Wobble and Weave

[Sicman]

Interesting old video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z3OQTU-kE2s

Cheers
 

[ST.George]

Good video, dated but definitely interesting and enlightening.
Bikes since those days have improved enormously but what I really like is the addition of a pilliion is such a benefactor to stability.
M8, that means I can say 2 Mother Teresa that her weight (very reasonable of course) will contribute gr8ly to the safety of the ride. So if MT wants me back in one piece from a longish ride then she betr come along 2. I'll try this logic on her b4 the Putty Rd ride!

[Sicman]

Bloody Hell Man  - Tread very carefully - Very Very Carefully 

[ST.George]

    of course!

[nealeray]

Don't do it Greg. It doesn't matter which way you approach a conversation that involves women and weight. This will never end nicely. 

Let us know how you go and which hospital you are in. 

[Biggles]

That weave is really quite startling, and as St Geo said before he started signing his death warrant, new technology seems to have solved the problem.  I've never seen a m/c behave like that at any speed, yet they were demonstrating it on several types.  85 MPH is 137 KPH which occasionally appears on the speedo inadvertently without a hint of a change in stability.  For the lighter rider it began at 75 MPH (121 KPH) which also appears on some speedometers I've observed.
It seems the real threat is to us skinny blokes.  We need to wear diving belts to be safe.

[Wombat]

I dont need to worry at all 
one note though I caught the STead doing 160 and smooth as silk   

 

[StinkyPete]

It was a pretty interesting video, and what was scary was how easy and predictable the weave was to induce in a range of makes and styles of bikes.   The reported "Pan Weave" on our ST's is no doubt the same mechanism, but improvements in frames and suspension have made the phenomenon far less likely to occur.  To avoid the problem, the message to me was don't speed, load the bike within stated specifications, watch tyre pressure and condition, and eat heaps of pizza.

[Biggles]

To avoid the problem, the message to me was don't speed, load the bike within stated specifications, watch tyre pressure and condition, and eat heaps of pizza.

The last one definitely seemed to work every time.   

[ST.George]

Don't do it Greg. It doesn't matter which way you approach a conversation that involves women and weight. This will never end nicely. 
Let us know how you go and which hospital you are in. 

Nah, Mother Terese is cool, we both are about the same chubby and our weights haven't changed in 10 yrs or so we never make cracks at each other about it. If we did then the other would say "Go and look in the mirror smartRRRRs!".
BTW, if Mother Terese comes 2 the Grey Gum on Sat I will be stopping regularly to "Smell the roses" and enjoy the ride 2 the max. If MT doesn't come I'll  b at Maccas at 9. Don't w8 4 me if I'm L8.

[nealeray]

Copy. 

[West Aussie Glen]

Years ago I experienced a tank slapper like those in the video. Wish I had known about the lie down move.

[STeveo]

If any of my bikes did that I would have bailed out!

 

[LaurieSH]

I don't get my bike until the end of the month. I guess I have time to recover the weight I have spent so much time losing!
Now I know why those Fj1200's I had were so rock steady at unmentionable speeds in the country prior to the dreaded advent of technology.
I guess then at 115kgs the bike was well weighted!
I had read where the poms replaced the ST1300s I saw a couple of their coppers on the tv a little while back and they were riding VFR1200s.
Perhaps I'll go slower and smell the cow pats.
Roadrunner

[ndttech@gmail.com]

I had a 1982 Yamaha XJ1100 that had very nasty sidewall flex in corners when I was running Continental Tires. The suppliers couldn't help me or give me an answer for the problem...

It took San Francisco Yamaha to tell me that the sidewalls couldn't support the loaded weight of the bike and they would flex.  When back to Dunlops with a stiffer sidewall and got rid of the problem...

Never owned another Continental product.

Brian

[johnnyYTED]

 
way back in the  80's I experienced Wobble n Weave on my 750/4 supersport and my GPz1100,  . I complained to the bike shop and they blamed the    Dunlops I had on it.I have never had Dunlops on a bike since.
me being a light weight used to pack up the bike with lots of gear(sometimes way to much) and I recall it always feeling more stable.
 in the 5 yrs towing my trailer I have never had a death wobble but always have it in the back of my thoughts,, but that would be caused more to unbalanced loading, not tyre wall stability.
dont think I'm gunna stow a bag of cement in each pannier to compensate for lightweight though...
                                                                                                                                                                   

[LaurieSH]

Over 52  years and over 40 bikes I have had one scary tankslapper on a BMWR100RT on Bulli pass back in 78.
The bike was a nutmeg brown  and so were the undies.
 Like Brian I owned a GPZ1100 and caned it, never put a foot wrong.
I have had a few bikes shake there heads over rough tarmac or ripply corners. In 1979/80 I bought a new Suzuki GS1000s. Went well, handled well and to this day I still say it was the nicest bike I ever owned.
However one day I was short of cash and put a cheaper Michelin tyre on the front . Suddenly it felt unbalanced, I checked the tyre pressure, it was fine. It weaved,shook its head and with that small fairing started to tank slap.
It was then that a bloke  named Johnny (I've forgotten his surname) at Centrestand motor cycles in Wollongong , told me two things.
One was that every bike has tyres suited to it specifically,  buy a pair of them.
Don'tmix brands or treads.
Two check tyre pressures every time you take the bike out of the shed. 
That was 1980, followed his advice, sought professional advice on tyre selection and carry a tyre gauge and pump.
Never had a problem since
My  2 cents
Cheers

[Biggles]

It seems there are a few tyres that hit the sweet spot for the STs.
A look at the tyre thread will confirm that Pirellis and Michelins tend to rule the roost.
If the manufacturer has a favourite then it must be Bridgestone, but that hasn't been the general experience of we owners.
Metzellers were popular for a while, but seem to have lost their podium position.

[LaurieSH]

Hi Biggles
 Well I guess I am fortunate then that Wayne'O put new Pirelli Angel Gts on his. I have a deposit on it and pick up at the end of the month.
 I ran a lot of Metzellers over the years and they were great on my Gtr1000.
I always found it amazing when I took off one brand of tyre and fitted another brand to the same bike and you could have sworn you were riding  two very different bikes.
 Horses for courses eh.,

[Mypod]

I have Bridgestone 'Battlelax' on my ST1100, just clocked over 5,000km on them so far with no problems. They give a nice ride though I would say they give a lot more 'road noise' than the Metzellers that were on it when I bought it. I just put it down to the different tread pattern.