It's not a freak'n wobble!
#1
It's not a freak'n wobble!
For those of you that have made the “bagger wobble” a repetitive, common phrase on here, please consider the following...
On a regular basis, reluctant buyers come on here and ask about this wobble that they hear of on sites such as this and from bagger brace manufactuers. It seems our most common response is “sure they wobble but this brace will eliminate it”.
Now let’s define a wobble: defined it’s a pronounced quick oscillation that clearly implies instability. In the motorcycling context, particularly for those of us who have raced bikes, a wobble is often used to describe a tank slapper or a speed wobble or a death wobble. As someone who’s experienced the bars on my sportbike going stop to stop at over 100mph – I can tell you that a wobble is often uncontrollable, is downright dangerous and sometimes fatal.
In realty, without getting into the details, what some people are experiencing on Harley tourers - under the right load and circumstances and always outside of normal operating conditions - is some chassis flex or in the words of the recent Cycle World test; a “slight weave”. It IS completely controllable, and I don’t think a seasoned rider would panic if they were to encounter it. Of course, under the "duh!" category; “no weave” is better than “a slight weave” so a brace or any number of modifications that can improve handling is never a bad idea.
My RKC shares space in my garage with a Ohlins equiped Fireblade and a paralever/telelever equiped BMW. Despite its relatively humble technology, I find the Harley to be amazingly agile and fairly compentent for its size and origins. Sure it can be more stable at higher speeds, but possibly at the expense of its amazing low speed handling. Cycle World seems to agree with me, calling the ’08 RKC the best handling and most confidence inspiring bagger of the 8 that they tested in October.
So lets leave the sensationalizing to those trying to make a buck. We are not being truthfull or doing anybody a service implying that pre-09 baggers are downright unstable or even dangerous.
..there, I feel better.
On a regular basis, reluctant buyers come on here and ask about this wobble that they hear of on sites such as this and from bagger brace manufactuers. It seems our most common response is “sure they wobble but this brace will eliminate it”.
Now let’s define a wobble: defined it’s a pronounced quick oscillation that clearly implies instability. In the motorcycling context, particularly for those of us who have raced bikes, a wobble is often used to describe a tank slapper or a speed wobble or a death wobble. As someone who’s experienced the bars on my sportbike going stop to stop at over 100mph – I can tell you that a wobble is often uncontrollable, is downright dangerous and sometimes fatal.
In realty, without getting into the details, what some people are experiencing on Harley tourers - under the right load and circumstances and always outside of normal operating conditions - is some chassis flex or in the words of the recent Cycle World test; a “slight weave”. It IS completely controllable, and I don’t think a seasoned rider would panic if they were to encounter it. Of course, under the "duh!" category; “no weave” is better than “a slight weave” so a brace or any number of modifications that can improve handling is never a bad idea.
My RKC shares space in my garage with a Ohlins equiped Fireblade and a paralever/telelever equiped BMW. Despite its relatively humble technology, I find the Harley to be amazingly agile and fairly compentent for its size and origins. Sure it can be more stable at higher speeds, but possibly at the expense of its amazing low speed handling. Cycle World seems to agree with me, calling the ’08 RKC the best handling and most confidence inspiring bagger of the 8 that they tested in October.
So lets leave the sensationalizing to those trying to make a buck. We are not being truthfull or doing anybody a service implying that pre-09 baggers are downright unstable or even dangerous.
..there, I feel better.
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#8
I must have the only '06 EGC that doesn't have a wobble. The first morning of my 7 day vacation of the Canadian maritimes had me starting out at 5:30 am, 2 up fully loaded and leaving in a down pour. I had a ferry to catch by 8 am. 25 miles out I realized I forgot my wallet. I turned around and went back for it. 75 plus mph and I couldn't see the highway for the downpour. Back on the road, I out ran the rain line. Now pushing 85-90 mph fully loaded 2 up rolling along very smoothly. No wobble, no nothing. She handled like a dream and for the remaining days of my vacation, not a single handling problem. I must be one of the lucky few.