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[LarryB]

jeff, maybe your bike just didn't want to leave TN

[Fired00d]

Jeff, like Don said, everything gets blamed and no two bikes seem to react the same to the "fixes," but ... on my '04 (same frame as Lexi) replacing the rear swingarm bushings made a HUGE difference.  That bike was rock-solid new and nothing ever upset it.  Then, about 15,000 miles, all hell broke loose at 90 mph in a sweeper down in the Smokies.  After that, I installed a Ride-Str8, replaced tires with Michelin's and did a few other things at folks suggestions (all except slowing down, Miker! ), including Traxxion and Bitubos.  Got so bad it was doing it on on/off ramps around here and even the 30mph curve going into work that I like to lean it over on.  It wasn't until I talked with Pete_4854 and heard how he has his rear swingarm bushings replaced periodically that I found something that actually works ... at least on my bike.

I think it's worth a shot to do that, and then also grease, grease, grease and grease once more the neck bearings.  I've got all the confidence back in the bike now ... 119 per the GPS just yesterday and 106 exiting a nice sweeper on route 54 on the way down!

Brian you replace w/OEM or did you go after market?

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[nidan]

I only had it happen twice ..it was quite unpleasent,  put on the Progressive touring link and monotube fork cartridges , and no worries since.

[110tHunDer]

Brian you replace w/OEM or did you go after market?

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

Went with OEM, as advised by Pete.  Figured that way no worries about some of the harshness and additional vibration transmission that others were mentioning from some of the aftermarket alternatives.

[Fired00d]

Went with OEM, as advised by Pete.  Figured that way no worries about some of the harshness and additional vibration transmission that others were mentioning from some of the aftermarket alternatives.

Thanks. I had heard/read the negatives regarding the after market alternatives too and was wondering if you had found something new that worked.... guess this is one case when OEM is better.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[Black Diamond]

Jeff, same thing on my 09.   I know how you feel. wish I had an answer. I changed the back tire. gonna get the neck greased at my next service. I have a low speed wobble at 40 mph now so we will see if the neck fixes that. Had the glide up to 120 at Ribfest with no high speed problems.  good luck. Ill be watching.

I will say this it has taken a long time to regain confidence in the bike at high speed.

I hear that Rick! She's over 30,000 miles so I take her in an have the neck bearings checked.

i've experienced this on my 08tr once  had her fully equipped, ktp, lowers ect. not loaded down though. happened on a long straight away and i hope to never experience it again. i just changed my rear shocks to 12.5" 440hd progressives and after futher review i found they were not set properly.  i keep thinking suspension related.   not saying this was the cause but hasn't happened again, will not try and duplicate either. ain't thought about this in a long time.

some scary chit


TN

I had the shocks set for the load I had on. Maybe my load was unbalanced  

Buy a gixxer and go fast on that...

Glad you are here to beeyatch about it!

Amen to that one brother.

JW, I am not advocating any tire here, but many people I know did use the Metzler's only once and went back to the H-D Dunlops. Just sayin' . From my experience the tires (we're talking Road King here) are the biggest factor when you experience a wobble. I also read that you were able to straighten the bike out by accelerating. When the wobble was caused by the rear and/or frame, accelerating would make it worse in most cases. So another argument for (against?) the tires.

Ride safely,
Louis

I'm just trying to get my money's worth out of these 880's. I will be back to Dunlop soon. JMO.

BD.....not sure how many miles you have on the bike,  but in addition to all the things mentioned already to check,  I would add taking a look at the IDS setup in rear hub.   I've heard say that the rubber cushions in there should be replaced at every tire change.   Not enough miles on mine yet to have that concern,  but I'm wondering if any "slop" there could effect handling

Also,  (if possible).......next time, do NOT let the throttle slam shut........ease her back down.

Yep

[Black Diamond]

Jeff, like Don said, everything gets blamed and no two bikes seem to react the same to the "fixes," but ... on my '04 (same frame as Lexi) replacing the rear swingarm bushings made a HUGE difference.  That bike was rock-solid new and nothing ever upset it.  Then, about 15,000 miles, all hell broke loose at 90 mph in a sweeper down in the Smokies.  After that, I installed a Ride-Str8, replaced tires with Michelin's and did a few other things at folks suggestions (all except slowing down, Miker! ), including Traxxion and Bitubos.  Got so bad it was doing it on on/off ramps around here and even the 30mph curve going into work that I like to lean it over on.  It wasn't until I talked with Pete_4854 and heard how he has his rear swingarm bushings replaced periodically that I found something that actually works ... at least on my bike.

I think it's worth a shot to do that, and then also grease, grease, grease and grease once more the neck bearings.  I've got all the confidence back in the bike now ... 119 per the GPS just yesterday and 106 exiting a nice sweeper on route 54 on the way down!

Can't hurt to replace swingarm bearings after 30,000 miles. Thanks Brian. OEM it is!

jeff, maybe your bike just didn't want to leave TN

Bikes smarter than me. What a great place to ride!

I only had it happen twice ..it was quite unpleasent,  put on the Progressive touring link and monotube fork cartridges , and no worries since.

To put it lightly! Scared the hell out of me is how I put it.


Thanks to all for the advice.
JW

[Twolanerider]

Can't hurt to replace swingarm bearings after 30,000 miles. Thanks Brian. OEM it is!

Not much option.  StaBo bushings to add on top of stock parts or those Glide-Pro kits.  I don't think you can adjust the drive line when using those kits though.  So I'd likely shy away.

