Pitch n Dive

I've noticed my front end has a slight tendency to pitch and dive a little when cornering at higher speeds. This only occurs on long sweeping curves that I can hit at about 70 mph at get a good lean on the bike. Its not real severe, but it is unsettling enough to cause me to back off the throttle in order to maintain stability. Anybody else ever experience something like this?

Aloha.....Mike

I don't know exactly what you mean by "pitch n dive", but my '99 FLHR had problems with long sweeping turns at speeds above 60MPH. Caused instability and death wobble. I installed a "Bagger Brace" to stiffen the frame up and the problem is gone. Of course, that was after eliminating the other suspect items (tires properly inflated being #1, #2 rear and front wheel alignments, #2 possible frame or frame brace damage).

+1. Yep as R.R. said. Gotta fix it 'cause it's gonna get worse. JMO

Worn swing arm bushings is another thing to check...

Thanks Lucifer but with just under 12,000 miles on the clock, I would hope my swing arm bushings are still good.

Lets say I'm running my line through a long sweeping left turn, the bike will start to pitch or turn itself deeper into the turn than the line I have picked. Now I have to correct the lean angle to get back on to my line. Once I'm back on my line the bike will once again turn into the turn causing me to once again correct my lean. I don't know how else to describe it.

Aloha....Mike

Yer not smokin that Maui Wowee while ridin are ya?!

OK, that sounds just like I had, as far as symptom. It eventually caused me a death wobble that slammed me into a concrete center divider near 70MPH. My engine guard collapsed against it and knocked the wobble out of the bike, so I never went down and I rode home. Story aside, ya gotta get this addressed if you plan on taking any sweeping turns at speed. As others and I have said, it could be a lot of things. But if you eliminate them, it may just be your bike is one of the 1996 -2008 FLH-series bikes that needs to be braced. There are many manufacturers of bike frame braces, but I went with Bitchin Baggers - The Bagger-Brace and am really glad I did. The brace is largely invisible when installed, which is a shame because it is a beautifully machined device. It is also likely the most expensive brace, but you pay for real quality in this case.
:cheers:

Not my Asians...Nooooooooo Wayyyyyy!! :fight:

@5'9" and 260lbs I've definitely got too much weight somewhere. More in the front than in the back I pretty sure.

Will try the easy stuff first and work my way up. Hopefully I can resolve the issue before I get to the steering head bearings...looks like a real PITA to get to them. I'll check tire & rear shock air pressure, and unload my bags tomorrow. There is plenty of tread left on my Metzlers, but there are some of those little surface cracks on the sidewalls that come with age.

HRK What is a cleve?...I thought it was a verb used to describe the act of a woman when she lifts and presses her breasts together in order to produce clevege, either manually or with the assistance of some sort of brassier.

cleve, clevege, cleveged :devil:

Aloha....Mike