Doesn't feel stable in left turns

1439 Views 13 Replies 9 Participants Last post by joefl, Dec 27, 2005

BOUTYM

Discussion Starter · Dec 26, 2005

Since the day I got it, my SuperGlide has never felt as stable in left turns as it does in right turns. Can't really describe it, except that in a left turn it feels a little like the tires want break loose from the pavement. At times it actually feels like they are breaking loose a little, but I don't believe they are. In right turns it's solid as a rock.

Only happens with relatively high lean angles and gets more pronounced when adding power out of the turn. Everything is tightened to spec.

The only thing that is a little out of wack and has always been is the front end doesn't seem to track straight, as I've posted before. The dealer has said it's fine three times.

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fourstar

· #2 · Dec 26, 2005

This may sound stupid, but I feel less comfortable in left turns from a stop, and also putting only my left foot down at a stop. For me, it's physcological and I don't know why. I guess I just have to work my way thru it.
I was going to say you could make 3 rights and then you wouldn't have to go left, but that would be a smart assed reply and not at all like me.

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stev1955

· #3 · Dec 26, 2005

Maybe it's me but I always thought the opposite with my superglide. When I'm making a slow sharp turn to the right it seems more unstable. I put a wide front end on some years ago and that might have something to do with it. But I also always thought that the front and rear tire on a harley were not exactly aligned due to the offset of the left side drive. Maybe someone knows.

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Ozzie In Arabia

· #4 · Dec 26, 2005

If the wheels are straight then you should not have this problem so taking to another shop to get a second opinion will/should tell you if the rear wheel is correctly aligned...............

This will sound silly................are you left or right handed??, as your brain cells are currently dictating your fear factor, which we all have............you will move to the edge of your comfort zone and your inbuilt sense of survival will kick in and limit you in going over this threshold of safety.

Until you get the time up on your scooter this will effect you for a long time and many guys can only go one way with confidence.

Got to keep going in the direction your feel un comfortable with until your sub-contious feels comfortable with this new direction (pun intended)

In time you will blast through the corners with confidence and know how to correct for oversteer or understeer with your throttle through the corners.

Just remember to peel off all speed in a straight line before you hit the corner so as to be in a gear to throttle on at about 1/3rd into the corner.......this loads the rear wheel and lets you control the line coming out onto the straight again.

Some guys teach themselves to drive flat out into the corner loading the front wheel with brake effort and at the last minute and then punching out as you straighten up...................only good IF you know the road surface in front of you.

All the best, Ozzie

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BOUTYM

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 26, 2005

It's not a physcological thing for sure. I'm right handed, but comfortable turning either direction and there is a definite change in the way it feels between a right and left handed turn. No other bike I've had felt like this in a left turn and I've had a bunch of them (metrics).

I'm right handed and I know what you mean by a certain fear of going against what you're body tells you. Took me a while to get past that, both on motorcycles and in airplanes, but I can go either way without a problem. Hummmmm.... something didn't sound right about that statement.

Anyway, I guess I could describe it as 'mushy' turning to the left and at times it almost feels like something is shifting a little and then it catches itself. Again, it's just like the wheels are going to let loose, but they don't.

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Ozzie In Arabia

· #6 · Dec 26, 2005

Hello jrehm, no disrespect to your riding style..............try lifting the front wheel off the deck and look at how the tire is sitting on the rim.

Replace oil in front end as different oil levels can cause this and so can a bodgey rear swing arm bushing.

All the best, Ozzie

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BOUTYM

Discussion Starter · #7 · Dec 26, 2005

Funny you should mention that Ozzie. I have a set of 80 spoke laced wheels ordered and am changing out the sliders for chrome one's when I do the wheels. As I pull it apart I'm going to look for anything odd. The fork oil was one of the things that came to mind.

We'll see if anything changes after this.

