Is the emergency brake on?

 

A buddy of my had the same problem with his 2002 Roadking. When the dealer replaced the front wheel he put the left spacer on the right and the right on the left (they are different). If the dealer replaced your front fender, maybe he switched the spacers.

 

Be sure after the axle is torqued, before tightening the pinch bolts on the right side, push in with your hand to make sure the right side is against the axle spacer. I had this happen to me after putting a new tire on. I tightened everything up and the tire was hard to spin. I reread the manual and realized I hadn't put pressure on the downtube before tightening the axle pinch bolts. This will cause misalignment on the brake to rotor.

 

I don't know how many miles you have on that 2010, but when I bought my 2009 Ultra I had it up on the jack and noticed the same thing: the front wheel was abnormally hard to turn (and I've turned quite a few front motorcycle wheels). After satisfying myself that nothing weird was going on, I just left it alone and rode it. Next time I had it up on the jack (say 1000 miles) it turned perfectly normally.

I don't know the reason; maybe the Brembo pads are just a little on the thick side and need to bed in to the rotors and wear just a bit before everything operates smoothly.

 

Awesome info guys i will update everyone soon...about the spacers-the 09 manual i have says they are the same.

 

Btw-the bike only has 6000 miles.

 

Awesome info. Thanks everyone...hard to type on this f'n phone.....lol. will update real soon....my dealer gave me the "its normal" bit too.

 

Just wanted to thank everyone for their responses. Remember that this was an issue when I stored the bike for the winter. So other then trudging out to the shed every month and making vroom vroom noises, I haven't seen or really touched the bike since late November.

Here's what I just found out. The wheel spins as it should. There should be a slight drag and you should hear the pads "rubbing". that's normal. I pull on the front break lever twice and wah lah-it's tough to spin again. I believe it's the LEFT side that seems to be hanging up. My next step is to (tomorrow night hopefully) take that left side caliper off and try to use brake pin lube on it. Only slightly. I'll see where I'm at and hopefully it's not the piston that's hosed.

At least I ruled out the bearings, over tightened axle nut or improper adjustment of the axle before tightening down the pinch bolts (like Ronp42 mentioned-that was a good tip ron).

your thoughts would be appreciated.

-Tony

 

When still new, mine was also harder to spin than what I thought it should be. At 15,000 miles it's no longer is like that.

I've never had a previous touring bike with a front wheel that tight. Guess what the dealer said? "Oh, that's normal."

 

Ditto that. My 2010 UC was the same way when new. The tech at the shop told me it would loosen up and it did. With over 1,000 miles on it, the tire spins freely now. I'm thinking it loosens up when the pads wear down a little.