Not that this bothers me on my 07 but I was sitting at a light and a Heritage was next to me. Looked like his engine was off(I was in a car)...then he just took off. I was fully waiting to hear him start it. On down the road we stop at the same spot(millers) and I pay more attention to his and his 2 buddies. You could visibly see the other 2 engines shake. His was dead still. I asked him about it and he said it's a stock 07.


I know on mine the horn covers shakes good at warm idle....his was not at all.

what gives?

Higher idle?

Stock pipes?

I have 3k miles on my 07 and it no where near as smooth as his was. Hell, my bags shake pretty good.

 

His is a counter-balanced softail. They don't have the shakes like your touring bike (which is rubber mounted).

 

Ive noticed the same thing when sitting next to my brothers Wide Glide only my bike was the smooth one, softail. I don't think it has anything to do with being stock.. stro1965 said it, counterbalanced vs rubber mounted engines.

 

...and they have quieted the shakes even more starting on the 09's I believe. My Ultra hardly shakes at all compared to my 07.

 

Seriously, you don't know that the Heritage is a solid mounted engine? It's bolted solidly to the frame. If his motor was shaking he'd be in big trouble. Your Touring bike's engine, tranny, and swingarm are rubber mounted allowing the engine to shake, but isolating the vibration from the rider. Later Softails have a counterbalancing system in the engine to smooth them out. On the highway there is a little "buzzing" in the counterbalanced bikes. The rubber mounts are smooth as silk at speed.

 

Yep. I like the shake at idle, I wish our touring bikes vibrated a little more. They do smooth out nicely going down the road, while the softails get worse with engine speed.

 

My 2011 Deluxe does not vibrate like the 2010 RK when stopped. At speed, the RK is much smoother. Both have 103 engines, though the Deluxe is seriously hot rodded. However, I'd say the RK was still smoother than the D's stock 96 at speed.
Worst vibration ever was on a 1993 FXR my lady finally sold late last year. I wouldn't ride that thing. Shook so hard I could feel my brain bouncing against my skull

 

Interesting, Ive owned my 05 softail standard for a year and never noticed it "getting worse with engine speed". Ive also ridden the dynas fat bob, street bob, and wide glide all at speed and haven't noticed them being more or less smooth.. they all felt good. haha, maybe im not as observant.

 

I mean Seriously.

lp

 

Ride your softail back to back with a touring or dyna, it was literally the first major difference I noticed between them.