not just Harley, and it is a good idea to always keep your hands on the bars.

 

I have never experienced it as far as I know.

 

My 03 Ultra did at 115, when I hit a bot-dot changing lanes. Its a bagger thing and the rubber isolated swingarm.

 

My 08' Road Glide did it for the first time about 2 weeks ago. My wife and I were riding through Austin going down a hill about 75 and went into a curve. While going through the curve the rear end started wallowing like we were on grooved or bad pavement. The pavement was fine. The problem is caused by movement in the rear swingarm from an apparent not so great design in the bushings and shaft. Apparently it gets worse with age, speed and load. T.

 

Mine did it while driving straight, going over a bridge. I was traveling at 65mph. I think what started it was a crosswind. That was a major pucker moment since there was traffic all around me. I now have a stabilizer and thank god it hasn't happened since.
I do experience light steering at 80mph. Feels like the front end is very light.

 

If you checked your tire pressure and are running cast wheels, check your steering head bearings. Bearings were loose in my Softail and I used to get the wobble. Tightened them up and no woble. My 08 has a very similar wobble. I just hit 1,000 miles. So when I do my service I'm going to check the fall away which is related to the steering head bearings.

 

Have ridden 95+ for extended periods of time through long highway curves and also tight twisties, Maybe i am just lucky or maybe just not Hyper Sensative to normal things felt when riding a steel Machine, I am a Heavy Equipt Oper so i have felt what happens when you push any machine to its extreme.I have operated everything from a Road Grader to a Boom Axe hanging off the slope on the side of the highway, When i get on the Harley and let it Rip its the smoothest thing ive felt all week,

 

Here is a little tid bit of information for you guys. Tank slappers are not just a Harley phenomenon. As a matter of fact Crotch Rockets suffer from them worst than baggers. Ask me how I know.... Not only have I experienced this on a crotch rocket, I have witnessed it happen on many occasions to guys that I was riding with. Although I will admit that part of itmay be induced by therubber mounted swingarm on baggers.I believe a lot of it is the shallow rake angle of the forks (used to provide better turn in), as is the same case with crotch rockets.Try to induce a tank slapper on a chopper, damn near impossible.