I was riding yesterday and noticed for the first time that around 35-40 MPH in a straight line I get a small handlebar "wobble". It feels like a shimmy would be in a car steering wheel where it goes back and forth.

Its not real bad and hasn't seemed to cause any problems in riding, but I was wondering if anyone has found a steering damper to help with this for the touring bikes? I have seen them for sporties and softails, but not touring bikes.

I have about 400 miles on this new '08 street glide and am wondering if this was always there from when I bought the bike or maybe my steering stem loosened up?

I would really like to find a steering damper as I've always had them on bikes in the past and think that they are important for highway and higher speed riding and also helping with bump steer in the turns. If anyone has found one I'd love to hear about it even if this isn't the cure for my "wobble" in the handle bars.

My other question if if HD changed the motor stabilizers for the '08's? I've heard all about the rear wheel wobble from reading this forum, but have never seen anything like it on my bike. I've also never heard anyone on here complain about the rear wheel wobble with an '08 touring bike. Anyone with an '08 have this problem?

Thanks for the help!

Chris

 

sounds silly, but check you air tire pressure... especially if this suddenly just showed up.

 

loose neck bearings, just had to do my own at 8000 miles, but also check the tire pressure, thats the first and easiest to do

 

Had the same and they replaced the front tire.

 

+1 on neck bearings. (after checking the front tire).


My other question if if HD changed the motor stabilizers for the '08's? I've heard all about the rear wheel wobble from reading this forum, but have never seen anything like it on my bike. I've also never heard anyone on here complain about the rear wheel wobble with an '08 touring bike. Anyone with an '08 have this problem?

They did change the location of one of the 2 engine stabilizers. However there are still just 2 of them when there should really be three.

It is possible that you will experience rear wallow when in a turn. A third (aftermarket) stabilizer like ridestr8 will cure that.

 

After checking the tire pressure. If you have a jack, put a straight edge under and along side the front tire. Spin the tire slow and this might tell you something. A minor vibrationcould be caused by several things. Maybe the tire is just out of balance. Check and see if there is a mark on the rimwhere a weight used to be.



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More than likely a front tire problem, could be out of balance or a bad tire.
If the tire checks out ok then the next thing to check would be the neck bearings. If the steering head was loose you would usually feel a clunk in the front end when going over bumps in the road.