Ok excuse my ignorance , but I don’t always understand why my bike does certain actions , as I ride mostly by gut feel /instinct . I have had training, but not on what to do when things go wrong. I would like to know what to do if I have a tank slapper or wobble again, and not just rely on guess work and luck to get me out of those situations .
I understand that bad suspension set up and /or wrong tyres/pressure etc can cause head shakes/ wobbles , but here I mostly want to know what to do once I am in a tank slapper /wobble situation to ride out of it.
I have also learnt that speed plays a part in wobbles, eg riding too fast on tar /gravel and too slow in sand and since I have been riding slower on tar/gravel or at least slowed down for ruts /obstacles they haven’t happened .
I will appreciate advice ,but please keep it simple as I am not technically minded . Thanks
First off all the terminology . I see people talk about tank slappers and head shakes as if they are the same thing . To me they feel like different actions ? The head shakes I have had I could control , but the tank slappers not really , or only by luck . What is what ?
Then what I want to know most of all is that others say that you must always accelerate out of tank slappers/wobbles , but I have found that acceleration does not always work , and can actually make it worse , as then I can have a high speed high side and get injured , as opposed to a low speed low side with no inuries . So when must I take what action?
Maybe I should give examples of my wobbles ( and I know speed played a major role in almost all the examples )
Tank slapper on tar on a Road bike ( R 1150R) (with road tyres set correctly for tar : 2,3 and 2,5 ) :
On my previous bike , I rode over one of one of those over/exra tarred bits between Montague and Barrydale ( which I realised afterwards can be slippery). I was going too fast , abt 180 plus ,and it was raining. Suddenly the bike starting shaking from side to side like it was electrocuted . It did not do big S's on the road , just small, but wild S's on its own axle ,and she stayed in a straight, but diagonal line on the road. Just shaking from side to side as if a cat had a mouse in its jaw . I lost a few seconds where I had no control over the bike, and I almost blacked out due to the extreme shaking. When I came to I could not do anything to the steering , could not even grip the handle bars. Kept the bike upright with my knees ,but got bashed so hard I had black and blue bruises on the inside of my knees even through my leather pants with thick padding across the knees. The bike was veering in a diagonal line to the side of the road and just before I was going to crash into 2 farm workers I gently pulled the bike past them and stayed on it. I think I did all the right things. It was one of the most terrifying incidences of my life. But there is no way I could have accelerated , I had no control over the bike whatsoever.
Back End wobble: Tar (GS1200 with Anakees ) ( set for tar: 2,3 and 2,5)
Once at Killarney race track at a track day , also raining , I accelerated too fast ,coming out of the chicane just before the front straight, and the back end of the bike started to wobble very badly . I don't know what I did, but it worked, and the bike steadied again . What to do if that happens again?.And why did the back wheel wobble when I grabbed the throttle ,surely the front should have wobbled or lifted? I think that one may have become a tank slapper , but didn't due to some unknown action by me and or maybe luck?.
Front End wobble :gravel ( GS 1200 with TKC’s (abt 1,6 and 1.8 bar )
I was riding on an easy straight gravel highway.Doing about 120 and didn't slow down for a few 'harmless ' ruts, tiny ruts not more than 3cm high , if that. The next minute the front wheel must have fallen off the edge of a rut, and started going 45 degrees to the left. I must have overcorrected with my legs ( as standing ) and it went 45 degrees to the other side so doing wide S's. I fought to control the bike for about 50 meters, not sure if I would have succeeded ,but before I could find out , it hit a small rock and she went down ( low sided) but by that time the speed was much lower so neither of us were injured and I could ride on . There were very pronounced and deep S marks in the gravel so we could track what had happened. . I think accelerating could have worked, but also could have made me fall harder (high sided) if it didn't work. Any advice ,as it all happened so fast ?
Front End wobbles :sand ( GS 1200 with TKC’s) (abt 1.2 bar )
Then there are the wide S 's in sand , people say you must ride faster to lift the front wheel. But recently a friend was in a S situation and he tried to accelerate out of it and fell and broke all his ribs, so didn't acceleration make it worse in that case ?.
My last really bad S was recently going from Lutzville to the beach , doing abt 80 in a long patch of deep sand , the S’s became quiet pronounced quite quickly, so I just braked and made myself fall . Can one really accelerate out of an S once it is out of control, or only just when it starts? At what point must you just give up and jump off / make yourself fall. Or must you try and stay on the bike ?( in this case there was a slower rider in front of me so I could not accelerate ) . Once again the bike and I were lucky to not get injured.
