"I'm not Dead! I'm not Dead! - Motorcyclist survives death wobble.

[Perplexed]

I've seen that before - it's amazing he didn't get demolished.

I've also seen videos explaining the death wobble can come from a bike overloaded to the rear; guys will pack a lot of stuff in bags, resulting in a light front and the wobble. They said leaning forward over the tank and shifting your weight to closer to the forks can help get you out of it. That guy's was extreme.

That’s similar to the death wobble in Jeep CJ’s when there’s too much weight in the rear. I experienced it myself in a CJ-5 once when I had three HS friends sitting in the back along with a bunch of camping gear, and we went over a bump. Started the front end shimmying like crazy, but fortunately we weren’t going fast, and a simple stomp on the brakes ended the wobble. It was still scary! After that, I allowed only two passengers in back, and I kept only a small tool chest behind the rear seat, and I never had the issue again.

 

[HiredHand]

Wow! He’s lucky. Proof that wearing protective gear is important, too.

I’ve experienced the death wobble in my 94 Dodge 3500. I’ve heard that there’s an issue with the steering design that make them prone to the issue.

 

[Bocephus123]

Had speed wobble at 130 on my 1976 KZ 900 only once let off the gas too fast never did that again. problem ain't going that fast it's coming down that gets you!

 

[STS11]

I was in Denver, driving a 65 foot rig, 8 lanes medium traffic. A couple on a motorcycle passed me. The had no helmets and were going about 10 over
speed limit. They were about 300 feet in front of me, when the rear end of the motorcycle began to wobble violently. The motorcycle seemingly fell over.
Their heads hit the pavement at 70. Pretty sure that they died. I thought that motorcycle wheels were like gyroscopes. At speed they were very stable.
It was maybe 4 seconds between everything was ok and death.

 

[Bocephus123]

Sounds like a flat tire done that at highway speed also

 

[p238shooter]

Yep tire and frame harmonics come into play. Old guy here who bought the second 1972 H-2 750 triple Kawasaki sold in Tulsa. Rode it home 3 miles, ripped the cylinders and pistons off to do a grind job for an extra 25HP while adding expantion chambers for more.

Immediate cure of what this guy was experiencing is simple, rack the throttle back to lift the front wheel long enough to stabilize, then back off the throttle off to set it back down and apply the front hand brake. Not much of the aerodynamics (like a tail rudder on an airoplane) is going to be out of control if you are only riding on the back tire with the throttle racked back unless your chain breaks.

Gezzzzz, I can not understand this younger generation mentality who expects anything pushing the edge by someone else could not create their own problems that they might have to think about solving. Common sense to me, if something is giving you a problem, eliminate it. Simple.

JMO

 

[Uncle Meat]

What a tank slapper!

 

[SlugSlinger]

There is a class action suit against Ford because the $100k Superdutys are coming off the assembly line with death wobble.

I've experienced in a 1986 CJ7 on the BA expressway doing 60 mph on a curve. Talk about something that will make you pucker!

That’s similar to the death wobble in Jeep CJ’s when there’s too much weight in the rear. I experienced it myself in a CJ-5 once when I had three HS friends sitting in the back along with a bunch of camping gear, and we went over a bump. Started the front end shimmying like crazy, but fortunately we weren’t going fast, and a simple stomp on the brakes ended the wobble. It was still scary! After that, I allowed only two passengers in back, and I kept only a small tool chest behind the rear seat, and I never had the issue again.