03 ultra - went on a trip last month. everything worked great before i left. plan was to tralier the bike to a common location and then we started our 1500 mile journey. 10 seconds into the ride, my front end wobbles horribly at very low speeds. can barley keep it upright. yes, it was overloaded which i feel contributed to the problem. we shifted weight from the tour pac to the saddlebags and approching stops, my wife and i would both shift forward and we got through the week. it felt better everyday.

trailered the bike home.

next ride was just me, no tour pac, no weight, just two hours of riding with 4 others. the wobble was there, enough to bother me but much slighter than packed to the hilt. it also felt like it got better during the two hour ride.

i have read the posts about overpacking, neck bearing, wheel balancing, tire pressure and wheel bearings. heres my thought in my situation.

my current trailer ( i dont hardly use it ) was originally setup for three dirt bikes. the center chock is the one that was used for my ultra. in order to get the wheel in it, i had to pry it open and when the wheel was fully instered and tied down, it created indents in the rubber on the sidewall. it was like this for four hours each time. i remember worrying about it and looking at the sidewall after removing it from the trailer each time, seeing the subtle indents remain and worry that it would effect my riding.

could this, in your opinion, be enough to throw my front end out of balance and create this low speed wobble? do you think i ruined the tire or will it eventually get back to normal.

i will still check the other things. the bike just hasnt ridden the same since the trip and this is the thing i keep going back to. just not smart enough about tires to know if it could be it.

thx - tin

 

I think it could be a few different things. How hard did you have the bike tied down? When was the last time you had your forks/shocks serviced? Swing arm bushings go bad too, that happened to my buddies 2000 RK, got the wobbles really bad. If your suspension is out of sorts like the front is sitting higher than the rear or vice versa that can do some really funky things.

Just my .02

Ride safe.

 

thx pezz.

front shocks serviced this year. had oil cartridges done and switch to chrome. didnt think of swing arm bushing.

hoping someone can validate my tire theory

 

Leaking any fork oil (may show up on the front of the engine)? This would be caused by compressing the forks too much.
Hard to imagine the chock being that tight on the tire but it is possible that you damaged the cords. You might be able to see a slight "twist" in the tread pattern.


Could just be the gremlins getting even with you for trailering a touring bike.

 

My gremlins let me do whatever I want! I don't have to conform to how other people think I ought to do things!! It is a good thing too, cause at my age I don't really give a poop if I am "politically correct" or not!!

 

i would start with your neck bearings. seen alot of wobbles and it is about 50/50 between the tire and the neck bearings and sometimes a combination of both. fyi, bad tires get worse not better.