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[HUBBARD]

Second.....      

The I's have it.  The Chipster is the Official Site "EXPERT CHITHEAD."  A very, well deserve-ed position in deed.  Later--HUBBARD

[knothead]

  I've experienced the wobble several times while in sharp switch backs at excessive speeds, the pavement has a few ripples in and usually dragging the floor boards.. I just mark it up as one of those o'Chit moments...again, never experienced the Death Wobble on a straight road at any speed.

  Although my CVO bikes don't wobble as often as my previous non-CVO's

[kraut]

you dont count 

Its a privilege to FLH's with the only exception of FLHTR's - the RoadGlides with their frame-mounted fairing are supposed to be not affected ...

[deaf1]

There is a excellent article in Bagger magazine (the one put out from american iron) on the last page that talks about this problem....  He makes it pretty clear this happens on most makes and models...

I have never experienced the wobble,  even at high speed sweepers ( )  But then again I ripped out my entire suspension and went with ohlins in the rear and progressive in the front.  Its a crime harley has been using cheap suspension parts for so many years!

[bikerboy53]

In response to the early comment to the effect that:

"I have never heard this happen in a straight line.
in a curve at 80 mph there are a lot of forces going on."

There are also lots of forces going on when traveling in a straight line. Check out this link on the von Kaman Effect:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_vortex_street

As shown in the animation, the von Kaman effect is the a shedding of vortices from alternating sides of an object. It results in unbalanced forces on the object (windshield or fairing) the air is flowing around.

Most bikes can be affected by this phenomenon -especially those of us with a handle bar mounted windshield or fairing. Even though a windshield or fairing aren't completely round as shown in the animation, the curved forward surface can produce the same effect -and result in a wobble or tank slapper.

From personal experience my '05 Road King was examined on numerous occasions by my local dealer (who was never able to find anything wrong with it), but had a consistent wobble when pushed a little hard in corners. On the other hand, I can drag the floorboards all day long (through bumpy corners, etc.) on my '07 SERK with no hint of wobble. The jury is still out on my '10 SEUC -I haven't pushed it hard enough yet to find out how it will behave. Of course all bets are off when overtaking a semi-truck, motor home, camper, or? 

[CVORick]

After reading all the responses concerning "wobble" experiences, I am very happy that I have not yet had the pleasure and hope I never do.  As for the guy in the article, I am sorry for his injury, but I doubt we will ever get all the facts needed to make a decision on the actual cause.  This is one of the cases where the defendant, HD, just can't get away without losing.  Nobody is a winner in this one.

[kraut]

here comes the next one: click - a 2001 Wide Glide in this case. First time I hear a dyna to be affected 

[Mr Fatty]

I think this can happen on any bike for a variety of reasons. Loose steering head being my first guess. Have had several death shakes on my old V-max. HANG ON is my advise. Also know I guy on dyna that this happened to at about 90mph. Road rash but he is ok. Ironic, I raced him with my v-max. He had 115 hp, V-max still won. At least up to 90mph.   

[Spiderman]

Lessehere, I've owned an Shovelhead Electra-Glide, an Evo Road King, a SERG, two SERKs and a regular RG and have never had any of them wobble, although the front tire on LD is cupped all to chit and should have been replaced a couple hundred miles ago as it was shakin like hell at 90mph today on those damn rain grooves here in SoCal. 

B B

[guppytrash]

I am not going to get involved in this other than to say.
Motorcycles, airplanes, guns, cars, etc. are all dangerous and even in experienced capable hands sometimes get people killed.
IMHOP not everyone is capable of, or should ever get near any of these items, but if they do I wish they would be personally responsible for the results.
It's not a f*&king court case and you don't deserve a huge settlement for getting in over your head.

As far as wobble... your on two wheels spinning like gyro's with an infinite amount of possibilities of things that could upset those gyro's.  In other words "chit happens" and if you are not aware of the risk involved in these activities stay home and be very careful not to fall out of your rocking chair and get hurt.  If you do fall out of your rocking chair, pick up your phone and call a lawyer because I am sure it was not YOUR fault and the manufacturer of that chair should PAY!

My sympathy to the man who got paralyzed.  But how many miles are on the same exact model of motorcycle around the world that have not caused an accident?

[Mr. Warlock]

Just for safety sake lets not get confused with "tire shake" and the "death wobble" trust me, I'll take a tire shake any day compared to the wobble.

I have had it happen to me three times, ALL in a straight line, All over 100 mph. In my opinion the best way to get the bike back under control, and how I handled it each time, is to apply the brakes as firmly as you can slowing down as  quickly as the situation will allow. This is obviously only my opinion and what worked for me. When this happens, espespecially the first time, it will scare the living crap out of you, speeding up isn't going to compute in your brain in that second of panic.

I have had it happen on two "brand new" bikes, 05 Fat Boy and a GSX 750 Suzuki. Let me clearify......... new enough that tire wear did not come into play. The third was an older Kawasaki I can't remember the model but it was built to the hilt and very very fast for the times. This one was the worst and I almost crashed at over 120.

I think there are many factors that can come into play and I think the startng point of each is the frame. Then you add in wheel type, windshield, floor boards, fender types, whats mounted on one side and not the other, WHAT IS MOUNTED MORE FORWARD ON ONE SIDE THAN THE OTHER. The other main factor, in my opinion, coupled with these other factors, is the force of acceleration and the direction it attempts to move the machine. While under acceleration and even when traveling at a high rate of speed, every bike, allthough sometimes very little, the engine force will push to one side, to the left or to the right. When you factor in the other conditions this will have an impact. On a Harley, I have not researched this and is only my theory, I would bet that the wobbles that occure in a sweeping corner are specific to right or left side drives. I know of numerous 90+ wobbles on sporty's that only happened in sweeping corners and all the same direction.

No chithead or xpert titles please!!

[Racerdj]

I feel for this guy and hope for a miracle in his life.

[kraut]

the case was settled under undisclosed conditions - as many before ...

[ice6900]

here comes the next one: click - a 2001 Wide Glide in this case. First time I hear a dyna to be affected 

I have a yr2000 Dyna low rider that has the high speed cornering wobble

[spydglide]

My '04 SEEG has this problem.  Even my ole '47 knuck had it.  So did a BSA and a Honda from the past.  Each time it happens scares me & I've tried all above reported solutions with varied success.  Just goes with riding bikes at higher speeds is my (non-expert) guess.  spyder