Fork options, '01 RK

[Bone Stockman]

Ricky, I'm no expert, but my understanding of the wobble is that it comes from either a mis-adjusted steering head, or worn motor mounts, or worn swingarm bushings. Y2K and I are both right around 30,000 miles on our bikes, and I'm willing to bet there's something worn.

When the wobble got me, I was right around 100mph leaned over to the right in a sweeper. The bars just started oscillating, like the bike was shaking it's head slowly. I kept soft hands on the bars, stayed on the throttle, and rode through it 'till the road straightened out. This happened before the tire/wheel change and before I played with my fork fluid level. Since then, I've noticed a bit of wander. Not nearly as bad, but something's definitely up. This weekend I'll have to really go over everything and see what I can find. If nothing, a trip to the dealer may be in order.

Short version: I don't think that the Intiminators are causing Dave's handling issues.

[y2kflhr]

russ is dead on, I wouldn't blame the inimitmmmmammmors for my wobble just an observation

the bike doesn't dive when I hard brake, and then new frame doesn't wobble anywhere near the way your 01 (or my 2000) did.

I like progressive rate springs have them on my dyna for years because my roads really suck and it seems to make a big difference...

[jasilva]

Originally Posted by '05Train

Ricky, I'm no expert, but my understanding of the wobble is that it comes from either a mis-adjusted steering head, or worn motor mounts, or worn swingarm bushings. Y2K and I are both right around 30,000 miles on our bikes, and I'm willing to bet there's something worn.

When the wobble got me, I was right around 100mph leaned over to the right in a sweeper. The bars just started oscillating, like the bike was shaking it's head slowly. I kept soft hands on the bars, stayed on the throttle, and rode through it 'till the road straightened out. This happened before the tire/wheel change and before I played with my fork fluid level. Since then, I've noticed a bit of wander. Not nearly as bad, but something's definitely up. This weekend I'll have to really go over everything and see what I can find. If nothing, a trip to the dealer may be in order.

Short version: I don't think that the Intiminators are causing Dave's handling issues.

Check your alignment, mine does exactly that when I don't get the rear wheel back perfect after a tire change. It was also doing it really bad before I used the Glide Pro alignment procedure. What happens is the rear wheel and the front are fighting each other to hold a line.

Ricky,

What I did with my front suspension that works well,
Changed the fluid out for a 50/50 mix of stock and SE heavy fluid.
Raised the level of the fluid by 3/4" in the tubes(this gives a progressive feel to the forks as you remove some air space in the tubes which causes the fork to stiffen up as the air remaining compresses faster)
I'm 220 and this keeps the forks from bottoming on really big hits but still supple and responsive on small stuff.

[J.A.F.O.]

Originally Posted by y2kflhr

the bike started to do the old frame type of death wobble in the front, however, I asked my buddy who was behind me and he said the same thing happened to him on his 05 RK, so I would say part of it was the road, but since I have "better parts" in my front end I "should" have had not experienced the same as him.....I am not sure what JAFO experienced and he never posts much....

I think I told you...The frond end got a bit wobbly...Mine is completely stock, So it wasn't surprising. I have a set of progressives that i bought but never installed...Those will be going in soon.

[y2kflhr]

Maybe we were still thinking about the waitresses ass?

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[J.A.F.O.]

Originally Posted by y2kflhr

Maybe we were still thinking about the waitresses ass?

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You might be right...We need to go up to Rhinebeck again soon.

[orbit]

Didja ever find the cause/solution, Ricky?

[MrSurly]

I did, actually. The fix was in proper alignment. Note that the famous Glide Pro video on alignment is NOT helpful, as he uses a totally bogus reference for leveling the frame. I tried his way and it did not work, in fact, the misalignment became notably worse. I devised my own way to obtain a true frame reference and got it dead-on and it was obvious right away that the King was now rolling the right way down the road. Never another wobble after that. It was fixed before Cortez... Maybe before ES11.
I kept thinking I would make video of my method but never did.


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[vafatboy]

Please share your frame leveling procedure.

[Backroad Mike]

Originally Posted by vafatboy

Please share your frame leveling procedure.

This.

[MrSurly]

Oh gosh.
Are y'all sure you wanna get me started?
I'll upload some pics...

[vafatboy]

The video I watched used the frame rails under the seat to set frame to level, then set the rear rotor to plumb using top motor link, then set front rotor to plumb by turning bars, lock that position and check alignment of rear to front, adjust with front motor link.

I did it that way and had great results.

[MrSurly]

That's the problem area. The frame rails under the seat are not a reliable reference. Are they 'close'? Probably. Does the factory likely expend any effort making certain that these tubes are always perfectly square/parallel with the actual reference points of the frame jig? Hardly, would be my guess.
Is GlidePro's 'certified reference' part of the upper frame tubing the part in front of the battery or behind it or maybe the bolts of the bag guards? The real issue is that the placement of those upper tubes is totally unrelated to the functional part of the frame geometry; they are only incidentally on generally the same plane. Will they be in perfect sync with the *important* parts of the frame on some bikes? Yes. ALL bikes? Heck no. The fact is, those upper seat area tubes could be ANY shape and it wouldn't matter to the alignment. When I viewed the GP video I thought that looked like a sketchy reference, but I gave it a try. It was a fail on my particular FLHR. The bike is as it left the factory, never wrecked or even dropped, but it illustrates why the upper frame tubes are lacking as reference points.

Here's where the trouble began. I tried the method shown in Glide Pro's video and the first question:Which part of this is supposed to be the true reference? based on what?

[MrSurly]

When you think about it, these rails really have nothing to do with the actual alignment of the frame, they are only incidental to it and no more a reference to- or determinant of- frame alignment than a sissy bar.
The *MEAT* of the frame's function and alignment are these references:
1.) the steering head axis and location
2.) The swing arm pivot points

For the bike to be "true" the wheels must track exactly in line with each other AND in line with the steering axis. In order to adjust this, we are going to have to precisely reference the steering axis and adjust the wheel alignment to match.

(lunch time, I'll be back with much more. )

[Turbo Turtle]

Where am I? ....oh, subscribed






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