Can a motorcycle remain upright and continue without its human rider? the anwer is yes, providing its a Harley!

[Lucky Phil]

2 hours ago, pete roper said:

Whenever I see things like that I always think there has to be something wrong with the bike? I mean? It’s a Harley, it’s got a wheelbase a mile long, its rake and trail figures are enormous, it’s travelling on a seemingly smooth road and it’s not even going very fast! Even shitty motorbikes don’t usually go bonkers if their fundamentals are sound. Tyre pressures, steering head bearings, swingarm and wheel bearings etc.

There's a name for it Pete apparently, the Softail shuffle.

Phil

[Chuck]

Nephew Ricky had one of those mondo expensive CVA (I think) special built baggers, and it had the wobble. The dealer couldn't get rid of it, and Ricky couldn't sell it without taking a *serious* bath.

[audiomick]

6 hours ago, Chuck said:

... bagger...and it had the wobble....

Luggage can cause the wobble. Particularly on a freeway with a lot of traffic, i.e. turbulence.

Edited February 5 by audiomick

[GuzziMoto]

Even how the luggage is loaded, affecting the weight distribution, can cause or solve wobbles.

I have seen HD touring bikes being ridden better then guys on sportbikes. Seeing a guy on a bagger hustle it around a BattleTrax course is a sight to behold. A big Harley or similar bike does have less capability then the average sportbike, but most motorcycles being ridden on the street aren't being ridden at a level that is anywhere near the actual limits of the bike. So it is possible that a guy on a Harley may be going faster then a guy on a sportbike. I owned a cruiser for a year or so, not the average cruiser, but by my standards it was a cruiser. I found that it handled really well, the weight was more  than I would want but it carried it pretty low. So it hid its weight. It would corner fine, but the scary thing was how quickly I would run out of cornering clearance and start dragging things. I was always worried I would simply not have enough cornering clearance to make a corner at the speed I went into the corner at. In the end, I was happy to see it go, and I rarely sell motorcycles.

[audiomick]

5 hours ago, GuzziMoto said:

.... I owned a cruiser for a year or so...

I had a Kawasaki 1000 GTR for about 10 years. Two, actually. I crashed the first one and bought another one to replace it. Not a "cruiser" in the sense that some Harleys are, but a barn-door fairing and luggage. Even so, more of a "sport tourer".

Anyway, it went very well, handled nicely, and was lots of fun. I only got rid of it because I didn't have the need for something like that anymore. I bought it to be able to do long Autobahn trips with luggage for two weeks on a job, and that doesn't happen any more.

As far as the wobbles goes, as I indicated further up, the worst thing is lots of traffic on a freeway. The turbulence hits the big fairing, and the bike reacts to it. It took me a while to get to the point where I could just ride through it.

Further up was also mentioned a custom build bagger. That is where I see the greatest potential for instability. Bolting panniers onto a bike that wasn't meant to have them, maybe dicking aroung with the fork length and whatever. That can work out well, or not.

[gstallons]

When it's all said n done , I feel bad for that guy getting all that highway rash . 

[Lucky Phil]

8 hours ago, gstallons said:

When it's all said n done , I feel bad for that guy getting all that highway rash . 

He made his choices.

Phil