Agreed. But when I cross into the left hand lane so the banking is opposite, and it still pulls left.....

Also highways are generally pretty flat. If I were taking a long trip, I could not ride hands free at all. Again, its not like I will ever ride hands free or even want too, but if I the bike pulls and it isnt supposed to, I think that has to have some adverse affect on something. Tires at the very least.

 

You don't have to justify riding hands free. There are times when I do it as well. Yes there are some folks on the forums waiting to jump on you. They think they are the only ones that know how to ride a Scooter. Ignore them. It's really irrelevant to the issue.

I think you are on the right path, go take a ride on another similar bike on the same roads. You will get your answer. I know my 14 SGS and 16SGS didn't pull the slightest. I could ride for miles on the highway if I wanted. My 17 CVO SG, you'd end up in the Median within 50-100 ft. If it ends up all the RG do it, do like I did and put your tools in the right saddle bag. I will be surprised though if they all do it. Let us know what you find.

 

Thats the plan. And thanks. I just found it interested and frankly insulting that the service manager would suggest they all pull left and saying that harley would laugh at him if he told them it only pulled left when I let go of the bars and that there was NOTHING he could do for me any more.

He also tried to tell me he thought my complaint was about the bike pulling in general even with my hands on the bars and that if he'd known it was hands off the bars, he wouldnt have tried to fix anything basically. He even said he rode it and it did pull left with hands on. I said he was crazy and if the bike pulled like that with me I would know it. I specifically told them several times about the pull issues and that it was when I let go of the bars.

 

Just for an additional data point the copy of the 2017 CVO Limited that I have does not pull at all. And that is with one saddlebag empty and one with rain suits, the little tool kit that came with it, kick-stand puck, and a hood coat. It now has 1080 miles on it.

 

I would like to be a fly on the wall to listen to the phone conversation when the Service Manager tells the Harley tech line person that the customer complaint is "the bike pulls left when I let go of the handlebars". Really?
As far as having to justify taking your hands off the bars, you don't, but again, really?
Is there an issue with the bike? Likely there is.
Patient "Hey Doc, my arm hurts when I do this"
Doc "Well, don't do that with your arm"

 

That's pretty much what the service manager said on the phone the other night. And I,might well agree with him and you if not for a few things.

First, he lied two times to me during that phone call.

He said all RGs pull left. I just test drove one at another dealership this morning. Yes there was a very slight pull on the back roads I was on, but pretty darn straight on the highway.

He said the subframe was misaligned when they got it from the manufacture plant. So they alignrd that to harley specs. If all RGs pull left, then what did they fix? He lied and said well your bike pulled left even when you don't let go of the bars, which is definitely not true. Why the heck would I put 1000 miles on a bike I was constantly having to physically pull the front end to one side to make it stay in the lane?

And second, you tell any customer paying that much for a bike that well your out of luck and there is nothing I'm gonna do for you. At the very least you should offer to recheck that subframe alignment you claimed you performed to ensure nothing changed or didnt get aligned/adjusted correctly.

Again, its not riding hands free that's the issue. Its the possibility something is wrong. The possibility that one or both of my tires wears out several thousand miles quicker.

If I had noticed the same pulling on the test ride this morning, I'd be done and satisfied it's just a natural characteristic of these type bikes. But that coupled with the lies and terrible customer service and interaction, I will be going to pursue this further.

Sorry for any typos, I'm on my cell.

 

Do you have any idea what a "subframe" is? Do you suppose he is talking about the swing arm assembly? If so, that would be highly unlikely that a brand new bike could have worn out bushing back there. I suspect that guy was just trying to cover you up with bullshit lingo, hoping you would not know what he was talking about. But, I could be mistaken.

 

While saying the subframe was off was the problem, It's a bit of a stretch. I suppose that it could shift the load of the *** end of the bike enough to make it track strange.. I would assume that there isn't much slop in the connection to the frame.. Maybe there is..

 

So I put a 15 pound weight in my right bag this morning and road to the dealership where I bought the bike, which is about a 25 mile ride on two highways and some back roads as well. The bike road straight as an arrow just like the one I test road yesterday.

The owner wasn't there but I spoke to the salesman I bought the bike from and and told him everything they service manager said over the phone. He suggested I talk to the owner.

 

Mine has 8,500 miles on it. When testing the new apes yesterday, I rode for five or six minutes with both hands in my lap. All twinkies certainly do NOT do that.