A Little Maintenance Job / Big Improvement

[tinkerman]

I had picked up a set of riser bushings (J & P)a couple years ago to replace the OE ones on my 88 Heritage. The OE ones were worn enough that when I pushed the bike up a slight incline to get it in the shop the banjo bolt on the front master cyl. would almost touch my windshield. In any case when I started the install I noticed that the new ones were much harder / less flexible than the OE ones...so much so that I stopped what I was doing and reinstalled the old ones. Been using them for the last couple of years.

However I noticed after I finished the top end last winter that I had much less vibration in the bike which I figured had something to do with the top motor mount being torqued down properly...so on a whim I reinstalled the new bushings again yesterady and was gone most of today on bike. What a huge difference...instead of aggravating the vibration in the bars, these harder bushings have cut it in half.

I guess my point here is that when I first bought this bike I accepted the amount of vibration as part of the softail deal not having driven a softail before and having spent a lot of time on British vertical twins which are know to shake just a tad...but gradually over time as I tweak here and there, I find that this bike is getting to the civilized point when it comes to vibration. Figured I would pass it on as usually we are moaning and groaning about our rides or asking questions but the more I ride this bike and the more I work on it, the better it gets.

Something else I have done vibration wise is to run small metal struts with rubber end mounts between the lower corner of my engine guard to underneath my front running boards where they are attached to the frame...used to have a fair bit of vibration out at the ends of the guards. Same thing with my saddle bag mounting sub frame...it used to get going in some kind of harmonic buzz with the frame...I ran the same kind of strut with rubber mounts between the saddle bag frame and the rear crash bar. Of course in both cases I wasn't curing the vibration source, just the symptoms but it made the bike a little more comfortable to run and the struts are well hidden so they don't look like $hit.

Back in 2005, when I did my first big run on this bike I left a trail of nuts and bolts and small parts right across the continent...now between some improvements here and there and "old blue" (my bottle of locktite #242) this thing is very solid and getting to be a very enjoyable ride.

I'll never be a Harley only rider...there are too many other bikes out there to try...but I sure am impressed with this Heritage of mine...especially considering that it is over 20 years old. For sure she has a permanent spot in the shop as other bikes come and go:gob:

OK, I'll stop now,

tink