Today I was on the interstate, good pavement, at 75 mph. After traveling about 5 miles suddenly, without any warning, it really wobbled bad. I gradually slowed down and got off the bike. Tires were fine. Got back on the highway but did not exceed 50 mph, everything seemed ok. Dropped it off at HD dealer to get it checked. Bike, 2011 ultra with 6600 miles. I'm reading now that Harley has a problem with some bikes. I weigh 200 lbs, lone rider, tire pressure was 34 front, 38 rear. It seems to it's how the engine is mounted. I was traveling straight line, no after market accessories. I may pursue legal action. Some call this the death wobble, and believe me traveling at 75 it scared me to death. I never had this with my Honda VTX.

 

yes, sue the guy who put 34 pounds in your front tire.

mike

 

I've never heard of anybody having the wobble at 75 on an 09-present bike, I'd have the balance of your tires checked, and also recheck the air pressure, I'm not sure who you can sue, and if you do I think it would be a waste, after all you suffered no damage.

 

+1 ..... 34 pounds? When in doubt And you are assuming your gauge is correct.

I'll represent you, against yourself..... open and shut case..... and I'm not even a lawyer.

 

Love the mentality of take it to the courts...These are freakin motorcycles. Learn their nuances. Learn to ride. By definition motorcycles have an element of danger in them. If you want safety, drive a hummer.

 

There should be more pressure in your front tire but you can't say for sure that's what caused the wobble.
I had it happen to me going over a bridge at around 65mph. I got hit with a cross wind and that's what started it. I agree, it is a very scary feeling, something I hope I never experience again.
I installed a True-Trac stabilizer after this episode which was about 4 years ago and so far, so good. I still get a mild head shake from time to time depending on wind conditions but nothing like that wobble prior to adding the stabilizer.

 

I hate to say this, but you, yourself, can cause your own wobble that can lead to serious tank slap. If you put a death grip on your handlebars and become very rigid in your arms and upper body, you can end up creating your own wobble because you're not allowing the front end of your bike to flex somewhat. Your front tire pressure being low probably contributed to the problem but I suspect as you approached 75 mph you probably started to tense up and grip the bars to tight.

 

This happened to me on my 2006 Wide Glide. I thought it has a problem with the bike. I got it to stop by gently pushing forward on the grips (evenly so as not to invoke a lane change) and it stopped. As it turns out, I was just cold and shivering a little and didn't realize it in my fatigued state. I was shaking the bike, it wasn't shaking me!

As for the air pressure in your tires...if your CAR can be pulled around by a deficit of only 5 psi in one tire, imagine what 6 psi can do to your ONLY front tire on your bike. Check those motherf***ers often, and with a GOOD quality gauge.

 

Have at it pal!

You're part of the reason we all have to wade our way through tons of safety BS and warnings and cautions in any manual, for any product, when what we really want to read is the technical stuff.

Sue 'em! I don't necessarily dislike you - but I sure do dislike that attitude.

Too bad you wrote that single sentence in your post. You may have gotten a better sampling of replies without it. Your not a lawyer, are you?

 

The first thing to check with a wobble is tire press. 40 front 40 rear always has worked for me. Also the loading of the bike i.e. how much weight in tour pack. All the weight in the tour pak is behind the rear axle so it can really affect handling.
After that then balancing of tires and all the other crap that the dealer will check.