Ok, so prior to taking my 2012 XL1200C for a 240km ride, I'd had it serviced, and immediately after and for two weeks following, everything was fan-friggin-tastic.

Time comes for the end of year holiday: 2 weeks 'down south' (Busselton for all the WA members). The whole ride down, everything was ok, but when I went to ride my bike to the nearest bottle-o the day after, I noticed there was a nasty wobble in the handlebars, at low speed.

I figured it was just time for a wheel balance, and left my mind at that, but the wobble got progressively worse.

Time comes for the 240km ride back home....

I didn't even manage 10km before the wobble became so bad that the whole back end was fishtailing - I barely managed to ride the bike back to where I was staying.

Long story short, I got a mobile mechanic out who specialised in HDs, and after he took it round the block (I started the bike and kept the FOB), he instantly diagnosed it as loose spokes in the rear wheel.

What I hadn't noticed, due to my distraction with the wobble, adrenaline from a whole-bike wobble at 120km/h, etc, was that the wobble had caused the upper belt guard to literally snap off it's weld, and the guard had started grinding up the rear pulley (sprocket)!!!

(After the mechanic tightened up the loose spokes and removed the now bent upper belt guard, everything was 'ok' enough to ride back to Perth, and straight into Perth HD!)

Bottom line: EVERYONE with a recent sportster, that has stock HD spoke wheels, should specifically get them checked regularly, to make sure that s**t like this, doesn't happen, otherwise you'll be out ~$1,000, over basically nothing!!!

Have broken spokes on rear wheel in past, but they where not loose, when i broke 5 spokes on rear wheel i got a flat, as spokes puntured tube from inside.

you would think if you get you bike serviced at HD they would check & tention spokes when servicing?

 

Dealerships, oil and filter tweek the clutch and out the door!

T1

You got me paranoid now. I had my wheels painted and they painted right over everything. So now the only way to tighten them is to remove the tyre and do it from the inside!

It's good advice, but anyone with spoke wheels should be regularly checking their tension anyway.

Only takes a minute or so, and like I think Terroristone suggested, I've found you can't rely on the dealerships to do everything the service manual details.....

Bugger about the paint thing, ConR!!

When checking, is it just a matter of feeling for loose spokes on should you use a small tool to check they are tight?

For a quick check, just tap them in the middle with a metal object, eg: screwdriver, and listen.
They should all have the same pitch.
Unless you have some experience, don't try to tighten them or you can pull the wheel out of alignment.

China, I get what you're saying, and it depends on the situation.
Just trying to get the point across that you can cause problems.
If checked on a regular basis, they should never get to a stage they are dangerous.
Most people don't have a spoke wrench, and the nipples can be messed up pretty easily using a spanner or worse, a shifter.