Not to beat a dead horse, but I wanted to start a new thread on determining whether or not one has a wobbly bike.
I think most folks don't think they have the wobble because they don't know how to induce it, or what it feels like when it happens. I didn't know about it until I got on this forum and read about it. I thought it was the normal noises. There have been times I thought I had a flat rear tire on riding previous Ultras.

Let me know if you do or don't feel this after taking the wobble test:
· Go down the road, straight, about 50 to 60 mph, both "hands on the wheel".
· Take your **** and shift it hard to one side. Left or right doesn't matter. Your just trying to make a sudden c.g. shift.
· See if the bike doesn't oscillate back and forth about 3 times.
· If so, you've got the wobble.
My '08 did this from brand new. After installing the Ride Sr8t the bike is solid. Does not oscillate. I can shift my weight hard and the bike feels like it's bolted to the road. Huge difference in the sweepers, and more importantly heavy cross winds. We've ridden 2 up in some hellacious cross winds, 40 mph gust type, bike was stable and steady. Yeah, we got tossed around but never did I feel wobbly or outta control.

Some folks ask if they really need a stabilizer. Need? No. Should you have it for added safety and control? Absolutely. Why doesn't HD address it? 'Cause it costs money. They don't put the $20.00 fork baffles on anymore, why would they design and add the stabilizer?

That's my $1.98 worth.

 

I'm wondering about a few contributing factors.

Does this happen with;

New tires or old tires?
with or without passenger (happened to my buddy with a passenger) but on rain grooves with 5000 miles (1/2 worn?) tires. He has since replaced the rear tire.

In a crosswind?
Fairing models only?

Just curious

 

I’ve been reading a LOT about this issue since I recently moved from a Heritage Softail to an Ultra. I have the wobbles in a major way!! I can reproduce it at will on my bike but interestingly, there are a few models in the touring family I recently rode that I couldn’t (The R/K and the Street Glide). Some bikes of the same model are worse than others also. The feeling I get is an oscillation (circular feeling) from the entire chassis of the bike in long sweepers at higher speeds. It basically feels like the entire chassis of the motorcycle is making little circles all the way through the turn.

Things I’ve read and tried are:

Suggestion: “Adjust your shock pressure up/down”
Action: Adjusted pressure from 5psi to 20 psi in 2 psi intervals
Result: No change

Suggestion: “You’re gripping the bars too tightly”
Action: Set cruise, held bars with forefinger and thumb on both sides and paid special attention to trying to be steady when turning
Result: No change
(Note: This was NOT safe and NOT smart but I was able to cross this off of my list)

Suggestion: “Your air pressure is wrong in your tires”
Action: Set air pressure to 40 psi rear, 36 front
Result: Minor change that resulted in correcting wobble below 50 mph. Still experienced problem above 50 mph

Suggestion: “Your engine is out of alignment”
Action: Had dealer check alignment
Result: No change

Suggestion: “Buy a Gold Wing”
Action: Not an option
Result: Don’t care if Gold Wings oscillate or not

Suggestion: “Too much weight in the bags/tour pack will cause this”
Action: Emptied everything
Result: No change

Now, here are some things that I have tried that do HELP but don’t fully correct the problem.

You MUST maintain or increase speed through the turn. I believe the belt helps maintain tension on the chassis to minimize the wobble. If you chop the throttle at some point in the turn, hang on because it’s probably going to get ugly!

Proper path of travel (outside, inside, outside) helps also but I believe this is due to not putting as much lateral load on the chassis and allows you to roll the throttle on earlier in the turn.

Carrying the wife on the back minimized the oscillations. I’m not sure if it was due to the fact that I have an extra 150 pounds (if she asks, tell her I said she’s not an OUNCE over 115) centered right over the trans/swing arm junction or not. It could also be that I take the turns slower for fear of getting pounded in the back of the helmet by her when I drag the boards through the corner. It’s almost automatic on her part…. Enter corner hot, drag board… WHACK “Cut that &^%& out and stop laughing at me!!” (Wash rinse and repeat) She REALLY hates quick S turns!!

I got some advice from a friend who is VERY familiar with baggers since he has either been a mechanic or a service manager for H/D for a long time. He showed me how the whole rear end is tied together at the trans/swing arm/frame. From what I saw, it is essentially all sitting on rubber isolators and these isolators allow the engine/swing arm assembly to move both horizontally and laterally. This helped me make the decision to add another engine mount to the rear of the engine. I personally bought the TWR after extensive research. This was mainly due to fit, finish and design. Another deciding factor was the support of Tracy on this forum and through our communication. I haven’t installed it yet since after reading the instructions I found I needed a jack (good excuse to buy one I guess) but plan to as soon as the jack comes in or I can sneak my bike on a lift at the shop when nobody is looking. I’d expect that once this is installed, the lateral forces placed on the swing arm/engine/frame assembly will be controlled by the TWR stabilizer and the oscillation will be gone or minimized to the point where it is no longer a threat.

NOW, the interesting part…. I haven’t personally ridden a 09 yet but the reports I am getting from the mechanics and others that have state that the wobble is GONE in the new frame. Now, I didn’t really start experiencing mine until just after 1000 miles so the rubber may be stiff enough to mask/eliminate the wobble in a brand new motorcycle. I do believe I saw two engine mounts in the front now vs the one that is on the 08’s and older bikes. Time will tell and your mileage may vary but that’s my research on the subject……

 

IMO it's very simple...a rubber mounted swingarm on a frame not rigid enough to handle 750lbs with a long wheel base = wobble when pushed...tire pressure fine, alignment fine...everything within spec and your still gonna wobble, I'm running a True-Track on My 08 RKC and if I push it you can still feel the frame twist...the True-Track helped a lot but easy to feel the frames not so rigid design in some situations. Maybe I'm a bit more sensitive to the jelly like frame on the HD having ridden sport bikes with extremely rigid frames and solidly mounted swingarms...just my 2 cents

Having sad all that...I still love the damn thing.

 

Do they make stiffer swingarm bushings ?

 

Truman, I also rode sportbikes for years and I believe that's why I'm so hyper sensitive to the wobble. Usually when a sportbike is wobbling at the frequency that my Ultra wobbles, you did something very very wrong and bad things were about to happen..

Spartan, the Glide-Pro setup is about as close to anything I have found that augments the swingarm bushings.