Wobble around long turns
It feels uncomfortable, and only solution on stock bike is to slow down till it goes away : <(
Several aftermarket solutions. In 09 they changed to a stronger frame, and it pretty much went away.
There are bolt on products that will undoubtedly help but the best solution IMO is the Glide Pro kit that replaces the OEM donuts and swingarm shaft and front motor mount. Put the kit on my '91 Glide and it's like it's nailed to the road now. When I wiggle the bars at speed all that moves is the front wheel instead of the whole bike flexing.
Jake is the owner/inventor and has sold thousands of these kits. Check out his informative vids on his website and educate yourself on the best solution.
Since the only way to prove it, it to swap 'em out which is very expensive on a gamble, most folks save this for last... I'll bet it's the #1 cause...
The Best of Harley-Davidson for Lifelong Riders
Ride down a straight road at a decent clip, and wiggle your bars. What happens?
First off, you'll notice a huge discrepancy between where your handlebars are pointed and where the front tire is going (not to be confused with countersteering). Next you'll notice as the handlebars catch up to the front wheel, a fairly stable wagg of the bike, traveling rearward. As the bars travel the other way, the same thing occurs, opposite. You can do this all day, at pretty severe input, and still not upset the bike to the point of creating a full on tank slapper.
This is inherent in all motorcycle design, mostly because of the gyroscopic effect, but also because of the forces induced by countersteering.
There are however a "stack up" of numerous other things going on in a touring Harley.
For starters, the designed in flexibility of the front forks, starting at the weak triangulation of the triple trees, traveling down small dia. tubes, into sloppy fork bushings with poor overlap, and terminating into a less then stout front axle. Luckily the front fender IS a stressed member and is essentially used as a fork brace (Remember that when modding the fenders guys).
Add the rubber mounted handlebars, and that is enough to get this whole ball of wax rolling.
The next part of the equation, is the frame. A center backbone frame is whoefully inadequate to stop any type of twisting from being translated front to back, especially when the engine is not utilized as a stressed member, and is also a big contributor to the wagg.
Getting into the engine/swingarm design, I'm referring to them as one, because even though they act in a vertical plain separate from one another, they act as one in the horizontal plane.
This is where it gets interesting, and this is where I think most derive a diverging conclusion. The engine/swingarm is NOT solidly mounted to the frame. It is designed to rotate in very controlled vertical plane, relative to the engines gyroscopic forces, by using a series of rubber bushings, and pendulum links to keep it in it's intended path, and to allow for the Harley rumble. The engine/swingarm and frame junction is also rubber mounted to allow a small amount of axial flex about it. This is because the pendulum links require a mall amount to keep them from binding, and also to isolate some of the engine loads from transferring too much engine vibration into the frame and rider.
Since we're here, the primary purpose of the bagger links, is to limit this axial rotation at the engine/swingarm/frame junction. Reducing the amount of flex that is translated into the dreaded wobble.
Now add to that, tire squirm, underdamped suspension, high CG, varying loads, wind updraft caused by the fairings, and countless other minor inputs, and it's surprising the things don't spit us off at every turn.
A few more things I'd like to point out. One, with all the various solutions described just in this thread, it's pretty obvious to me that one thing slightly out of harmony, bearings, tire wear, loading, bad shocks, etc. can really upset the apple cart.
Two, the methodical refinement of the whole system, has brought, what in terms of fresh design would be a nightmare to a designer, has in fact created a truly unique and fairly capable machine.
Flame on!!!
Last edited by Scorpion07; Nov 16, 2012 at 09:36 AM.
The rest of the redesign was to reduce manufacturing cost. For the most part.







