http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=124272.54928.136415

Interesting... but on the Harley's I have ridden 2002 roadkings, 2006 RoadKings, 2008 RoadKings, and 2010 never had any "weaves or wobbles"!! At any speed!! I bet if the poor lad was wearing a helmet he may have saved his brain, and probably walked away with scrapes, bruises and maybe broken bones... but who knows...

I bet if the poor lad was wearing a helmet he may have saved his brain, and probably walked away with scrapes, bruises and maybe broken bones...

That was the very first thought that crossed by mind, was the poor guy wearing a helmet? The article says 50 mph with no mention of a second vehicle or collision with a road side object, very survivable scenario with proper protection. Road racers have fallen off at 200+, highsided even at those speeds and lived to tell about it. All the gear, all the time has become my new motto.

I had a Heritage Classic...a 2000 model.At 100 mph,the frontend would start to feel light.I didn't keep pushing it when it started doing that.But if I had,she probably would have tankslapped or something.That's how it felt anyway.
I think I did a bit of research on the web about this a while back....if I recall...there was a vehicle warning put out by OSHA...or whoever that safety organization is (guess it wouldn't be OSHA)...but whatever...it mentioned Harley Motorcycles being susceptible to high speed wobbles.No recalls...but warnings to the consumers.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 10/26/2010 @ 2:14 PM *

I guess the wide glide wud be quite a bit smaller and lighter compared to the heavier road kings.... Well I bet Harley will settle this outside of the courtroom with a nice little cash settlement... not that cash will bring back their family member... Note to self don't buy older used Harley!

I agree Kruz all gear all the time, you wanna have a chance to survive!!

I'm no fan of H-D, but I've known a lot of people who've rode them for years, and never heard af any "Harley wobble". Knew a woman who rode a Wide Glide (like what the guy in the article crashed on), she never mentioned any concerns or problems with it's handling at interstate speeds.
As usual, there's probably more to the story than "just riding along, and..". I've seen a lot of Harleys weebling and wobbling, but it had nothing to do with the motorcycle itself.

It actually has been an ongoing problem with the rubber mounted engines. A company sells an upgrade called VTrack to fix the issue, They have a good write up on it and explanation of the problem.

I've seen several cases settled oput of court over this issue. One was a motor cop that encountered this during a pursuit and died several years ago.

Anyway here's the link: http://www.parts4powertoys.com/Details.html

Actually, I can imagine almost every Harley being prone to a wobble. In 1977 I was a passenger (yes, a tandem) on 1977 Honda GL1000 Gold Wing, part of a group other two GL's. We were riding in last position on a straight road at about 75 mph with little side wind, when the bike in second position, right in front of us, has suddenly stated to wobble. He had to slow down to about 60 mph to stop it. We have all stopped and checked the bike, however, have not found anything wrong. After that we resumed the ride and the symptoms have not reoccurred again. I think that such incidents could happen to any bike with old type flex (read flimsy) frame under certain conditions. Most of Harley models definitely fit in that category.

Thanks Heathun, I was not aware of this but it sure makes sense now. Just another reason for me to avoid a Harley. As far as the instability, my VTX gets a little weird in corners above 80 mph. I don't know what the top speed is but I had it up to 115 mph once and that was enough to cure me of ever wanting to do it again. Those steel tube frames are kinda spindly and imperfections in the road surface at speed can excite some torsional vibrations in the steering head area, at least that's what it feels like to me. I feel safer at 160 on my 14 than I do at 80 on the VTX.

Big K, A few summers back on 2 seperate occasions I watched 2 harleys wobble off the road right in front of me. But it had nothing to do with the bikes. Both times it was sheer inexperience in the curves.....the riders leaned a little, panicked, hit the brakes hard, stood the bikes up at low speeds and wobbled off the road into the ditches. One rider saved the biked by plowing through the ditch, and came back up onto the road and continued on, after crossing into oncoming traffic and barely missing other vehicles and a head on collision. The other rider went off on our side of the road and high sided the harley....tore it up good. I got off and helped the best I could till the rest of his group got back to him. He was pretty shook up. I think more of the handling issues with harleys would be inexperienced new riders rather than a real bike problem. I've read (and witnessed lol) the fact that alot of harley riders are either new riders, have very little experience, or guys that haven't ridden in 40+ years. Inexperience and rusty reflexes can kill you pretty quick on a bike. That and of course lack of gear. Bandanas aren't SNELL OR DOT approved from what I recall

badinblack wrote :

Bandanas aren't SNELL OR DOT approved from what I recall

If you remeber the very good Buell spoof video you will remember the response. "But they are absolutely... badass!"

Bandanas aren't SNELL OR DOT approved from what I recall

I don't care if I look badass or not, just safe. You're right Bad in Black, a lot of these problems are among the Harley poser crowd. I've heard statistics that the fastest rising cause of fatalities among motorcyclists is 40 somethings on Harley's with no head gear and no prior experience, either newbie riders or coming back after a 25 year lay off. The bandana or "doo rag" as they call it down here, offers zero crash protection but can be used to mop up afterwards. I think these guys look ridiculous, old men, accountants or dental assistants or what not, trying to look like they're all bad ass in what amounts to a goofy Halloween costume.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/28/2010 @ 7:27 AM *

As far as the instability, my VTX gets a little weird in corners above 80 mph.

Kruz, any cruiser will do that in a corner if you push it hard enough. The forks flex and allow the front wheel to walk. Essentially whats happening is with front forks flexing it's allowing the front wheel to briefly lose traction, it walks and regains traction. Sometimes if pushed hard enough they won't regain that traction.

Sometimes if pushed hard enough they won't regain that traction.

Thanks for that explanation Heathun, I think I'll keep it below 70 from now on.