Our motor officers noticed right away that the turning radius was slightly more than previous year bikes...they also said that, with some practice, they can still do everything they could on the '08's. But they are mucho better riders than I am.

 

Motor officers are awesome riders. We have LAPD motor officers in here all the time and the course they have to take to become motor officers is very rigorous.

They outlined the course for us and it sounds pretty tough!

Shawn

 

Worthy homage to motor officers. However, to be precise, the '09's in their current state will NEVER do everything the '08's can. I don't care how good you are, the bike's current design limitations simply won't permit it. That's WHY they came out with the "fix". Once you're at full lock AND you're grinding the SUPPORTS, not just the boards, you can go no further except to fall down. And the "slightly" more turning radius you speak of? It's more than slight, it's significant, as in close to a 2 foot difference in the radius. That's not slight. One of the first things a Cop member of our club said to me after learning I just picked up an '09 Police bike was "I've seen you ride, you're gonna hate the way the new bike turns". He's a veteran of many years and he informed that the officers on the newer bikes were having a real tough time with the bikes as they simply, physically, cannot turn as sharp. Sadly he was all too right.
Case in point, on my '04 RK, I could do sub-18 foot with plenty of room to spare. Smallest circle on the Snowman? No sweat. On my '09? I can't even get into the 18' box cleanly. I have the grind marks on my floorboard supports to drive the point home every time I try. It feels like amateur hour. So, there is a huge difference. Though you'd never know it if you don't go to those extremes. Talent is one thing, physics is another.

I'm supposed to bring mine in next week for my upgrade. Can't wait!!

And, twincam47, there are no modified body parts. You merely trim off "3/8" or 10mm" from the inside of the fairing "legs" on the batwing bikes. They do, however, provide you with a piece of gasket/trim to place over the area that is trimmed off. Since I just swapped out my inner fairing for a painted one (a MUCH easier job than I ever would have thought), I went ahead and trimmed mine before I installed the inner fairing so the dealer wouldn't have to and so I know it was done perfectly. It came out.........perfect! I'm sure the mechanic will appreciate one less thing to do as well.

Side note, we're also going to do the upgrade on the her SG and my RG simply because the turning radius on the newer bikes sucks!

 

Da Butcher,

I was told that if you order the part from Harley, there is need to trim anything off the handlebar stops. The Harley "fix" that the dealer orders contains the fork replacement parts. If you trim the handlebar stops and have the dealer order the parts and install them, the handlebars will turn too far and you will damage the paint on the tank.

Make sure before you start cutting away.

Shawn

 

Hi Shawn,
Perhaps my description wasn't clear. If so, sorry. I didn't trim the 'stops'. Part of the "fix" is the requirement to trim the inner fairing. On the inner part of the fairing, facing the rider, where the "legs" of the lowest part of the fairing are. Sit on your bike now and turn your bars to full lock, look where the inner fairing would hit the frame if your were able to turn the bars even further. It's THAT part of the inner fairing that gets trimmed. It specifies in the Service Bulletin that the mechanic is to trim "3/8's or 10MM" from the faring to allow the forks to be turned the newly increased amount. All you're doing is cutting the plastic to accommodate the required clearance. Does that make sense?
Anyway, since it's an easy thing to do, I went and did it. To be honest, I also wanted to do it myself to know it done as cleanly as possible. It's understandable that a mechanic may not be able to take the time with it as I did to make it look as perfect as the original cut. I had the time because I thought swapping out the inner fairing was going to be a long tedious process. It wound up being WAY easier than I ever could have imagined. So, with the old one off and time to spare, out came the dremel. A few more things need to be done to the bike before she's worthy of posting, but I'll share pics soon.

Hope that helps.

 

Da Butcher,

Can you post pics of where you cut?

Also, does anyone have the service bulletin number, so I can get the full fix info from Harley?

Thanks in advance guys!

Shawn

 

What is the plan for the floor board support brackets ? The boards will fold up a bit, the brackets.... Not so much.
I have a scraped a time or to in low speed, tight U-turns, in traffic where a pre-turn dip was not a safe option.

 

Hi Shawn,
The Service Bulletin number is 'M-1248". Also, take a look at the attachment, it's a page from the Service Bulletin that shows exactly what and where to trim. This should give you a better idea on what I've been referring to. If you can't get the full fix info as you want from Harley, just PM me and I'll send you the separate pages that I have. You could always print them out. I hope this helps.

 

Da Butcher,

Thanks for the info, however I can't see the document you posted. The text and page are much too small to read. Can you fax over the entire service bulletin to us at: 818-981-8946?

That would really be great!

Thanks in advance!

Shawn