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[CVODON]

Something is wrong with Gregs bike. I rode mine (RGCVO) up and down thru that zone today with no hands on the bars and it is smooth as silk.

[GregKhougaz]

Something is wrong with Gregs bike. I rode mine (RGCVO) up and down thru that zone today with no hands on the bars and it is smooth as silk.

I know that! You don't have to rub it in!  ;-)

[CultusRider]

34lbs of pressure in a 42lb metzeler me 880 front tire - that was the culprit for me. Put the bike away for winter all bundled up nice with the trickle charger keeping her warm, stabilizer in the fuel. 6 months later went for the first ride of the season and took my hands off to zip my jacket at 40 mph and let the violent swinging begin. Corrected the tire pressure and problem went away.

[MrSurly]

I was beginning to think I was the only one...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[fastfreddy]

I was beginning to think I was the only one...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

nope they all do that

[Texas 103]

The title says it all.  I am NOT one to recommend riding without your hands on the bars. Tonight, however, as I left my Father's house for home, I realized I hadn't zipped down one of my jacket sleeves.  As I did so, letting the bike decelerate from about 45 mph,  the front end began to shake violently; enough to make me think the bike could go down.  Of course, it stopped as soon as I grabbed the bars.  I didn't want to believe it really happened with the new  bike. So, I tested it again, twice. Sure enough, it did:  Violent shaking starting at 40 mph down to 36 or 35.

I'm guessing it's the steering head bearings as on the '09s.  Looks like another warranty issue.     Any other ideas?   Thanks in advance.

Had the same thing on my '11. watched  my tech set the swing to 1.5, rode it still there,hmm.. rode it home, checked it again  back to three.swings....WTF..?? I tighten it up again to barely one swing..Bingo ! , problem solved. Figured out the bearing race wasn't seated in the neck yet...It's damn sure  seated now and has been since 2011..Didn't care if I had to put head bearings in in every 6 months, Not riding a bike like that!...   

[GregKhougaz]

The first thing I did was check the air pressure. Turns out I had lost about 6 pounds of air in both tires. Put them back to the maximum and 85% of the wobble is gone.  Rides rougher now, however.

[CultusRider]

Greg, speaking from experience unfortunately, if you take the tire off the rim and look inside you may find small but noticeable "ribs" have formed inside the tire... the result of riding with low tire pressure - if so, time for a new tire.

[MrSurly]

uhm.... what?

So, if the tire might have been (at some time) ridden with low air pressure, then permanent fatal damage might have occurred...

and the only way to know if this has happened to your tires is to dismount them and look inside for the telltale "ribs"? Did I read that right?

So tell me, how often do you remove your tires to check for this evidence of this secret damage? Yearly? Bi-annually? If you buy a used bike, do you need to immediately have the tires removed to check for this?

Now, it may not be YOU, it might be the guy that told you this, but SOMEbody is out in left field.

Pictures would be helpful.

[grc]

The first thing I did was check the air pressure. Turns out I had lost about 6 pounds of air in both tires. Put them back to the maximum and 85% of the wobble is gone.  Rides rougher now, however.

So instead of 40 psi, you really had 34 psi.  Since the recommended pressure for the front is 36 psi, the front was really only 2 psi low.  While that may have made the wobble worse, I seriously doubt it was the root cause.  If it were me, I'd still get the steering head bearing preload set properly.

Jerry

[FLSTFI Dave]

Mine did not have any wobble until after the 5K service which checks the neck bearing.  Noticed right away that it had the same 45 to 38mph slowing down wobble with hand off my bars like the 09 SERG had and the fix by Harley was a different spec for the Road Glide., and like the 12 SERG had when adjusted wrong to wrong spec.

Also learned the test is a lot different for the neck bearing on the new road glides.  Then we learned with the bars rolled forward, pin removed changed the test results.  What they had to do was move the bars back to where they came from the factory, adjust then neck bearing per spec, then move bars back to where I had them.  Wobble gone.

Thats when we learned thats why if you look at the non CVO road glide the hand controls mounts are different.  They have extra weight on them, as those bars are shorter. 

I really wonder how it will be adjusted now that I have 14" apes on it.

If I remember right you rolled your bars forward too Greg.  If you pulled the pin and moved them forward I bet that is the cause, the test was done with them forward, and changes the results.

[grc]

That's one of the reasons I say the swing back method or fall away method or whatever method they choose is a poor way to measure bearing preload.  There is just too much stuff that can alter the results of those methods OTHER THAN the bearing preload.  What happens if you mount a GPS and another accessory to the bars?  It sounds like that would throw off the results as well.

Jerry

[MrSurly]

<snip> pin removed <snip>

<snip> If you pulled the pin <snip>

Is this thing going to blow up, now?

[FLSTFI Dave]

That's one of the reasons I say the swing back method or fall away method or whatever method they choose is a poor way to measure bearing preload.  There is just too much stuff that can alter the results of those methods OTHER THAN the bearing preload.  What happens if you mount a GPS and another accessory to the bars?  It sounds like that would throw off the results as well.

Jerry

I have discuss just this with the Service Manager, who is very sharp.  He does not like the new swing back, or the fall away method.  We talked about there should be a pre-load or torque range.  Would have to have some variance due to bearing wear.  There are as you point out way to many variables, different mirrors, GPS, Cup holder and so on, not to mention moving bars a foot forward, all change the test results.

We know the bike is built with a pre-load or torque spec.  Factory does not have enough time to do the swing test on each and every bike.

[CultusRider]

uhm.... what?

So, if the tire might have been (at some time) ridden with low air pressure, then permanent fatal damage might have occurred...

and the only way to know if this has happened to your tires is to dismount them and look inside for the telltale "ribs"? Did I read that right?

So tell me, how often do you remove your tires to check for this evidence of this secret damage? Yearly? Bi-annually? If you buy a used bike, do you need to immediately have the tires removed to check for this?

Now, it may not be YOU, it might be the guy that told you this, but SOMEbody is out in left field.

Pictures would be helpful.

Hi Surly - in my case I bought a set of Hogpro 18" f&r wheels for my 13' flhtcuse8 and when I traded that bike last fall on the 15' fltruse we swapped the wheel set and tires to the new bike as well. I had experienced an uncomfortable amount of lateral movement on the 13' and to some extent chalked it up to the batwing design figuring it would be gone on the new roadglide (my 08' fltr was more stable than my 13' cuse8 ) - but the road manners between the 13' and new 15' were surprisingly similar. Checked tire pressures and discovered I was low in the front and was not sure how many miles had been covered in that condition between the 2 bikes so to be safe, and with some longer rides planned, I bought a new set of tires. That is when we discovered the problem inside the front tire, very easy to see and even easier to "feel" with fingers Inside the tire. Hope that helps you understand.