i too own a harley, and honestly the first thing i learned was to maintain your own motorcycle. Harleys business plan is to fool everyone once. the guy at the shop behind the counter actually told me "hey there is 30k on that cycle when are you going to turn it in in trade" I humbly asked him i could see the tatoos, the head band, and the out fit, what kind of biker are you that 30k is high mileage? I started riding before i could be licenced. i don't trade bikes in, my bikes get handed down.

Hello to all,

My background is that I have been riding HD's since the 60's and have a mechanical and technical background from the time my grandfather put a wrench in my hand working on AMC's. I have been a technician in the USAF working on B-52's, KC-135's, C-9's, C-141's, and a host of others. I was also an instructor at the USAF Academy's Parachute Team for many years. Attention to detail was important then as it is now.

After retiring from the USAF I worked at an H-D dealership in Colorado as a Service Writer / Manager of the Technicians. Later moving back to Wisconsin I again worked as a Service Writer and later wanted to get back into wrenching, which I did. I have been through numerous H-D schools and have been an "H-D" technician for a number of years.

Ok enough of that.

What I am going to inform you about if you don't know already is you need to have your Cam Chain Tensioner's looked at in around the 20k time frame. The shoes may become worn to a point that they will actually fall apart and pieces end up in the engine and could possibly ruin it. An important procedure to help alleviate the problem is to change that engine oil often and keep it clean!

If you do have to change out the Shoes, you can upgrade to a new Cam, to make your engine work more efficiently. Also you can just cut the pushrods verses removing the top end and install adjustable rods. That will save some time and money.

Attached are a couple of photos that I took of what can happen.

Knowledge can be good.

West

Apr 13th, 2006 http://www.1personalinjurylawyers.com/pi/news/brain-injury-harley.html

An oncoming motorist actually observed the wobble just as the rider went down.