"Wallowing" through curves
#41
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Well I did some testing yesterday. Tried running my shocks at 0psi, and again at 15psi and there is a definite difference. Too soft vs too firm, so I know the air system at least works. Will have to mess around some more to see if I can find a sweet spot I'm comfortable with. As far as wiggle or undulation is concerned I didn't really experience any yesterday. It was so freaking windy I was being blown all over the road anyway so it was really hard to get a good feel for
handling. I will say this, checked my tire pressure before leaving the house and they had more air in them than I wanted. The last time I had ridden, (the day of the wiggle) it had been significantly colder in the morning when I checked tire pressure. I inflated to 36/36 and went for my ride. Yesterday when I checked them pre-ride, they were closer to 38. I set them back to 36 and didn't have any issues. I know that when I got these tires I played around with different pressures a little bit and felt a noticeable difference in how it handled with it being more planted at the lower pressure. You would think a cold check is a cold check and once they are up to temp it should be consistent, but I don't know. Maybe that's why the NASCAR pit crews are taking 1/2 pound of air out of a tire at certain times. (No, I am not riding my Road King like a NASCAR driver.)
The whole wiggle thing was really pretty minor in the first place and I am probably just making a bigger deal out of it than it is. Touring suspension, heavy bike, curve, bumps. Probably gonna feel a little something sometimes. To those who suggested bagger braces and touring links, that's what the Sta-bo bushings are for. Thanks to all who have contributed, I'm gonna ride it and try not to overthink it, but I will keep you posted if anything interesting happens.
handling. I will say this, checked my tire pressure before leaving the house and they had more air in them than I wanted. The last time I had ridden, (the day of the wiggle) it had been significantly colder in the morning when I checked tire pressure. I inflated to 36/36 and went for my ride. Yesterday when I checked them pre-ride, they were closer to 38. I set them back to 36 and didn't have any issues. I know that when I got these tires I played around with different pressures a little bit and felt a noticeable difference in how it handled with it being more planted at the lower pressure. You would think a cold check is a cold check and once they are up to temp it should be consistent, but I don't know. Maybe that's why the NASCAR pit crews are taking 1/2 pound of air out of a tire at certain times. (No, I am not riding my Road King like a NASCAR driver.)
The whole wiggle thing was really pretty minor in the first place and I am probably just making a bigger deal out of it than it is. Touring suspension, heavy bike, curve, bumps. Probably gonna feel a little something sometimes. To those who suggested bagger braces and touring links, that's what the Sta-bo bushings are for. Thanks to all who have contributed, I'm gonna ride it and try not to overthink it, but I will keep you posted if anything interesting happens.
#42
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I know you have a stabilizer already installed, I believe it's the swingarm bushing type? Just wanted to say I installed the other type (Throttle-Up Industries one for about $130 shipped with the forum member discount)- and it made a HUGE difference in the cornering of my bike. Put about 500 miles on since installed and I think it's one of the best things I've done for handling around curves.
#43
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i can make my 2010 ultra wabble in the turns by having my ohlins set to soft on the dampning and to much sag set it up right and it will never show. on previous bikes i always thought it was chassis flex but have learned different. i have had the ohlins set up for me, and the wife wanted to go for a ride i left them alone and got on a curvey back road and it would just bobble through the curves then ajust the preload (1" sag) 18 clicks on the dampning (400 pounds total weight with wife on board) and then i can go through the same curves like superman. i have done the blue ridge parkway and dragon 8 years runnen and this year with the ohlins by far the best.
#44
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Aside from the "free" stuff (playing with tire and shock pressures), the cheapest thing to try is about $20 worth of 10, 15, or 20 wt. shock oil for the front fork. If that lessens the wallowing you know it is suspension and will have to start saving up for the expensive improvements if this still bothers you.
I have always found the Harley recommended tire pressure too low and go with the max allowed on the tire side walls or a little more. This more than anything else minimizes wallow and tracking. I also run the E3 tires and have about 12,500 on the front and rear. So far, so good. I added the Progressive brace before the new tires. and have gone to 20 wt. fork oil. With about 42,500 total on the machine, no need for further changes as far as I am concerned, still have the factory swing arm bushings
I have always found the Harley recommended tire pressure too low and go with the max allowed on the tire side walls or a little more. This more than anything else minimizes wallow and tracking. I also run the E3 tires and have about 12,500 on the front and rear. So far, so good. I added the Progressive brace before the new tires. and have gone to 20 wt. fork oil. With about 42,500 total on the machine, no need for further changes as far as I am concerned, still have the factory swing arm bushings
#45
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I know exactly what you are talking about. I have approached redesigning the Harley frame with an open check book. 2008 SG - replaced the tires and could not perceive any noticable change. Then I installed 3-3 Ohlins and the results were marginal. Next install was True-Track and this offered the biggest perceived improvement. I don't know whether it was a combination of the three things coming together or whether the True-Track stands alone as the solution.
True-Track wants it to work as bad as you do and made several suggestions of things to try, one being tire pressure. When it was suggested, I didn't have much faith in tire pressure until I tried it. 39lbs rear and 37lbs front seems to be what my bike likes the best. After all this, the perceived problem has been largely reduced but not eliminated, but I can live with it now. Plus with spending this money on this problem was less expensive than the difference I would have paid to trade for a new frame.
