1995 FLHR stability at speed

[Monkeybrain]

1995 Road King, Avon tyres, stock rear shocks, progressive front springs + 20wt oil, Progressive Touring Link, handlebar mounted fairing. 9k miles. Recent rear swing arm bearings replaced.

I am getting a little 'concerned' at the ride at 70mph and above.

When riding at 50mph the bike is a comfy solid ride with little vibration or movement.

Start to accelerate from there and most times, but not always, the front end gets twitchy.

As I approach 80 the vibes start to affect my vision, the stability of the bike causes the loss of confidence.

I'm going to start a complete look over of the bikes alignment and torques, I am on the verge of junking the stock rears for Hagons, just to see if that helps.

Before I spend cash, any other pointers that you could offer?

[Monkeybrain]

Rubber is 2 years old and 4k miles ago.

Things started to go awry after last winter, thats when I had the rear swing arm rubbers changed after a very challenging ride to the AGM.

After that change, the speed wobble had gone but the general vibes and handlebar 'judder' at speed were worse than I recall.

(this becomes a major issue when trying to keep up with Mutley on his TC glide that he rides like it's someone else's)

[Ukkid76]

Originally Posted by Monkeybrain

1995 Road King, Avon tyres, stock rear shocks, progressive front springs + 20wt oil, Progressive Touring Link, handlebar mounted fairing. 9k miles. Recent rear swing arm bearings replaced.

I am getting a little 'concerned' at the ride at 70mph and above.

When riding at 50mph the bike is a comfy solid ride with little vibration or movement.

Start to accelerate from there and most times, but not always, the front end gets twitchy.

As I approach 80 the vibes start to affect my vision, the stability of the bike causes the loss of confidence.

I'm going to start a complete look over of the bikes alignment and torques, I am on the verge of junking the stock rears for Hagons, just to see if that helps.

Before I spend cash, any other pointers that you could offer?

It's a 1995 bike? and it's only done 9k miles? am I right?

Well the tyres must be new I'm guessing? were the wheels balanced at the time of fitting? it may be worth checking,

Or do you have spoked wheels and if so has one of them split like some have?

My 2003 Road King is pretty unstable over 80mph and worrying over 90 so your not alone but it isn't so bad that it affects vision,

If this were my bike I would remove both wheels and tyres and have a thorough look at everything it sounds like you will find something wrong....

I can't see that changing the rear shocks would correct anything, by all means replace them but before you do check out the entire bike for any faults before replacing anything just in case new shocks give you a false sense of security...

Good luck......

[Monkeybrain]

I don't think it is this that I experience.

CHP Test Riders Experience the Harley-Wobble / Harley-Weave - YouTube

[Limey_Dave]

Unstable from 50 to 80,are we talking in a straight line?

And without wishing to sound like a broken record,check your front engine mount.

[Tony Cross]

Tyre pressures = ?

Suspension pressures = ?

[Mr B]

I went through all this with my RK. Mine's a 2003 model, but it had the weave, and it was so bad, I hated going out on it. The swing arm on my model is a beefed up version of what you've got on your 1995 model...supposedly to stop the famous RK weave, but the weave can still be there and caused by other things.

To try and cure mine, I went through the bike over a period of time, and repaired or upgraded certain parts.

1.Upgraded front engine mount. (slight improvement)

2. Changed tyres to Avon Venom X. (big improvement)

3.Checked and adjusted the drive train alignment. (huge improvement)

4. Fitted Sta Bo swing arm bush compressors. (very noticeable improvement)

5. Progressive third link. (another big improvement)

During all this time, I played around with the suspension pressures. I'm 12 1/2 stone, and 20psi in the rear shocks suits me fine. I found out that any other pressure, it handled differently.

6. Checked and tightened up the steering head bearings slightly.

My bike was ridable now, and each thing I did made a difference to the way it handled.

The last thing I did was swap the spoked wheels for cast alloy ones. That was the final cure for me, my bike rides stable now at any speed. I no longer worry about getting the back or front end wobbling. It rides at any speed just like any other bike.

You probably won't have to do all the things I did, but when I sat down and thought about what could be causing this, they are the things I thought of....and it worked for me.

The only thing you've got that I don't have on my bike is a bat wing fairing, how easy is it to get that off and try it out.

Brian.

[Monkeybrain]

THere certainly may be some legs in the front motor mount suggestion.

The swingarm biscuits had obviously failed in relation to age and not mileage, the same could have occurred in the rubber in the mount.

I'm gonna do a strip down of the rear wheel and check the alignment, then it's going to be the mount.

[Tony Cross]

Does your bike have air assisted front forks. My 89 FLHTC did have and air pressure made a big difference to stability at speed.

[Limey_Dave]

Basic front mount check is 2 minutes.If the gap's too small,or it's leaning over to one side,it's fooked.They've changed the mount 3 times since your's was built.
If the front mount is gone,the others won't hold the alignment.