My dad has an stock 07 ultra. He has been complaining of a front end vibration only when he takes his hand of the bars, he has had it at the dealer twice both times he was told the techs could not verify the vibration because its against harleys policy to ride without holding onto the bars. well thats fine I can appreciate that but lots of people do it and the bars don't go back and forth like they are trying to wiggle them selfs out of the clamps. today I took it out to see what the fuss is about and HOLY ****!!!! the bars go back and forth so violent that I didn't know if I was going to be able to grab them again to get it to stop. we put it on the lift we checked the steering head bearing they were within harleys spec per the manual, tire pressure and condition is good, wheel bearings dont feel sloppy at all. he also said some times we he hits a bump on rebound the front end makes a loud BANG. after riding it I am very concerned for my dads safety right now its only when you let off the bars but what happens if it gets worse and starts doing it when he is running 80mph down the highway.any idea what could cause this

 

My 07 FLHT STD sometimes made a loud bang but that was from hitting a big bump. What about the forks? Good Luck Let us know what you find.

 

Sounds like something is seriously bent or the front tire has cords that have let go to me. Steering thrash like that doesn't just happen without something wrong. I would bet on a bad tire prolly has a hard spot in it or its cupped or something. Would make sense as you have looked at everything else that could be visual and a bad tire inside cant be seen.

 

Sounds like Id be replacing the front tire at the very least besides thats the cheapest next step

 

Assuming that the front and rear are all in alignment (and there are lots of threads on here about how to check this), and if you've got spokes, or even if you don't, checking the run out of the rims wouldn't be a bad idea before replacing the tire.

 

yea spokes are a obvious culprit but solid rims would have to take one helluva hit to have runout just appear IMHO please keep posting itll interesting to find out whats causin this..........

 

A friend had the same problem on a RG , he ended up replacing the steering head bearings, and it went completely away, the bearings had flat spots.
Oh his is an 07 also.

 

On a previous bike (ok, it was a Honda ST 1100) I fussed around trying to cure the handlebar shake -- tire pressure, steering head bearing, etc. Out of despiration, I replaced the front tire. Problem cured. Turns out there were problems with the front and rear tires not being "matched properly" whatever that means. Had a newer version of the matched tire installed and no more wobble. Has your dad had either front or rear tire replaced recently?

 

The very first thing I would suspect is the tire/wheel. May have tossed a wheel weight or two and the tire may have a shifted belt perhaps. Also make sure you check steering head fall away with clutch cable disconnected from lever. GL

 

Probably a cupped front tire. If not the next thing known to cause that is worn steering head bearings. Try greesing them, there is a fitting to shoot some grease in there.