I recently wrecked my 2016 Freewheeler and am wondering if anybody else has encountered something similar.
I was stopped at a light, maybe the third vehicle in line waiting to make a left turn at a large intersection. I was in the inside lane of two turn lanes. The road was dry and there was a little bit of gravel in the road but nothing more than you usually find in a large, heavy traveled intersection. Immediately after I took off I could feel the rear tires bouncing, coming off the road, and tilting side to side. There was no place to pull over, I had to make it through the turn and across 3 lanes of traffic before I could get off the road. I was not going fast at all (I am a cautious rider, more of a slow poke) and still in first gear.
Not sure how, but the throttle became stuck wide open, (my husband who cannot hear anything, heard my bike over the sound of his bike) and I was struggling to maintain control through the turn. The rear end was bouncing severely to the point the bike began leaning on two wheels, left and right, as I went through the intersection. [[That is all that I can recall, the rest is from witness statements.]]
I was thrown off the bike to the right as it was leaning to the right. The bike went up on it's back wheels, came down on top of me and ran me over. My husband said it was like watching a bull rider thrown off.
The bike then continued on it's rear wheels again for several feet and hit a car. That driver said when she saw the bike coming in the mirror it looked airborne.
The bike then continued on all three wheels across two lanes of traffic, jumped a curb and stopped on a small hill.
We are waiting to hear from the mechanic, but so far have found nothing wrong in the rear end, and have not been able to recreate the bouncing/tilting.

 

Glad you’re ok. Check on the HD website, there is a clutch recall, not sure if it applied to 2016 models, but it does to 2017 model. The recall deals with the clutch failing to disengage, it wouldn’t explain the throttle remaining open, could you have possibly activated cruise control? Possible malfunction in the electronics of the engine control unit?

 

Nita, sounds like you had one wide ride! Hope you didn't get hurt too bad. I can't help with your trike issue but hope it all works out for you. And welcome to the forum!

 

Glad you're ok. I had a 15 and have a 19 Freewheeler. Never had anything remotely close to what you described. How long have you had it and have you ever felt anything odd before this?

 

Wow. I am looking forward, as I am sure you are, to what the final diagnosis of the issue was.
I hope you are OK!

 

Sounds as if the wide open throttle is the culprit that caused the problem in first gear with the clutch engaged. Disengaging the clutch probably would of solved the rear end and tire problem. Why the throttle stuck is anybody's guess,but on a left hand turn especially a sharp turn,it is easy to pull throttle open while trying to keep hold of handlebar grip.That may of happened and it stuck open. Glad your not hurt bad and hope your mechanic can come up with what happened.

 

I am following this thread, as I have a 2016 FreeWheeler. In the 15,000+ miles, I have not encountered anything close to what you described. Keep us informed if your mechanic finds the problem.

 

My buddy just bought a trike. He had a bit of wheel hop in a corner by the sounds of it ? If he joins up the forum he can explain what happen to him but I think he is talkin just suspension adjustments 😳. This sounds nasty. I’m gonna watch this thread too. Curious 👍. Glad your ok to ride another day ✌️

 

First, has anybody ever hear of this happening before? I have not.

To me it doesn't sound like the suspension was doing anything wrong, almost everything described can be due to a stuck wide-open throttle. As the tire(s) would unload or even lift they (and the engine and drive train) would spin up very fast, and then when they hit the ground they'd hook up and pow, the sudden surges/bucking/wheelies. Bounce, repeat. Either side to side or together. Hard to tell with a fly-by-wire throttle, maybe a dead short to the raise winding of the throttle motor. Maybe more upstream than that, since the injectors must have gotten the signal, too.

Glad you're OK, that must have been one scary ride!

>>>EDIT: A search of this entire trike forum only had ONE thread regarding "stuck throttle", and that was way back in 2010. Note I did NOT look in the Touring or Rushmore forum sections. https://www.hdforums.com/forum/tri-glide-and-freewheeler-models/470258-throttle-stuck.html?highlight=stuck+throttle

 

Not saying it did not happen; however, it was only 1 post and the OP first and only post to the forum.