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Message started by engineer on 07/01/17 at 20:30:17

Title: death wobble
Post by engineer on 07/01/17 at 20:30:17

I think I will wear my full face helmet vs. my 3/4 helmet a little more often after viewing this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxDY7hu_sDk

Quote:

...... a man traveling down Interstate 80E in California lost control of his motorcycle in a death wobble.

In a hard-to-watch video posted online by Erica Hoff, the man had just merged onto the Sacramento highway when his motorcycle started shaking.

Hoff wrote in the caption of the video that she was driving in the fast lane with her kids at the time of the incident.

'As he merged, his bike would shake and wobble. He sometimes would only have one hand on the handle bars while it was shaking!!'
She said she 'couldn't figure out why it was shaking, but we noticed it would only do it once he hit high speeds'.

After about five or 10 miles, Hoff said her family watched him 'almost' lose control nearly six times.

'So I got my phone out, thinking "its only a matter of time before he crashes" and I wanted the video as evidence in case anyone else got hurt,' she said.

EDIT... OP link deleted,.. here's a new link - Serow 8-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXtQzN2vUWU
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXtQzN2vUWU[/media]

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by Ruttly on 07/01/17 at 20:38:49

Must be one of those Harley's that needed " the retrofit "
Harley had to know there was a problem with them , yet they kept selling them !

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 07/01/17 at 21:18:33

He slid on his left shoulder,, ouch. And face would surely be involved.
The well named Hurt report

http://dontai.com/wp/2010/05/20/motorcycle-helmet-impact-zones/

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by Ruttly on 07/01/17 at 21:52:33

I would hate to ruin my Hollywood good looks by not wearing a full face helmet !
I have broken 2 or 3 helmets and ground a hole in another sliding down the road and my helmets saved my life and face at least that many times.
Anything less is unacceptable.
I guessing he survived the crash and then spent at least 6 to 8 months healing just from the road rash alone.
If you don't know when you get the rash they clean the wounds with a selection of sterile WIRE BRUSHES and a squirt bottle on your raw FLESH !!! At least when they set a broken bone it quick , the rash takes months to heal. I'm still healing a spot on my back for the last 39 years , no joke.

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by pg on 07/01/17 at 22:53:54

Google and or youtube harley death wobble, all kinds of stuff pops up. That is not an uncommon occurrence......

Best regards,

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by jcstokes on 07/01/17 at 23:01:32

JOG, your dontai thing is a useful and interesting post. I wore open face in the 'seventies, but the spectacles I wore at the time kept the rain out of my eyes. Rightly or wrongly I now wear a Shark flip flop flap thing, and on one occasion with the flap up, I got a bee sting.

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by Serowbot on 07/01/17 at 23:02:05

Death wobbles usually happen at the steering stem... this one appears to happen at the rear end...
Looks like the infamous Harley problem...

Let the lawsuits begin...

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 07/02/17 at 02:41:51

http://speedandengines.com/2016/04/10/some-harley-motorcycles-plagued-by-death-wobble-video/

I didn't even hafta type much before it guessed it.

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by Serowbot on 07/02/17 at 12:14:41

Here's a SV650 wobble after a bump...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZucphyIzJM
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZucphyIzJM[/media]

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 07/02/17 at 12:29:11

hold on lol[ch65279]
1 year ago•2

Jays Rides
I almost did. I think what actually set the bike strait was letting the bike work it out without trying to force the bars to stop. Scared the crap out of me though. Still haven't dropped the bike yet and I don't plan to.[ch65279]
11 months ago•

IDK about the HD wobble, but a wobble like this guy had is best handled by adding gas and relaxing the arms. Fighting it makes it worse.

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by pg on 07/02/17 at 15:58:47

I experienced a "death wobble" while going 85mph on the interstate on my KLR. It was caused by abnormality on the road. I attribute a quality fork brace and divine intervention for keeping me upright. I inadvertently pushed as much weight as forward as a I could. Not saying this is what your supposed to do, just what I did.....

Best regards,

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 07/02/17 at 16:20:09

Twist of the Wrist II..

Title: Re: death wobble
Post by Oldfeller on 07/03/17 at 05:30:32

Death wobble and other abnormalities of tracking

Find a straight stretch of normal road, get on the top of the rain crown (or get on the most normal flattest part of the road in question and let the bike track with very minimal input from you (and that includes you shifting your weight around on the seat).

Look to see if you have a directional bias and a matching slight offset of the front wheel (look at the handle bars). Check on this by putting the handlebars totally straight and true and note where the bike goes.

Do it again, then again until you understand your tracking bias -- this time noting exactly which way the handle bars are turned and by how much you have to move them to get the bike to run straight and true.

FACT: Your rear wheel is mis-adjusted by this identical same amount --- this was done by you using the marks on the axle adjusters. Never trust those marks, mine have silver paint stick +1/2 on the right and -1/2 on the left to remind me how to read them correctly.

Go fix this rear end mis-alignment and go try the tracking test again (and again) until your front and rear wheels no longer fight each other for the bike to go straight on down the road.

========================================

Now I am going to blow your mind a little bit.

The Savage has a built-in by design tracking offset between the front and rear tire. This is because of the wide wide belt that was used instead of the original chain (yep, the 400 came first in domestic Japanese production and then LS version followed 6 years later on as a power up "deluxe" version).

When properly adjusted, our front tire and our rear tire track true to TWO SEPARATE (but parallel) slightly offset lines.

My bike is more offset than others due to all the mods done by me to mount a VERY fat rear tire, and that was even more aggravated by having my swing arm and frame getting tweeked a bit more by a big arsed pick up truck that pulled into my parking space and swatted my bike out of the way like it was a bug.

This was done by a co-worker of mine who then ran off without saying anything (but he was observed by two other co-workers). When confronted he confessed -- simply didn't see the bike because his eyes and mind were set to "car".

This and a couple of other events have knocked my bike out of true more than normal, causing me to have to learn how to put it back to right (and also teaching me how to tune a spoked wheel that is somewhat bent).