Posted by Road Glidin' Don on April 22, 2011, 8:47 pm
Drinks are waiting at the bar.
As some of you might recall, my Road Glide was experiencing a
'handlebar-shake' syndrome (when cutting throttle and letting the bike
slow down with hands off the bars), so I decided to adjust the
tightness of the steering head bearings over the winter, in the hope
that would solve the problem.
Well, I finally had a chance to get the Road Glide on the highway
today for a test ride, to see if that had improved things.
Seems to have worked!
As a result, I have added a Web page to my site (http://www.xidos.ca )
that describes the work done. The page also includes the 2 videos I
shared earlier - one of the front wheel free-swing prior to adjustment
and one showing it after. The page can be found at:
http://www.xidos.ca/Technical/RepairitYourself/SteeringHeadAdjustment/tabid/205/Default.aspx
Thanks for the helpful suggestions. This was something I wasn't
completely sure would work, but am sure glad now that it did.
Posted by Carl on April 23, 2011, 11:20 pm
> Drinks are waiting at the bar.
> As some of you might recall, my Road Glide was experiencing a
> 'handlebar-shake' syndrome (when cutting throttle and letting the bike
> slow down with hands off the bars), so I decided to adjust the
> tightness of the steering head bearings over the winter, in the hope
> that would solve the problem.
> Well, I finally had a chance to get the Road Glide on the highway
> today for a test ride, to see if that had improved things.
> Seems to have worked!
> As a result, I have added a Web page to my site (http://www.xidos.ca )
> that describes the work done. The page also includes the 2 videos I
> shared earlier - one of the front wheel free-swing prior to adjustment
> and one showing it after. The page can be found at:
>
http://www.xidos.ca/Technical/RepairitYourself/SteeringHeadAdjustment/tabid/205/Default.aspx
> Thanks for the helpful suggestions. This was something I wasn't
> completely sure would work, but am sure glad now that it did.
A friend bought a 2005 Fat Boy, new. He always seemed a bit shy to cruise
over 70. One day, a year later he told me what it was doing at 75 and it
scared him. I told him he should have told me a long time ago. We lifted the
front up and did the tap of the handle bars to see how fast it went left and
right, man it was the steering head loose. I talked him through tightening
the nut then checking again for the proper movement. We went for a ride and
he blew past me, when I caught up to him he had a big smile on his face, the
wobble was gone! Seems his was another bike rushed off the line and not
properly checked!!
Posted by Road Glidin' Don on April 24, 2011, 1:05 am
On Apr 23, 9:20 pm, "Carl" <softail99...@mahaska.org-remove-one-9-to-
reply> wrote:
> > Drinks are waiting at the bar.
> > As some of you might recall, my Road Glide was experiencing a
> > 'handlebar-shake' syndrome (when cutting throttle and letting the bike
> > slow down with hands off the bars), so I decided to adjust the
> > tightness of the steering head bearings over the winter, in the hope
> > that would solve the problem.
> > Well, I finally had a chance to get the Road Glide on the highway
> > today for a test ride, to see if that had improved things.
> > Seems to have worked!
> > As a result, I have added a Web page to my site (http://www.xidos.ca )
> > that describes the work done. The page also includes the 2 videos I
> > shared earlier - one of the front wheel free-swing prior to adjustment
> > and one showing it after. The page can be found at:
> >http://www.xidos.ca/Technical/RepairitYourself/SteeringHeadAdjustment ...
> > Thanks for the helpful suggestions. This was something I wasn't
> > completely sure would work, but am sure glad now that it did.
> A friend bought a 2005 Fat Boy, new. He always seemed a bit shy to cruise
> over 70. One day, a year later he told me what it was doing at 75 and it
> scared him.
We're talkin' mi/hr, right? For a metric system guy (me), 70 is like
only 40 mi/hr. <grin>
> I told him he should have told me a long time ago. We lifted the
> front up and did the tap of the handle bars to see how fast it went left and
> right, man it was the steering head loose. I talked him through tightening
> the nut then checking again for the proper movement. We went for a ride and
> he blew past me, when I caught up to him he had a big smile on his face, the
> wobble was gone! Seems his was another bike rushed off the line and not
> properly checked!!
Kind of sounds like it. If you'd brought it to the dealer, they might
have used it as an excuse to sell him a new front tire.
