NHTSA Complaint #11426736 — 2008 HARLEY-DAVIDSON FXSTC

At about 3 PM on June 26, 2021 I was going south on Route 131 a mile past the junction with Route 73. There are four long sweeping turns after the junction. I’ve traveled that road on motorcycles hundreds of times. It was clear dry and sunny. The road repaved three months ago is very smooth. Luckily there was no close by following or approaching traffic. With the strong torque of the Softail Custom there is no need to adjust throttle at all in going through these wide turns. I was going slightly below the speed limit of 45 mph. Then when I was about halfway through the first left-hand turn I suddenly realized with alarm that the motorcycle was no longer turning at all. Instead it was beginning to quickly accelerate and consequently becoming upright rather than slightly leaned over and it headed directly ahead off the road into the woods. I shut off the throttle but it kept accelerating, so I applied the brakes hard. The motorcycle only slightly slowed down. The hard braking caused steering wobble and then a full tank slapper. The motorcycle went down onto the pavement with me trapped under it. Its momentum carried it away from me as I saw it go further down the road. If this had occurred going straight down the road there would have been time to sort things out and either pull in the clutch or turn off the rocker power switch or both. But in the actual circumstances of mid-turn at 45 miles an hour I was initially stunned and couldn't believe what was happening. My thought was "This bike is no longer making a turn." That made no sense at all. I was extremely lucky to avoid serious injury. I had on a leather jacket and a full-face carbon fiber helmet. I heard the helmet hit the payment with a solid thump. I ended up with abrasions lacerations and bruises on my left knee, bruises and abrasions on my left hip and a burn on my left elbow through the jacket and a heavy work shirt. Boots were an ankle saver since they were heavily abraded. Motorcycle could be driven home