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unstable road glide

7K views 22 replies 10 participants last post by  illwill 
#1 ·
I have a 2011 road glide and just upgraded to 19" agitators and low profile tire for front and 18" 200 for rear. I also went with a racetech front end spring and emulators. I still have the factory rear air shocks at about 35#. When I go over 75mph the front end starts swerving and becomes very unstable. It gets worse when behind a car or horrible behind an 18 wheeler. Also when I hit a small bump in the road it seems to bottom out. My expectations were a smoother ride and much better handling capability. My bike rode so well stock and everything I have read would make this upgrade an improvement. I weigh about 220 and the bike was loaded (tourpack and saddle bags). Any idea where we went wrong?
I hope I have this is the correct area and thanks for any help.
 
#2 ·
Same here. I have a 07 with a 21 on front, stock 16 on rear. On my last road trip I was getting the wobble/mini tank slapper feel when coming up behind 18 wheelers at 70 plus mph.
I have the tru link stablizer on the bike. The bike has 50k miles. I have had this same set up on the bike for the last 2 years.
Just confused why it has started doing this now..
Any ideas.
 
#3 ·
Just a guess here ~ MY RG is the most stable bike ever at hwy speeds ~ I'm thinkin you two have front tire issues, either balance or just a bad one. I have a tank slapper at 35 -40 with no hands on the bars but this is a neck bearing adjustment my dealer will cover under warranty.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I have read some place

I have read, that if your rear is Heavy, and your shocks are running low, the front gets light. I read this on website about rear shocks, but I'll be danged if I can find it again. Maybe put 10 more lbs of air in your shocks, and see what happens. I would be interested to see how true this is. It makes some kind of sense, if you bring the rear up, it will move the center of gravity forward.
 
#5 ·
Try 45 to 50 psi in rear shock what tire did you install I just replaced my stock dunlop with a mich. commander 2 had 19000 on stock wore good but never handled good seem sealer on road, bike was unstable instant handling upgrade with the commander its a little wider and shorter then stock
 
#10 ·
You did a lot all at once so you you need to check a few things. First check your tire pressure and if you have a second air gauge use it to compare the two. You would be surprised at how inaccurate cheap tire pressure gauges are. Second, if your bags are full and your running a heavy load increase the pressure in the rear shocks to 40-50 psi. Lastly, check the fall away on for steering head bearings. It may have been at the limit of being too loose with the oem wheel and suspension and now with the weight difference of the new wheel its just enough to cause the wobbly feeling.
 
#12 ·
check it yourself before going back to the dealer. it seems quite a few dealers are not aware of the revised spec for the swing test on the new(er) roadglides. batwings are allowed up to 5 swings, but ours is now 1/5-2 (i think thats what it is, check some of the swing threads, there should be a copy of the service bulleting highlighting the change)
 
#13 ·
check the torque on the swing arm bolts. Mine loosened up twice until I reapplied loc-tite. No problems now. Bike felt loose under me, like a low tire
 
#14 ·
Tires

To the best I can measure the front new is 26" tall which includes 3" of tire on both sides. The old front was 25" with 4" tire on both sides. The rear new is 27" with 4" of tire both sides. The old rear was 26" with the same 4" both sides. Me thinks about 1" added to front and rear. Still not sure if should have 17" rear. I did get call from race tech. I am very impressed with them. He gave me about 5 questions to ask the dealership. I hope to get there this weekend. I still would be interested in your thoughts. Thanks.
 
#17 ·
Since the tire pressure is good I would look at the head bearings. Even though the dealer said they adjusted it I would still recheck it. If you can adjust it yourself go with the minimal specs, 1 swing. If the problem still persist check wheel balance.
 
#18 ·
If you are driving 35 to 45mph and you take your hands off the grips does it shake or wobble if if does I would suspect the adjustment nut on the head bearings loose. There is a service bulletin how to check it out for the head bearings There is a thread in this forum under general discussions search wobble and there is same on the HD forum interesting .

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#21 ·
Dealer told me yesterday that he replaced rear tire with a bias tire and not a radial. also went down to a 180 instead of 200 and he feels the wobble is gone. I cant take it out until closer to the weekend as it is raining here today. Thanks for the replies and I will keep you posted. He also readjusted the swing of the front end again.
 
#23 ·
Nice to hear your wobble's fixed. After all you've had done, try a swerve and see if your scooter's still as nimble as it should be. I had a bike the dealer adjusted the head bearing on that was downright dangerous is was so tight. Too tight and we lose our ability to swerve - too loose and the bike loses its ability to absorb a wobble.

If memory serves, you want between 1 and 2 swings. If it stops short of 1.5 swings, loosen it till the wheel stops right at or just barely beyond top center of the swing, or 1.5 swings.

My '12 model has 5500 miles on it and I took my hands off the bars last week decelerating while coming to a stop. I had the wobble. I've had bikes before that had it so I didn't spas out. I just took it by the dealer, since it's under warranty, and they brought it back to 1.5 swings - it's all good now. I can tell it's tighter, but it feels like it should now. The bike still swerves as it should with no decel wobble.
 
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