front end shake
Harley Shocks & Harley Chassis IssuesDiscuss front end shake in the Harley Tech & Harley How-to forums; here is my situation. 04 duece,bought new metzler tires for it in dec.,put the new tires on and did not ride the bike until daytona, i had a front end ...
here is my situation. 04 duece,bought new metzler tires for it in dec.,put the new tires on and did not ride the bike until daytona, i had a front end shake when i let go of the handlebars at 45 to 35 miles per hour, i took to a small shop in new smryna beach and had them look at it, could not solve it, we balaced the front tire again, good, took off fork brace, no dirrence, looked at steering bearing and adjusted but still shook, changed brake pads, still shook,checked rim & tire,no diff, left with shake still at 45 to 35, it doesnot shake speeding up only when you let up and it starts at 45 when you are slowing down, i went to another shop and the guy tightened up the steering bearing and it stopped the shake but the bike rode like a truck, i rode it like that and came back to illinois and took it back to the shop i bought the tires at, he put a new neck bearing in it and balanced the tire again(it was good), i picked the bike up and it was solved i thought because i rode it 60 miles that day and it never shook, a week or two later i hung my toll pouch on the forks and put the tools in it and you can guessed what happened,SHOOK at 40mph, i took the tools out and it still shook so i took it back to the shop yesterday and tried to fix it but i still have the shake, we balanced the tire again, good, and changed the fork oil, one side was 3 ounzes low so be filled them back up but it did not help, we also loosened the neck bearing up and only tighted it one flat at a time but could not get the vibration to go away.,checked the rim for trueness again and it is good, about the only thing that has not been done is change the fork springs!! if anyone could suggest anything i would appreciate it, as of now the bike still will vibrate and shake in the handlebar when the speed is coming down to 45 to 35 mph, it does not shake when you are speeding up thru 35 to 45,only when you are coming down, i know this is long but it has been a long time and nothing has changed, thanks dank
Quite often a suspension problem will show up on the opposite end of the bike.
Check your rear wheel alignment and rear tire pressure.
If you have adjustable shocks ( have a rear lowering kit installed ) check to see if anything has come loose or if the shocks were origionally set a little different from each other.
Check your swingarm pivot bearings for wear (very unusual for such a new bike, but worthy of checking) and hardware for PROPER torque.
Metzlers are a very grippy well handling tire and if anything is amiss on the chassis they will show it more so than a lesser tire.
I did put a new rear tire on at the same time and the rear wheel is aligned right and the pressure is 40psi. I do not have adjustable shocks and can't see any thing loose. The bike has 10,500 miles on it and everything seems to be torqued properly.
How frustrating, my sickles will sometime start a low speed shake when my tires are old and worn... Just put on a new set of Metz and the shake that's been developing over the past few months ceased...
BUT, you got the shake with new tires, but changed nothing else,, jeeeeze..!!
How are your front wheel bearings, do you run a windshield.? Just tried my first windshield and shaking doubled,,I took it off... Remember, more weight on the front can cause handling probs...
Also, I have experienced a wee shake when the tires are inflated too much,(not over-inflated, just more than is needed)--- I think (only a guess)that they are overly sensitive to the motor vibe on decel when too full...
The neck bearings should not be played with, should be set CORRECTLY and left alone... Set too tight will damage the races and harm handling plus can set-up a frightening High-Speed wobble that can kill, ooh yeah, I've had it, loosened them and that wobble ceased...
Wish I had more...
'm taking it for granted that you bought the ME880's? I'm surprised that nobody caught this but your rear tire pressure is waaaaay to low! I run 19 inch/100 on the front and a 16 inch/130 0n the rear. Min pressure is 38 psi front, 44psi rear. i run 40psi front and 46psi rear. Now i know on your deuce should be running at least these pressures! Forget your owners manual when it comes to pressures, those are for stock tires. Get the Metzeler brochure and it will tell you what the min should be for your bike and then increase that by at least two pounds. Stability is definitely affected by pressures that low! I don't know if it will correct your shake but it will go a long way towards correcting it.
Just a thought if your running laced wheels.When you checked the rim did you check the lateral and the radial runout.I had a similar problem with a laced wheel that checked good with the tire on under no load.It sounds like when the wieght transfer center moves to the front under decel is when the mystery takes place.Mine had some loose spokes and acted funny at different times and sometimes not at all.
thanks for the ideas,i will try to up the air pressure a little, i will try it this weekend because i do not have time during the week to try it(too much work and not enough time). the front bearings are good (sealed) i've been told, do not have a windshield,the rim was checked when i bought the tire, some spokes were tightened then he checked the rim and said everything was true,also checked with the new tire on,i might take off the back tire off this weekend,if the other suggestions do not work,thanks again
front end shake 
Linear Mode
