speed wobble

[Rain Man]

Any ideas on what causes my 65 to go into the shakes on curves, or hit a rut on the freeway. Ray

[Panacea]

I would start by checking the rear wheel alighnment, if you have a lift, set the bike up so you can run a string alongside the entire lenght of the bike,even with the axels. Measure to the side of the rims, you should get the same measurement at the front and rear of both tires. Some bikes have an offset at the front wheel, which has to be calculated in. I did this on my roadking and all the high speed wobble was gone. You may also need to check the tightness of the steering head nut under the top tree, too tight or too loose can cause wobble in curves as well. Let us know what you find. Mike

[Pomike]

How about the spokes? # 0ne handling problem!!
Mike

[john HD]

try the easy stuff first, tire pressure set to spec?

john

[steinauge]

What the other fellows said.Also 90% of the time a motorcycle that shakes in a turn has a problem in the rear end and 90% of the time one that shakes its head in a straight line has a problem in the front end.If it isnt any of the simple stuff I would service the swingarm bearings and rear wheel bearings and the fork head bearings and front wheel bearings paying careful attention to fall away,fork oil and fork spring condition.Note that this is AFTER you have checked all the easier stuff.

[Rain Man]

You know you can't see the forest for the trees. So busy looking for the big problem I forget to check the simple stuff. My brother was looking for possible frame cracks on the 65 and stumbled into a load of loose/missing engine/trans nuts and bolts. This may not cure the wobble, but it's a great place to start.
Reminded me of a trip I took to Laughlin, Nv. I stoped for fuel up near Barstow. I was walking past a girl wrenching on her Wide glide, and overheard this guy saying "Yeah that's the problem with Harleys, your always working on them" Quick as shit she replys," Well if you just spent the last 200 miles between my legs, you'd have to tighten up you nuts too".
Ray

[duoglide58]

MY 58 had a wobble on turns years ago. Turns out I had a broken dampener assembly on one of the HydraGlide forks.
Doug

[Rain Man]

Doug, This is a strange one. Sitting still you can shake the handle bars. let them go and feel a shimmy all the way through the bike. I didn't have time to mess with it my last time home. It will have to wait a couple weeks. Anybody ever come accross this one before?
Ray