High speed wobble

[ca03busa]

Also known as the tank slapper ,
I have only had it happen to me one time and I never wish to experience it again.
I was standing on the rear pegs in 2nd gear doing a wheelie for about a mile @ 100mph, my friend was behind me on a Rc51 (on two wheels)....so anyways, the road was going off to the right a little bit about 1/4 mile ahead , so I began slowly letting the front wheel back down.
This is where the nightmare begins. I guess the handlebars wern't totally straight, or the wheel slowed down to much. But the bars yanked out of my hands at about 90mph, the bike snatched vilontly around and I fell on the tank and was thrown forward, I began grabbing for the bars, when I finally got them I was able to ride it out. It finally stopped @ about 45mph.
I left zig-zag skid marks for about 100yards. My friend said that he still to this day is not sure of how i pulled out of it.

Anybody ever been there !!!

[AzBooSa]

Pucker Factor x100

[jjbusa]

[LE BUSA]

WOW! No I have not been there and I don't think I want to. Glad you did not go down.

[BlueHaya]

Hope the only tank slapper I see in the one installed on my gas tank.

[Mr Brown]

Putting heavier oil in your damper, or buying an aftermarket one will help ensure it don't happen again. Not fun, is it!

[psycobusa]

+1 aftermarket dampner

[ca03busa]

i just wish i would of thought of adding a dampner before hand , but i guess we live and learn .

[Don Hardcastle]

What bike were you on?

Don

[ca03busa]

i was on my 2003 hayabusa

[lil basscrazy]

[Postal]

"I was standing on the rear pegs in 2nd gear doing a wheelie for about a mile @ 100mph, "

Yep! That is usually the beginning of the problem.....

P.

[Don Hardcastle]

Dude put me in your will, because if you keep that up I want your stuff.

Don

[Aquaman]

Pulling in the clutch when hitting the pavement is one thing that I learned from watching the kyle woods/matt gorka boys.Also,essential to have the front wheel straight on touchdown.
Not that I do 100 mile an hr wheelies.......

[ca03busa]

lol , ive heard alot of lectures after that incident . i never thought about pulling in the clutch when letting the front wheel back down though ....but wouldnt that cause it to come down faster instead of easing it down? you know .... i thought i mastered the wheelie until this happened

[Superbusa]

i had itr happen to me on the highway once. thought that was it. i was at about 90 and hit a high spot in the highway. though ok that wasnt bad so i layed down and started to crank it then i came down the other side of the highspot at about 120. then tankslap. happened for a few seconds then stopped. was not fun.

[Lilbro]

I had that happen once real bad. I thought I was going down. After that ride I talked to the lead rider(I was working at the proving grounds) and he said to give some throttle and it will come out of it. I know it sounds backwards but he said it works. He had over 150,000 mi with no accidents.

[brad]

Riders usually do not recover from an incident like that, or at least thats what i've seen on video clips.

Good job.

[_ZeF]

I am not a wheelie expert myself, but a few of my friends are... And they say that standup wheelies are riskier because when you land them at high speeds, the fact that you are not putting as much weight on the bike as when sitting on it makes it very vulnerable to starting a wobble.

Next time you ride trough a bumby road, try just holding on to the throttle very lightly and let go of your left grip, you'll see that with no weight on the bars, the steering is very unstable! Now imagine a motionless front wheel coming down to hit the pavement at 100MPH, the reaction is fast and often goes out of control...

Bottom line, YOU WERE LUCKY!

[inthexring]

That sucks, how about an after market damper? Where can I get a good one of those??