We have seen a few FLTR's where the fall away wasn't adjusted properly and the neck bearings were ruined. This is an adjustment that I feel should be done on FLTR's during setup and at every major service thereafter. We believe the reason this is more noticable on this model as opposed to other Touring models is because of the ultra sensitive steering you get from having nothing attached to your forks (other than the bike, of course).

 

Sorry,

forgot to ask - is there a link available for me to print off one of these for the 2011 Road Glide - we'll be picking up our bike in the 24 hours or so & would be great to have one of thes service bulletin's for our bike. Will take it on our trip all around the US coast at month end - incase we have it happen again (which I am asuming is a possibility? from some of the replies we've had, from owners who had adjustments made & it happened 2000 miles later, etc.)

Anyway, if you have the 2011 version available - We'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks

 

That service bulletin is for 09 and later..... they all share the same basic frame. So it is the one you need. In the cases of those who had the adjustment made.... don't assume the adjustments were done correctly, just because they were done. And NEVER assume the tech is good just because he's been a tech for a long time...... He may just have been incompetent for a long time

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Thank you again!

Really appreciate your help.

 

I've read a couple pages, but not the entire thread yet.

What I was always taught is that a nice tight grip is not a good thing. If you're holding onto the bars too tight and you start to get headshake, that can travel through you and create an even worse situation by magnifying the shake because the handlebars are starting to move you.

Having a nice light grip is normally best in these situations and under any circumstances. This is generally because head shake is caused by the wheel contacting the ground at an angle that's not straight and by having a shorter rake. but even if the bike itself is causing this problem, you wouldn't want to try and force it to stop on your own or else you could cause an even bigger issue by having a death grip on the bars.

 

this shake happens by letting go of the handlebars and decelerating from about 45mph to 35mph.... not by having too tight a grip on the bars.

 

Although it may not be related to the problem the original poster of this thread had, I owned a 2000 Road Glide (now on an '07 RG) that would experience "head shake" while decelerating around 40mph. If I took my hands off the bars, it would start mild and get progressively worse (never tried to see how bad it would get, but probably bad enough to wreck the bike if not "checked"). A slight "hand" on the bars, and it dissipated quickly.

I noticed it when a front tire was getting worn, and guessed it might be either cupping on the worn tire, and also possibly from the front brake rotors (which were original).

When I got the tire changed, I had floating rotors put on and the problem was gone.

Tried to reproduce it on the 2007 Road Glide (which still has the 16" front tire), and it seems smooth and steady, at least for now. But even though the bike has only about 7800 miles on it (I picked it up with 7300), I'm thinking the [factory original, non-floating] rotors may have slight warping already, for I feel the front end "pulsing" as I haul it down to a stop. First time I have to change the tire on this one, it's going to get floating rotors as well.

- John

 

I don't have any shake on mine. Someone said earlier it's because of the increase in tire size on the new bikes. I put larger wheels on mine,and haven't had any problems. I will say there is no excuse for any Harley tech that didn't know about this problem,and how the neck bearings specs were different on the RG's.

 

Glad the problem has been resolved ShakeyGlide. Safe ridin!