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Death wobble question

rarely have i ridden an evo springer-- either the standard or the badboy models that didnt have head shake-- mine included.... have tried ever trick known to man kind to eliminate it-- and have by an large--- but im sure i'll get flamed for it -- but pre-2000 springers love to do the head shake-- when ever variable is torqued to spec including all values on springer rockers load bearing adjustment an fresh rubber on the front end---the shake really can be controlled but can be quite un nerving if you're not prepared for it.............. and having apes or stock handle bars makes no difference......
 
WildPig, Would you be able to give more detail on what you experienced during a bad case of head shake. Were you going straight, on a curve, or de-accelerating etc. Stock wheels, suspension etc. Was there a "MPH window" where it would occur.
I have never experienced head shake and would like to hear about some experiences.
 
Her's a quick question. By head shake, do you mean the handle bars start a left / right yanking that wants to go left and right into the ditch?? I mean it starts to get violent on a geometricaly scale, real quick. If that is not in do you mean the head wallows like but the handle bars are relatively stable?? Some of the later I think can be caused by a real disproportinate difference between the front and rear tiree size that cause a tracking problem in decreasing radius curves. The old bay area springers and girders used to ba bad for that.

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welp gotta 115,000 on my personal springer ever inch rode by me.. head shake thru the yrs in most cases 45-75 mph generally in a straight line-- with stock spoke wheels and no loose spokes...... over all head shake would vary as to mph,, never experienced it a curve made sure i had extremely hard grip on handlebars when doing hi speed-- 100 mph plus as i have done many times....... made no difference as to fresh or used rubber--- degree of fallaway, loose moderate or even tight load on steering head bearing, nor did it make any difference on apes or lower or stock bars..


fish -- by death wobble {which is pretty accurate description} i mean a violent immediate left/right right/left front end shake that unless u really muscel it down under your control will run yo butt in the ditch. running field tests i can say the wobble will never go away on its own-- cept for followin real life example say --head shake from 45mph decelerating to 15 mph with no hands on the bars--- that gets real exciting runnin that experiment... i tend to think its a rake/trail/chassis issue-- given that the front end has been totally spec'ed by myself and cough cough "trained harley professional mechanics" cough cough.-- put it this way -- i trust my work and havent trashed a motor yet.... or a suspension.............
 
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08 Street Glide - I have experienced a minor wobble going into a turn but a little more throttle and push on the bars helped. This is a rare occurence and only a slight weave.
If it happens more often or becomes more severe I will look into a stabilizer after ruling out the normal checklist items.
 
After reading this entire thread I think I understand why my Owner's Manual states "Do not exceed 80 MPH". my FXDX was a little flakey at speeds over 80 when I got it (worse with windshield attached), but new tires and tightening up the bearings a touch seems to have cured it. I'm planning a fork oil change and bearing service @ 20,000 miles, coming soon. The service manual's procedure for adjusting tree bearings doesn't work for me, maybe after a lube job it will. I really liked my old BMW's adjustable anti-wobble knob, worked like a champ.
 
2003FXDX said:
. .. . .. . I really liked my old BMW's adjustable anti-wobble knob, worked like a champ.
Click to expand...

HD could do well to copy anything (except the looks) that BMW does. Those bikes have been rock solid since forever. I know some guys that ran them 160,000 plus miles with no rebuild.

One thing though I remember reading once that some BMW police bikes had documented the wobble at 100 mph. Guess they didn't have the wobble knob set for that speed, don't know.
 
2003FXDX said:
After reading this entire thread I think I understand why my Owner's Manual states "Do not exceed 80 MPH". my FXDX was a little flakey at speeds over 80 when I got it (worse with windshield attached), but new tires and tightening up the bearings a touch seems to have cured it. I'm planning a fork oil change and bearing service @ 20,000 miles, coming soon. The service manual's procedure for adjusting tree bearings doesn't work for me, maybe after a lube job it will. I really liked my old BMW's adjustable anti-wobble knob, worked like a champ.
Click to expand...

I rode 80-90 most of the way to the Keys with no wobble on my BOB:s
 
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