Good luck and I hope that you have similar success...
True-Track wants it to work as bad as you do and made several suggestions of things to try, one being tire pressure. When it was suggested, I didn't have much faith in tire pressure until I tried it. 39lbs rear and 37lbs front seems to be what my bike likes the best. After all this, the perceived problem has been largely reduced but not eliminated, but I can live with it now. Plus with spending this money on this problem was less expensive than the difference I would have paid to trade for a new frame.
Good luck and I hope that you have similar success...
#46
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I scream through curves twisting back and forth so fast I barely have time to notice on the twisties. On a long sweeping interstate curve at 80 MPH I feel some wobble so just back off the throttle. Don't over think it and just enjoy the ride. Well if'n ya got Johnny law chasing ya I can understand but otherwise learn to adapt.
#47
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The more I ride this thing, the more I think something needs to be done. When I bought it last year I was really pleased with how it well it handled, especially after the new tires. Now I can't stop feeling like it needs something. It seems like I'm feeling every little rut and groove in the road. More noticeable on cement roads than asphalt but the cement has more rain grooves and crap. I know it's not the tires (maybe the pressures) because they were fantastic when new, and still only have about 1000 miles on them. To me it almost feels like the steering head is loose, like the bars want to turn and follow road imperfections rather than the bike tracking solidly through a line. Any little bit of wind turbulence is downright annoying and I feel wiggly when approaching the wind wash off the big trucks. Not a lot mind you, but enough that I'm going to the trouble to type this. I was told that if your steering head is loose, that when you take your hands off the bars and decelerate from about 40 MPH, it will shake. Mine does not do that. I wonder if my alignment could be off. I can let go and the bike still goes straight without having to lean real hard one way or the other. One thing I wonder about is the fact that my whole front end appears to be pointed slightly to the right when I'm going straight. Have read a lot of threads about that, seems I'm not the only one.
I've been reading a lot about suspension upgrades and whether I want to spend money or not, it seems like I probably will. I just don't want to spend a fortune and still have another unresolved issue. I think I may put some Ricor Intiminators up front as that seems to be fairly inexpensive at this point and then go from there. Probably wouldn't change fork springs yet until I see how the Intiminators perform on their own I'm really hoping a suspension upgrade will help. The more I ride the more it feels like rather than rebounding and damping, it is really just bouncing. Do you guys think these will help address some of the issues that I have described? Sorry for the long read, I just wanna get it right.
I've been reading a lot about suspension upgrades and whether I want to spend money or not, it seems like I probably will. I just don't want to spend a fortune and still have another unresolved issue. I think I may put some Ricor Intiminators up front as that seems to be fairly inexpensive at this point and then go from there. Probably wouldn't change fork springs yet until I see how the Intiminators perform on their own I'm really hoping a suspension upgrade will help. The more I ride the more it feels like rather than rebounding and damping, it is really just bouncing. Do you guys think these will help address some of the issues that I have described? Sorry for the long read, I just wanna get it right.
#49
#50
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The more I ride this thing, the more I think something needs to be done. When I bought it last year I was really pleased with how it well it handled, especially after the new tires. Now I can't stop feeling like it needs something. It seems like I'm feeling every little rut and groove in the road. More noticeable on cement roads than asphalt but the cement has more rain grooves and crap. I know it's not the tires (maybe the pressures) because they were fantastic when new, and still only have about 1000 miles on them. To me it almost feels like the steering head is loose, like the bars want to turn and follow road imperfections rather than the bike tracking solidly through a line. Any little bit of wind turbulence is downright annoying and I feel wiggly when approaching the wind wash off the big trucks. Not a lot mind you, but enough that I'm going to the trouble to type this. I was told that if your steering head is loose, that when you take your hands off the bars and decelerate from about 40 MPH, it will shake. Mine does not do that. I wonder if my alignment could be off. I can let go and the bike still goes straight without having to lean real hard one way or the other. One thing I wonder about is the fact that my whole front end appears to be pointed slightly to the right when I'm going straight. Have read a lot of threads about that, seems I'm not the only one.
I've been reading a lot about suspension upgrades and whether I want to spend money or not, it seems like I probably will. I just don't want to spend a fortune and still have another unresolved issue. I think I may put some Ricor Intiminators up front as that seems to be fairly inexpensive at this point and then go from there. Probably wouldn't change fork springs yet until I see how the Intiminators perform on their own I'm really hoping a suspension upgrade will help. The more I ride the more it feels like rather than rebounding and damping, it is really just bouncing. Do you guys think these will help address some of the issues that I have described? Sorry for the long read, I just wanna get it right.
I've been reading a lot about suspension upgrades and whether I want to spend money or not, it seems like I probably will. I just don't want to spend a fortune and still have another unresolved issue. I think I may put some Ricor Intiminators up front as that seems to be fairly inexpensive at this point and then go from there. Probably wouldn't change fork springs yet until I see how the Intiminators perform on their own I'm really hoping a suspension upgrade will help. The more I ride the more it feels like rather than rebounding and damping, it is really just bouncing. Do you guys think these will help address some of the issues that I have described? Sorry for the long read, I just wanna get it right.
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FrankEV
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06-03-2019 03:54 PM