Buddy of mine went down on his bagger on thurs. night. He broke his leg,finger,and a few ribs. He is sore but ok. I wasnt there when it happened and he was sober. He told me his, I think 08 ultra was giving him a little wobble up front. This has been going on for a few weeks. (I know he shoulda taken it in right away). He was going into a corner at around fifty when the front end started to wobble and he couldnt recover. My question is I thought I had read about the flh having some issue with a front end wobble. This has been a year or more since I read this but anybody remember anything about this?
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The only front end wobble I am aware of is when people let go of the bars under 35mph the front end shakes uncontrollably

 

I'm going to assume that with only 2 posts you are *very* new here & as a result haven't seen the hundreds of posts about "wobble" & "stabilizers". Even with that taken in consideration, I'm constantly amazed at the number of people involved with motorcycles that are unaware of the issues with Harley's rubber mounted drive train. It's not just you, but riders I meet on the road, & even people working in shops. I understand dealer employees claiming "we've never heard of that" due to liability issues, but the other day I actually showed the owner of a custom shop my TWR stabilizer & he'd never heard of them. By the time I finished tellin' him what it did for the bike he had pulled a TruTrac off his shelf & was lookin' at how it mounted with consideration for mounting it on his & his wife's bikes.

I'm sorry to hear of your friends misfortune, but now that it's happened do a search on "wobble" or "stabilizer", learn a little about the problem & educate yourself & your friend.

 

Harley Davidson has been manufacturing motorcycles for over 100 years. Their bikes, known for their distinctive design, are very popular with the general public – and police forces – for which the company supplies bikes. However, many riders are experiencing a very dangerous problem as of late. It’s referred to as “the Harley wobble” and has been linked to serious injuries and deaths.
What is the Harley wobble?

To answer that question, we asked Kevin Liebeck, a California attorney whose practice represents plaintiffs in personal injury, medical malpractice and products liability actions. He explained:

The issue is basically a problem in the manner in which the engine is mounted into the frame and is constrained within the frame from motion. The reason this presents a problem is because the swing arm, the rear suspension member of the motorcycle which is the pivot point, is mounted to the aft end of the transmission on these Harley-Davidson motorcycles. If the engine is not constrained in all three axles, you can develop an elastic relationship between the swing arm and the frame of the motorcycle. While the system isn’t novel, there are a lot of motorcycles that do have some sort of a system to isolate engine vibrations from the rest of the motorcycle. Harley's method is patented.

Liebeck says that the problem has become known as the Harley wobble, the rear steer and even the death wobble – and for good reason as the condition can kill you.

Why hasn’t Harley Davidson instituted a recall?

That’s what many riders and consumer groups want to know. Liebeck explained, “I believe that they haven’t because it would involve recalling tens of thousands of motorcycles. Furthermore, they deny that this situation exists at all. If they admitted that the problem exists, I would expect that they’re going to have a whole lot of people suing them for injuries that they have sustained as a result of these accidents.”

However, Liebeck says that Harley has an advantage in these types of cases. He told us:

Harley is playing with a full deck of cards in these situations, if you will, because I think that many jurors are of the mentality that motorcycles are dangerous and that riders fall off of them all the time for no reason. It's easy to suggest that the rider was going too fast and simply lost control because they were riding beyond their abilities.

This is a situation that is much more likely to occur in a turn or at high speeds. People report it as occurring around 90, 95, or even 100 miles an hour. Well, where can you legally ride a motorcycle in the United States at 95 or 100 miles an hour? Nowhere; so these people are going to be speeding. They're going to be on a canyon road that is real curvy or simply going too fast. I think that makes for a really fantastic defense for Harley in a lot of respects because they can point to what the conduct was and say look, this isn't a problem with our motorcycle; this guy just overcooked it into a corner and ran out of talent. So, don’t blame us.

While that can be a defense for the company, it doesn’t mean that riders can’t be compensated for their injuries. An experienced attorney will be able to determine whether a case exists. If you’ve been injured on a Harley Davidson motorcycle, contact an motorcycle accident attorney whose practice focuses in this area of the law. Consultations are free, without obligation and are strictly confidential.

C&P

 

I think the OP was asking about a front end wobble, doesnt the "normal" wobble occur on the rear of the motorcycle? Also, does the 09 frame changes address the issue?

 

funny how people don't read before they post

 

To my knowledge, front end wobble is not related to rear end wobble. My guess is that if the front end was oscillating back and forth to the point that it caused him to go down, something else is the culprit. Bearings, neck bearings, tire pressure, tire defect, or something else. A swing arm moving a few thousands laterally in a turn going 50 doesn't sound like the cause. Just my .02

 

You are right, this is something completely different. I never had even a slight wobble on mine but the people that have were going faster than 50. He had a problem either in the neck or a tire problem.

 

I have a 2006 St. Glide and have not experienced any wobble front or back at any speed.
I did have some wobble on my 2007 Street Bob, but not my Street Glide.

I just rode it 450 miles on the Pa. Turn Pike ,thru the tunnels, with a trailer truck beside me
(two lanes each direction inside the 1 mile tunnel) and the mountains/country roads with no issues.

It has been very stable even if I let go of the bars (I know I am a dangerous idiot) for a few
seconds at slow speeds. It tracks true as well.

Hopefully it will continue this way, I only have 5,000 miles on it so far.

WillieC

 

thats kinda what I was thinking. plus after everything I have read this was a problem with the 99 and 00 models not an 08 model. I think he had some other issues.
thanks for your thoughts.