Cant seem to hold a line??

shady1324

Hey guys. Ive been trying to get this bike ready for riding season for a few months now. To give you a brief history, this bike was a RE-PO and was really neglected. Both tires had dry rot, throttle was sticky, clutch was a Edit to pull and hold. Since I have had it, I have put new grips, new tires (front and back), got the clutch smooth and working nice, throttle is perfect and bounces back to position awesome. The only thing that I am struggling with is the actually handling of the bike. Its really hard to hold a straight line in the straight away. It does fine in the corners! Its just riding on a straight road it wants to "drift side to side" or another way to put it would be it just floats down the road, going right and left! Its like I am fighting it the whole time to go straight. My buddies give me Edit because I am all over the road. People tell me with a raked out front end you are going to have that but i have followed Choppers and bikes that are really raked and it seems that they do fine as far as keeping "a line". Here is a recent pic of me taking my niece around the block. You can see the rake and see if you think it is something that I am going to have to deal with or something that can be fixed! I HOPE! Thanks guys for all your input and Ride Hard!

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Bud White

have you checked steering fall away ?

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shady1324

Negative Bud! I am new to the Harley Community. I have always had crotch rockets! I have learned a ton just from these forums and friends. I will have a good handle on the mechanics before long! How would I check the Fall Away?

Bud White

you have a manual ?

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"Tell me where I'm going, let my bones fall in the Dust, can't you hear that Ghost thats Calling as my Colt begins to Rust, in the Dust"

shady1324

Yes I do! Ill look at it now to see what i can find!

glider

Adjusting Fall Away (front end) - Harley Davidson Community

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Bud White

glider found it before i could i would try that and go from there

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"Tell me where I'm going, let my bones fall in the Dust, can't you hear that Ghost thats Calling as my Colt begins to Rust, in the Dust"

eleft36

Handle bars are way over center which prohibits countersteering. The rake isn't the best thing for turning, setting still turning the handlebars lifts and lowers the bike.
How stable can that be on the move?

Interesting when parked at the curb. Also makes for an interesting "U" turn.

Al

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mroleg

Shady, definitely check the fallaway. Sounds like your steering adjustment bolt is too tight so the bike can not absorb the weave. (points to Bud ;))
Nice fatty by the way.

dangerdan

I ran a straight edge along the front forks in the provided picture. The hand grips are in front of that line and not behind like most bikes. I think eleft36 may be on to something. I would think temporarily adjusting the handle bars toward the rider so that they behind that line might determine if that really is the problem.