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claydbal

· #8 · Dec 26, 2005

i am the opposite, very comfortable in left hand turns, (let it break loose- i'll just give it more gaS) but not comfortable in right hand turns, if i realize i'm hitting the gray area, i back off or drag the brake). this has always been the case even when i ran national off road, road raced and autocross.
BTW i was born left handed and my southern baptist mom made me switch to right hand to clense myself of the devil lol.

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Geezer-Glide

· #9 · Dec 27, 2005

This may sound even sillier..... check the preload on both rear shocks. If your left shock has less preload on the spring than the right, it will "mush".

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petrock

· #10 · Dec 27, 2005

And yet another possibility... the tire might not be centered on the wheel, or could be "zig zagged" on the wheel. This happened on my old Honda and it started to feel wierd going into right turns. When I had the tires replaced, it went away.

Could also be an out of balance tire, or out of round rim. There are alot of possibilities. If you know someone with the same rims/tires as your bike, as if you can swap them for a test ride and see if the problem goes away...

Another posibility is that there is some goop on the left side of the tire. Like some oil or grease or something. Only takes a single finger print with oil on it to cause problems. Its not always easy to see. Might want to give your tires a good cleaning to make sure.

Good luck...

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LMM

· #11 · Dec 27, 2005

Have the dealer that said everything up front is "fine" make sure that the preload on the front bearing is MUCH tighter than factory recomendation - do a search in the Dyna section of this forum and you will find many instances where the factory spec was causing front end stability issues.

Took me 4 trips over about 6 months to finally get my dealer to tighten it - the day I picked it up once that was done I felt like I was riding a different bike.

They had told me repeatedly that eveything is fine until I specifically told them I thought the front end was too loose and needed to be torqued down
beyond what was factory - the tech finally agreed and all is good now.

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BOUTYM

Discussion Starter · #12 · Dec 27, 2005

All good things to look at. Thanks for the replies. Took it out for a little bit today (heat wave here in the NE) and it did the same thing. I made it a point to do some left hand turns at various speeds and as always, in the higher speed turns it did it. Keep in mind I'm not talking sweeping turns. These are the left turn at the stop light kinds of turns where you tend to be at higher bank angles if you're an aggressive in the turn.

Right turns... solid as usual.

It could be the tires, but both of them? I doubt it. Sometimes it feels like the front wants to give way, sometimes the back. Just depends on the amount of power I'm putting to it.

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LMM

· #13 · Dec 27, 2005

jrehm said:
All good things to look at. Thanks for the replies. Took it out for a little bit today (heat wave here in the NE) and it did the same thing. I made it a point to do some left hand turns at various speeds and as always, in the higher speed turns it did it. Keep in mind I'm not talking sweeping turns. These are the left turn at the stop light kinds of turns where you tend to be at higher bank angles if you're an aggressive in the turn.

Right turns... solid as usual.

It could be the tires, but both of them? I doubt it. Sometimes it feels like the front wants to give way, sometimes the back. Just depends on the amount of power I'm putting to it.

Mine acted up randomly and the whole bike felt squirley as hell at times until the front end was tightened up - not saying this is a for sure thing - but I was surprised how it made the overall bike feel like it wanted to come out from under me at times

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joefl

· #14 · Dec 27, 2005

jrehm said:
All good things to look at. Thanks for the replies. Took it out for a little bit today (heat wave here in the NE) and it did the same thing. I made it a point to do some left hand turns at various speeds and as always, in the higher speed turns it did it. Keep in mind I'm not talking sweeping turns. These are the left turn at the stop light kinds of turns where you tend to be at higher bank angles if you're an aggressive in the turn.

Right turns... solid as usual.

It could be the tires, but both of them? I doubt it. Sometimes it feels like the front wants to give way, sometimes the back. Just depends on the amount of power I'm putting to it.

i know what your talking about, my fatboy did it with 16's and still does it with 18's. to me it feels like the side wall is rolling over, and its a left turn at a stop only,its got to be from the off set. i just deal with it. Joe

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