Posted by big_piper on April 25, 2011, 1:47 pm
On 4/22/2011 5:47 PM, Road Glidin' Don wrote:
> Drinks are waiting at the bar.
> As some of you might recall, my Road Glide was experiencing a
> 'handlebar-shake' syndrome (when cutting throttle and letting the bike
> slow down with hands off the bars), so I decided to adjust the
> tightness of the steering head bearings over the winter, in the hope
> that would solve the problem.
> Well, I finally had a chance to get the Road Glide on the highway
> today for a test ride, to see if that had improved things.
> Seems to have worked!
> As a result, I have added a Web page to my site (http://www.xidos.ca )
> that describes the work done. The page also includes the 2 videos I
> shared earlier - one of the front wheel free-swing prior to adjustment
> and one showing it after. The page can be found at:
>
http://www.xidos.ca/Technical/RepairitYourself/SteeringHeadAdjustment/tabid/205/Default.aspx
> Thanks for the helpful suggestions. This was something I wasn't
> completely sure would work, but am sure glad now that it did.
I had the same problem on my 2005 Road King. When I had the front end
off, I was annoyed by the huge volume in the neck for a bunch of extra
grease. So I took a few measurements and turned a big spacer plug out
of Delrin, and milled some 1/4" paths to route grease from the Zirk
fitting to the upper and lower bearings races. I installed it and
instead of 18oz of grease to fill the void, it took less than 2, and
makes greasing the bearings very easy.
I traded the bike with the spacer in it. Eventually someone will open
that up and be surprised by what they find. When my 2010 steering head
bearings need to be serviced, I'll make another one.
It seems to me the MoFoMoCo should be installing something similar
themselves.
--
BigPiper
AH#138
BS#246
Posted by Road Glidin' Don on April 25, 2011, 9:53 pm
> On 4/22/2011 5:47 PM, Road Glidin' Don wrote:
> > Drinks are waiting at the bar.
> > As some of you might recall, my Road Glide was experiencing a
> > 'handlebar-shake' syndrome (when cutting throttle and letting the bike
> > slow down with hands off the bars), so I decided to adjust the
> > tightness of the steering head bearings over the winter, in the hope
> > that would solve the problem.
> > Well, I finally had a chance to get the Road Glide on the highway
> > today for a test ride, to see if that had improved things.
> > Seems to have worked!
> > As a result, I have added a Web page to my site (http://www.xidos.ca )
> > that describes the work done. The page also includes the 2 videos I
> > shared earlier - one of the front wheel free-swing prior to adjustment
> > and one showing it after. The page can be found at:
> >http://www.xidos.ca/Technical/RepairitYourself/SteeringHeadAdjustment ...
> > Thanks for the helpful suggestions. This was something I wasn't
> > completely sure would work, but am sure glad now that it did.
> I had the same problem on my 2005 Road King. When I had the front end
> off, I was annoyed by the huge volume in the neck for a bunch of extra
> grease. So I took a few measurements and turned a big spacer plug out
> of Delrin, and milled some 1/4" paths to route grease from the Zirk
> fitting to the upper and lower bearings races. I installed it and
> instead of 18oz of grease to fill the void, it took less than 2, and
> makes greasing the bearings very easy.
> I traded the bike with the spacer in it. Eventually someone will open
> that up and be surprised by what they find. When my 2010 steering head
> bearings need to be serviced, I'll make another one.
> It seems to me the MoFoMoCo should be installing something similar
> themselves.
Interesting. I didn't dismantle things apart far enough to see that.
Pumping away on that grease gun, it's sometimes hard to tell the
grease has already started coming out from the neck, so ya gives 'er a
few more pumps to be sure she's good (still talking bikes, I think).
I must have hauled a fist-sized chunk of 13 year old grease from
places it had accumulated once I started working in there.
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> As some of you might recall, my Road Glide was experiencing a
> 'handlebar-shake' syndrome (when cutting throttle and letting the bike
> slow down with hands off the bars), so I decided to adjust the
> tightness of the steering head bearings over the winter, in the hope
> that would solve the problem.
> Well, I finally had a chance to get the Road Glide on the highway
> today for a test ride, to see if that had improved things.
> Seems to have worked!
> As a result, I have added a Web page to my site (http://www.xidos.ca )
> that describes the work done. The page also includes the 2 videos I
> shared earlier - one of the front wheel free-swing prior to adjustment
> and one showing it after. The page can be found at:
>