Holy wheel wobble Batman!

jay-d

jay-d

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Riding east bound on Sandalwood Parkway going around 65km/h. Approaching Hurontario, I believe it's four lanes (two going north, two going south) but in between the two northbound lanes is a crown and the right lane dips so it's like a freaking ramp!

The light was green, there was a car going west bound waiting for me to make a left turn so I accelerated a bit and never anticipated this ramp in the road.. my front tire lifted from the ground for no more than half a second and when it came back down, it went into half a wobble and straightened itself.

It didn't scare the crap out of me because it corrected itself, but I would like to know what I did wrong to have created this wobble? Was it when the front tire lifted from the ground, without realizing I turned the front wheel slightly? How can I prevent such a thing from happening?? :confused1:
 
"waiting for me to make a left turn". You were trying to turn when your wheel went up. Its only natural that you would wobble coming down. Be gentle with the throttle, its not a *****.
 
bobjohnson said:
Wouldnt have helped.

Wheel came down crooked, it jerked back on you. Not even sure its possible to get into a real wobble at 65kmh unless youve got some serious issues with geometry of the front end.
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I think you're right! The bike's a 2006 Honda VFR 800, with about 5,500km. Tires are still stock so I think they've turned into hockey pucks. This is why I haven't pushed the bike at all. I have new tires sitting in the garage but I'm waiting for my static wheel balancer to come in. I'll be a lot more cautious for the next few days until I get those tires switched out.

I can't possibly think that it could be something else.. the bike's still a baby!
 
A STEERING DAMPER WOULDN'T HAVE HELPED????????

What are steering damper for then?



bobjohnson said:
Wouldnt have helped.

Wheel came down crooked, it jerked back on you. Not even sure its possible to get into a real wobble at 65kmh unless youve got some serious issues with geometry of the front end.
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If you have a steering damper, and you pick the front wheel up WHILE TAKING A CORNER and it comes down crooked ... it's still going to snap back. The damper may quiet it down sooner, but it's still not going to be pretty.
 
you landed your bike with the front wheel not straight
 
Low rider said:
A STEERING DAMPER WOULDN'T HAVE HELPED????????

What are steering damper for then?
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For when you actually get into a wobble? Again, unless the bike is ****ed up and needs some major repairs, at 65kmh you just arent going fast enough to get into a real tank slapper. The bars are still gonna jerk back straight any time the wheel comes down crooked, damper or not.

Go look up the thread where the guy got into a "tank slapper" in his garage and was looking for recommendations on dampers if you still dont understand what theyre for....
 
Where you holding/leaning to hard on your grips? could of been self induced?

Glad you where able to straighten out.
 
Do you know what a stylus does in relation to playing an old fashioned LP record? It amplifies the grooves into music ( or whatever the composer hoped to scratch out). Well...perhaps in overly simplistic terms, the very moment that your front tire leaves (or re-enters) touching the ground, this is sorta like that stylus. For reasons that I am not well versed enough in, to explain (and a good chance that if I tried, might cause more than just a few pair of eyes to glaze over) that is a highly crucial and influential moment. There are vast parameters that can exasperate this anomaly, but to experience this with the geometry on a VFR (as opposed to....let's say an R6) is even more remote. Technically it could point to first, improper fr tire PSI, or tread cupping, and loosened steering head bearings (although your VFR is very low mileage, this would be my first plan of attack since, with your low miles, they have likely not been adjusted since new).

Steering dampers help in this very scenario, but with a VFR, I'd first check all of the above. Glad it didn't turn into a full-fledged tank slapper...it mighta had you been going 100 clicks faster as the tire just leaves the pavement. That very point when it leaves and/or is coming back down to take 'some' weight, are the crucial moments that the other stuff can surface in a negative way. Like I say, the stylus is a pretty good way to try to communicate this on very simple terms.
 
bobjohnson said:
For when you actually get into a wobble? Again, unless the bike is ****ed up and needs some major repairs, at 65kmh you just arent going fast enough to get into a real tank slapper. The bars are still gonna jerk back straight any time the wheel comes down crooked, damper or not.

Go look up the thread where the guy got into a "tank slapper" in his garage and was looking for recommendations on dampers if you still dont understand what theyre for....
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You can get a tank slapper at any speed, forward velocity is irrelevant to this condition.
 
I doubt the OP actually had the front wheel leave the ground. It's more likely that the various impacts that the tire had with the broken pavement set it going, even though the tire was still on the ground. Tire profile, condition, and pressure have a lot to do with this. Suspension settings matter, too, although generally VFR's are sprung and damped well enough, and with enough rebound travel, so that the tire will stay in contact with the ground over most bumps. (Overly stiff settings are a bigger problem)

The condition of the front tire would be my prime suspect. If it's worn flat in the middle, and you are leaned over in a corner, the bump impacts happen a fair distance to the side of the contact patch, and some of that is going to get transmitted to the steering.
 
Don't expect that if you put fresh tires again you won't get a wheel wobble again. Wobbles are just in the nature of motorcycle handling, especially sporty ones. If you get a chopper then you'll be OK.
 
dampers are logarithmic in the way they control rate of change of steering. next time you have the opportunity to check one out, try moving the steering slowly. you can feel a bit of resistance, but are still able to move the steering. now increase the rate of movement, and you should notice more resistance. dampers don't prevent wobbles, but they do smooth it out and prevent high rates of change in steering which could be the difference between a wobble becoming a complete loss of control and just being a scary moment.
 
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