All a matter of taste. TC Harley's vibrate at idle.. Softail (Twin Cam Softails do not and its not because they are TC (twin cam)..they are TCb or have two counter balance spinning balance weights like most modern 4 cylinders engines. If it does not knock or bang vibration is normal. Some say more, some less but it is vibration. I had a Yamah V-Star 1100 custom, moved up to a 04 Road King , too big and it's vibration drove me crazy, mirrors were worthless..like my Softail, best of both worlds around town and that's all I need now and it's still a Harley..

 

I had an older Sporty before they added the rubber engine mounts and if you wanted to shake that thing would do it for you. New bikes are smooth as silk in comparison.

 

My old 99 Softail Custom with an EVO solid mounted no vibe balancers is smooth up through 70 mph. It shakes a little when you get on it, but mirrors are always good. I still love the feel of this bike over all the others. I never did like the idea of the motor thrashing around in the frame at idle on the rubber mounts. Can't see how that could be good for anything attached to the motor and frame, although it does seem to work ok. The pipes must be rubber mounted to the frame also.

 

Your post interest me since I really have not kept up with the tech on the newer softails but had noticed that the newer Softails do not state a B (balance chain motor) I was just looking a few months at all the new toys at the dealer when I needed a part and noticed this fact about the Softail. Ask the salesman and he stated the softails still had the b motors . Are you saying this is not true for the 103 Softail motor? that it is does not have the balance cams in it?

 

Rubber mounted pipes? balance cams? This is still a Harley forum right? Did I miss something?

Tech23

 

Bring it to my house I'll check it out for you. My motor smooths out around 3k or so as well. If I take one hand off the handlebars while cruising my mirror shakes. At idle the whole bike shakes.

 

I get a kick out of all the posts from people who ask why their Harley shakes and is it normal. Can you imagine a dealer saying try some new mirrors and see if that helps. Too funny. Harley's are old school technology and they will always vibrate unless you have a "B" motor like my Deluxe or go with the VRod.
For performance I have a Ducati Diavel because no matter how much money you put into an "A" motor it will never keep up or out handle this bike. I have always had more than one bike for this very reason. I love my Harley and the way it rides and looks. I love the Duck for what it can do. I have no interest in pumping money into my Harley when it will never be a performance machine.
The mileage tells the story, I have three times the mileage on my slow old fashioned Harley.

 

I wouldn't have thought anything about it at all (since it's a harley and I expect some of that) BUT after reading about motor mount issues on this forum, I wanted to get an idea of what is "normal"....


Thanks for all the replies... I think this is a "normal" bit of rumble but when I have the 1000 mile done, I'll have a guru check it out all the same....

After that, I'll be doing my own services... After all, that's why I bought a HD...

 

If you want a shaker, jump on a solid mount Sportster. Once I rode an Evo Low Rider I was amazed how smooth and (relatively) vibration free it was, however that caused me to hit the rev limiter fairly quickly. IIRC all the Twin Cam Softails have the "B" engines, due to the solid mounting.

 

they made them vibrate even more? awesome!