Wobble

[CrazyHorse]

Tankslappers usually happen when one accelerates hard over a bumby surface. The front wheel foot print is lighter so when you hit the bumps the tire is lifted slightly off the ground and if it doesnt come down perfectly straight it bounces to the other direction and each bounce gets worse the tire bounces more violently to the opposite side.

 

Heres a nice video of a young man stunt riding doing a wheelie when he notices a car on the side of the road he wants to pass it on two wheels but if you look close his steering wheel is not perfectly straight and you see a puff of smoke when his front tire hits the road and the tank slap begins.

[ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=YD6jruSIELA]YouTube - Motorcycle tank slapper into parked car[/ame]

[captnmidnight]

If it's a front end wobble,,do a wheelie. If it's a rear end wobble,do a stopie.!!!I can't believe no one else knew the right answer!!:rotf:

[Rick Butler]

Ed,

 

I was going to reply when you first posted, but I decided to just listen to see what stories everyone had. And like the rest of the folks, I also have some stories of which I have suffered from as well as learned from. But I won't bore you with the details, except that I'm still alive to ride another day

 

But first I will tell you that you have very little to worry about with your 06 RSV. These bikes are as solid as they come under amost every adverse condition and speed you will come across while riding. That is unlike our 1st gen Ventures which could be very unstable at speeds around 90 to 100. Of all the bikes I have ever looked at in dealing with a steering wobble, 99.9% of them always came back to loose steering head bearings. Yeah, tires can sometimes resolve this issue but it's only a temporary fix which in the end will still come back to loose steering head bearings. And after a couple of years and 20k or more, it's always good to drop the front end and repack and torque these bearings. These bikes come from the factory with the steering head bearings lightly greased. However if you do this from day one, and add the Furbur Fix, it will probably last for as long as you will ride the bike.

 

However you needed an answer to your original question of what to do if you get a head shake at road speeds. Unless you did something like what Don did and had to slow the bike down, you HAVE to stay ON the throttle and stop the shake and then try to come down slowly. I was told years ago that just about any bike will wobble on hard deceleration. This is especially true for sport bikes with less rake and trail than we have. On deceleration, the front end is under a greater load and depending on the condition of head bearing, tires, fork sag, etc. will cause a wobble. So to unload the front end, slight accelleration is always the solution. I know, when the handlebars start to shake, your mind is telling you to Slow this horse down, but you can't do it. After hearing Don's story, I can just imagine the terrified look on his face as he was trying to get himself out of this situation.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Rick