High speed wobble Road Glide - Harley Forum

macfarlane · #1 11-21-2007, 03:24 PM

After reading the post's for road king wobble I'd like to discuss the road glide wobble. Here are some of my given's and druther's. 1. Lots of mountain riding (it's where I live) 2. 07 RG 3. ex sport rider (it's in my blood) 4. druther not buy another bike. So my question is will the true-track be the cure and what about Terry Comp. ultra ride or Alloy Art's TXR. Then there is the new Glide Pro FL Stabilizer. And yes I have check'ed the tires, suspension, etc

HotRodad1 · #2 07-11-2009, 01:48 AM

sorry to see no response here so i'll offer this. quit riding it like a sport bike that it's not. OR try one of the stabalizer kits you mention as i'm sure that will make a great improvement. btw i have a RG too and i can't help pounding through the twistees with 'em

cheers!

botzman · #3 07-11-2009, 08:22 AM

Macfarlane,

I had a True-Track on my 05 RK. It definitely helped quite a bit. I noticed the improvement immediately. As HotRodad said though, its not a rice rocket so you might have to tone it down a bit. I think Shovelmike has one on his bike. MAybe he'll chime in. BOtz

HotRodad1 · #4 07-11-2009, 12:58 PM

ya know...it seems to me that my ride is begining to feel a bit more "looser" in the twistees than it use to be. I have 51000km (30000miles?) on it. Is it maybe the swing arm bushings are starting to wear? New rear tire last year and i am looking at new front for this year. I may look at getting one of them stabilaizers kits.

BOTZMAN, What kinda milage did you have when you put one on your RK? and what made you decide to go for it?

milindh · #5 07-11-2009, 03:13 PM

I'll throw my two cents worth in here. In California the Highway Patrol quit using Harleys because they couldn't pass their "100 mph wobble" test so they switched to BMW RTP's. The Beemers are nice and steady at the higher speeds and a lot of that has to do with the basic frame/suspension geometry. Harley baggers have steeper steering head angles and different rake and trail to enable them to be easy to handle around town. This is one of the reasons most local police departments are still running Harleys. They are just easier to handle around town at the slower speeds than the BMW's. The '09 baggers have improved the rear end of the frame to work on eliminating the flex there but the front ends are still just designed to be good at speeds under 80 mph. The frame brackets and '09 improvements might make a bagger much better but they're still big ol' hogs and a hog in high heels is still a hog.

I've always been a go fast rider kind of guy and have never really liked the feel of the Harley baggers. Too loose for my taste. However as I have seen the approach of my, uh, Golden Years, my perspective has changed some and I see the Cadillac Ride of the baggers as a good thing now and find myself even briefly (very briefly) considering Road Thangs. I'll probably never buy one though. I'll probably go straight from my hot little FXR to a wheel chair when the time comes. Also consider that the old FXRT and FXRP had the FXR frame and were great touring and police bikes. Not crotch rockets but much better handling than the Road Thangs. They didn't weigh 800 lbs. either.

I will say that I've seen some pretty trick baggers around here with skinny front tires and trick suspension along with some lightening here and there. Never rode one but they seemed like they might be fun. Actually a good buddy of mine that has a custom shop down in San Jose told me that the hottest Harley in the East Bay is said to be a incredibly trick and pumped up bagger belonging to one of the local bruthas. It can't be too wobbly. Said to be capable of blowing away 'Busas. I'll bet he put a lot of dough into that bike. Interesting, huh?

Wemove the Wobble and the fun will come!

botzman · #6 07-11-2009, 08:21 PM

HotRod,

Had about 11K on it when I put the tt on. I put it on because I was up in the Adirondacks crankin through some twisties and the bike was squirelly. Granted I had the bike loaded down with gear but I did have the shocks pumped up to specs for the load. I've taken my dyna through the same roads and it was far superior. The dyna handled far better under these conditions. I put the tt on but never got to experience it on the mountain roads due to a left turner who ruined my day. The riding I did do on it was far better than prior to the tt. Hope this helps. Botz

shovelmike · #7 07-11-2009, 10:39 PM

I put the True-Track on my Ultra at about 17,000 mi. If you look at the maximum allowable weight in the owners manual ...my lands two corn fed Missourians on board exceed that before you add anything in the saddle bags. The bike had a mind of its own at times, especially on the rough potholed roads around here.
It made a big difference at all speeds. I live near the Intermodal Rail Hub (NAFTA traffic) meaning there are lots of heavy trucks on our roads..don't need squirreley handling when mixing it up with those guys.