But I would like to know what my options are, and not just guess what to do .And if it is a different action for say tar/gravel/mud/sand/wet/dry etc
I understand that bad suspension set up and /or wrong tyres/pressure etc can cause head shakes/ wobbles , but here I mostly want to know what to do once I am in a tank slapper /wobble situation to ride out of it.
I have also learnt that speed plays a part in wobbles, eg riding too fast on tar /gravel and too slow in sand and since I have been riding slower on tar/gravel or at least slowed down for ruts /obstacles they haven’t happened .
I will appreciate advice ,but please keep it simple as I am not technically minded . Thanks
First off all the terminology . I see people talk about tank slappers and head shakes as if they are the same thing . To me they feel like different actions ? The head shakes I have had I could control , but the tank slappers not really , or only by luck . What is what ?
Then what I want to know most of all is that others say that you must always accelerate out of tank slappers/wobbles , but I have found that acceleration does not always work , and can actually make it worse , as then I can have a high speed high side and get injured , as opposed to a low speed low side with no inuries . So when must I take what action?
Maybe I should give examples of my wobbles ( and I know speed played a major role in almost all the examples )
Tank slapper on tar on a Road bike ( R 1150R) (with road tyres set correctly for tar : 2,3 and 2,5 ) :
On my previous bike , I rode over one of one of those over/exra tarred bits between Montague and Barrydale ( which I realised afterwards can be slippery). I was going too fast , abt 180 plus ,and it was raining. Suddenly the bike starting shaking from side to side like it was electrocuted . It did not do big S's on the road , just small, but wild S's on its own axle ,and she stayed in a straight, but diagonal line on the road. Just shaking from side to side as if a cat had a mouse in its jaw . I lost a few seconds where I had no control over the bike, and I almost blacked out due to the extreme shaking. When I came to I could not do anything to the steering , could not even grip the handle bars. Kept the bike upright with my knees ,but got bashed so hard I had black and blue bruises on the inside of my knees even through my leather pants with thick padding across the knees. The bike was veering in a diagonal line to the side of the road and just before I was going to crash into 2 farm workers I gently pulled the bike past them and stayed on it. I think I did all the right things. It was one of the most terrifying incidences of my life. But there is no way I could have accelerated , I had no control over the bike whatsoever.
Back End wobble: Tar (GS1200 with Anakees ) ( set for tar: 2,3 and 2,5)
Once at Killarney race track at a track day , also raining , I accelerated too fast ,coming out of the chicane just before the front straight, and the back end of the bike started to wobble very badly . I don't know what I did, but it worked, and the bike steadied again . What to do if that happens again?.And why did the back wheel wobble when I grabbed the throttle ,surely the front should have wobbled or lifted? I think that one may have become a tank slapper , but didn't due to some unknown action by me and or maybe luck?.
Front End wobble :gravel ( GS 1200 with TKC’s (abt 1,6 and 1.8 bar )
I was riding on an easy straight gravel highway.Doing about 120 and didn't slow down for a few 'harmless ' ruts, tiny ruts not more than 3cm high , if that. The next minute the front wheel must have fallen off the edge of a rut, and started going 45 degrees to the left. I must have overcorrected with my legs ( as standing ) and it went 45 degrees to the other side so doing wide S's. I fought to control the bike for about 50 meters, not sure if I would have succeeded ,but before I could find out , it hit a small rock and she went down ( low sided) but by that time the speed was much lower so neither of us were injured and I could ride on . There were very pronounced and deep S marks in the gravel so we could track what had happened. . I think accelerating could have worked, but also could have made me fall harder (high sided) if it didn't work. Any advice ,as it all happened so fast ?
Front End wobbles :sand ( GS 1200 with TKC’s) (abt 1.2 bar )
Then there are the wide S 's in sand , people say you must ride faster to lift the front wheel. But recently a friend was in a S situation and he tried to accelerate out of it and fell and broke all his ribs, so didn't acceleration make it worse in that case ?.
My last really bad S was recently going from Lutzville to the beach , doing abt 80 in a long patch of deep sand , the S’s became quiet pronounced quite quickly, so I just braked and made myself fall . Can one really accelerate out of an S once it is out of control, or only just when it starts? At what point must you just give up and jump off / make yourself fall. Or must you try and stay on the bike ?( in this case there was a slower rider in front of me so I could not accelerate ) . Once again the bike and I were lucky to not get injured.
But I would like to know what my options are, and not just guess what to do .And if it is a different action for say tar/gravel/mud/sand/wet/dry etc
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