[custardglide]

I've posted before that I had a wobble, scared the  chit out of me, also doing daft things, like goin too fast in a right sweeper only this one has a resurfacing patch across it, Me too decided i'll try and cure it so, Brand new SERK 3 forks, headbearings done, swingarm bearings and bushes done, BAGGER BRACE fitted 36psi in front 38psi in back, on dunlops, suspension at 15 lbs, still had a wobble but not as bad(I didnt have to get off the bike and thank the good lord i was still in one piece) the only thing that I have to try is a new rear tyre, if it still does it after I have had a tyre on, I will have NO confidence in the bike whatsoever, A buddy of mine told me with a wry grin  "the o'le glide will tell yer when she needs a new rear tyre y'know" We'll see when I get back from France next week I'll have a new rear fitted Ps when you guy's had the wobble did it feel like as the bike was shakin that the bars was'nt connected to the bike, mine did And for what it's worth MY brain WOULD NOT LET ME OPEN THE THROTTLE,,,, Moscooter, you are bang on the money, EASE OFF THE THROTTLE GENTLY

[RayG]

I had my bout with the dreaded high speed wobble about 2 years ago. In my case, it came up sneaky fast and left me with a feeling of a panic attack. I was doing a lazy left hand downhill sweeper with zero traffic on the road going on an interstate doing 75 to 80 mph. Everything seemed normal until she started to wobble, it happend so fast I couldn't tell where it was coming from. I wanted to slow down as fast as I could but in my panicked state I somehow ended up accelerated while into the wobble which most likely saved my butt. I was confused as I have been on the same ramp dozens of times without so much as a small wiggle. Everything on the bike checked out but the next day I ordered the 13" Bitubo's. Looking back at it now and reading all the expert advise on this post I believe I was compressing the front forks since I was going down hill and most likely I was out of any help the front end could do. Others have said it better than I can, a high speed wobble can be from a number of issues either singular in nature or a combination of items. I currently have a check list that I do prior to taking her out, inconvenient at times but I feel much more confident while riding. My riding style demands that tires are replaced a little sooner than trying to get every mile out of them. I have to be real honest here, I know I'll take some crap and deservedly so but at times I'm a speedwhore and I would rather have the suspension to corner aggressively than to be a drag race king. I now have the AK-20's, the True Track and keep the settings on the stiff side. I choose my areas carefully but I won't lie to you, when I plan to get aggressive I get on it like it's my last ride of the year without going over my capabilities and putting others at risk. I know you can't eliminate every risk but if we all did 30 mph on the on & off ramps we wouldn't be speaking about high speed wobble. I have taken the same turn many times since then without incident.
 
I believe you have installed some suspension upgrades and you may have found the culprit to your problem by now but I ran across a video clip on the Traxxion site today that may prove helpful. Max McAllister the president of Traxxion does an excellent job on this video. While it dealt with the suspension shortcomings of the Goldwing many points were brought up that I plan to look into. Max covered the usual front and rear suspension, tire cupping, neck bearings, wobbling etc. He also covered a fork brace that seemed to be a real issue with the Wings. I would hope that some of the guru's on this site would take a look at it and see if any of it can be applied to our bikes. I'm confident that if there is a cure it will come from someone on the site.

Good luck and drive safe.

Ray G.    

[TCASPA]

Hope this helps.   
Back in the 70's Honda CB750's were bad, bad bad for this and we called them weeble wobbles and hope you don't fall down!

Shot into a turn the first time I got em @ 110 and buddies were gonna snap a picture of me laying her over in the turn.  Well it started and scared me real good as it was going almost lock to lock.  Scared my buds so bad they couldn't take the pic.   Happened all the time and we never figured it out.

....   BACK TO THE FUTURE...I have a FLHTCUSE3 that from the time it rolled off the floor the wife was firmly attached to the rear..always, everywhere 2 up all the time.  One day I got a shot @ solo and bang I was gone down that same ole road.  Now she and I had ridden this same curve plenty and the bike was rock solid.  Rolled into the turn @ 75 and there that old feeling was.  Oh crap not again why now.  I KEPT the speed (DECEL is bad) and pulled tension evenly on both grips to stop it.  I experimented in a couple of turns and there it was.  I went and got the wife and went at it again and no problem.  Believe me I would have heard it if there was a thought of wiggling!!

I went home and reduced the air in the shocks on the rear and went at it again solo and not a problem..  This bike likes 2 onboard.  This wobble is tire pressure,suspension and or deceleration...Don't snap the throttle closed! 

Hope this was helpful

[kraut]

be carefull: as already mentioned above there are various "wobbles" which each have to be treated differently.

The common "high-speed-wobble" ist front-end-induced but shakes the whole bike and in the early 2000s not only a few riders were seriously hurt by it. In my area alone I know 2 who had to let their E-Glides go on Autobahn and suffered heavy injuries. 2002 the problem was only pushed a little up to higher speeds.

With my Road Kings (mod. 2000, 2002 and 2005) each model acted a little stiffer but even with true-track I never was far away in easy turns with constant speed at or above 90 mph. So honestly I never really trusted the bike.

The bike indeed is less prone to this "classic" wobble two-up and loaded and if the turn is taken under load instead of constant gas - but if it happens it's such a terrifing experience many can't react properly any more.

I'm very happy I never had it with full force.

[Black Diamond]

Follow up:

I have had my scooter up over 100 mph several times since the wobble incident. Lexi has been rock steady. When the wobble occurred, she was loaded down with gear and the solo tour pak was mounted. I believe either the load was uneven, the solo tour pak upset the air flow or a combination caused this problem. FWIW

I'm getting a little more comfortable trusting her again.

JW

[rlavigna]

Jeff,

Glad to hear you may have pinpointed the problem.  Hope all is well.

Rich

[Black Diamond]

Jeff,

Glad to hear you may have pinpointed the problem.  Hope all is well.

Rich

Hey Rich

All is great! Need to stay away from the HD store for awhile. That Black CVO SG! I don't want to see her in person.

JW