I have been riding motorcycles for 33 years and bought my first Harley in Aug. I have put 3800 miles on it in the last 3 months and was realy liking the ride. It made a few noises and clunks that I thought was normal for a Harley. After reading this forum I found out that not all the noises were normal. It kinda started with a loud bang and there seemed to be a lot of slop and driveline slack. I did have the extended warrenty that I purchased with the bike and was taking it in to get the brackets repaired for my fairing and asked the service manager to take a look in the primary and see what he thought. I asked him that if the compensator needed replaced if they can upgrade to the SE. 3 days later they called and said the bike was done. Went in and everything was fixed. New SE Compensator installed and was only charged the $50 deductable for everything. Service Manager said they only replace the compensators with SE's now and there is not a charge for an ungrade.
I have an 09 Classic I bought used and now has 21000 miles.
The ride home was great. Felt like a totally different bike. No bang on startup, shifted smoother and was a lot quieter. Since it was 59 degrees I rode about 50 miles because I couldn't believe the difference. EVERYTHING FELT TIGHT.
Thanks for this forum! I paid my dues and became a supporter today and will be reading daily.

 

The S.E compensator does make a real improvement. Did mine a couple years ago and IMO it was money well spent.

 

Put one on my Street Glide about a year ago. Very nice upgrade.

 

Good story and glad you got it fixed under the esp.

 

You can learn some pretty good stuff here..and the entertainment is priceless..

 

 

I replaced mine a few months ago and found the same results as you, a major improvement.

 

You got that right. Going to be a long winter knowing the glide will be parked for most of the time. I will need the entertainment to pass the time.

 

What exact problems does the SE compensator fix? I have seen a lot of talk about this part on the forum but have never quite understood why it is needed for some and not others.

 

I had a major clunk on starting and going into first gear. Also lots of chain slap when shifting and when hitting certain bumps or dips in the road. Neutral was tricky at times. All problems are now fixed.