| Author | Message | ||
     Team |
Has anyone ever actually gotten one on a XB? 130ish on my 12 makes me kinda nervous without a Steering damper.If you have gotten one what was the scenario leading up to it? thanks, Rob S. | ||
| Ingemar |
Yes, it has happened, but not on the straights. The only tank slappers I've heard of happened when leaned over. | ||
| Wammy |
what's a tank slapper?  | ||
| Englishman119 |
The only time I've had them is when hard on the gas out of a corner. Causes:- 1) Steering head bearings were adjusted too tight. - Cured with adjustment and grease. 2) Death grip on the bars - Cure, relax. Mark | ||
| Ingemar |
It's when your steer quickly and violently slaps from full left to full right. Generally with such force that it slams right thru the ends (breaking them off) into your tank, hence the name "tank slapper". | ||
| Fullpower |
have run 130 mph in heavy crosswinds, on fairly rough pavement, with cortech saddlebags flapping on my 12S model. bike was stable. absolutely stable. the ninja 1000 i was following had a tough time in the wind, he was getting pushed around quite a bit. | ||
| Johnk3 |
hit some frost heaves last week doing 70, not fun | ||
| Fullpower |
i crossed some railroad tracks running 6500 rpm in top gear last spring in real cool weather, i think that is when my fork seals gave up. they seem temperature sensitive, cause they blew again this winter. have to learn to keep the wheels on the ground when riding below freezing. or maybe i need to run a lighter viscosity fork oil in winter? | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
My bike has been rock solid even without dampner. I've managed to put myself into situations while learning that prolly coulda ended up in a slapper on another bike in my opinion... | ||
| Ortegakid |
I also have NEVER encountered a wiggle of any kind on my bolt, and believe me, from racing gsxr's for years, was intimately familiar with them! Eric must be a genius on steering design or sumpin 'cause its amazingly stable! | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Yup sure did, raised the forks in the triples about a quarter of an inch, then put a flat profile tire on the bike...started tank slapping at 30...yup three zero miles per hour. I calmly stopped, walked the bike back the couple blocks I was away from the house and took the clip ons back off.Whats weird is when I made the change initially I had Pirelli Diablo Super Corsas on it...was smooth and stable if a bit quicker to steer, but not a lick of wobble or shimmie from it at all even up to triple digit speeds, then I had to switch to a more touring oriented tire... | ||
| Dr_greg |
Well, not on an XB, but rather a "modified" Blast, which will never be ridden again...blasted bike. I'm also a little annoyed by the current definition of "tank-slapper." A "real" tank-slapper is lock-to-lock, with no chance of recovery. I experienced that variety of tank-slapper, at 80 mph on Interstate 40 near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Result: open fracture of left humerus (two surgeries, and yet another big steel plate on the left side of my body). A "tank-slapper" is not a slight wobble; it's a lock-to-lock situation, and there is no recovery. | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
A tank slapper doesn't HAVE to be non-recoverable. It depends on the bike, the rider and how lucky he gets. Easing out of the throttle if it hasn't been ripped out of your hand, using the rear brake to scrub speed without locking up the bike, and leaning back to get weight off the front end are the easiest ways to pull out of a tank slapper. Or there is the Kenny Roberts method of giving it more gas and powering out of it...watched footage of him do that on a TZ750, gassed it, and once the front wheel was off the ground he eased it back down. | ||
| Odinbueller |
I'd want to side with Englishman. Check your bearing preload adjustment. My X1 has the same wobble when the adjustment is too loose. Happens above 80 mph straight on. | ||
| Dr_greg |
Well, MY tankslapper was instantaneous. I hit a bump whilst merging on an on-ramp, and "BANG-BANG-BANG" the bars hit the stops three times and I was down. Time elapsed less than a half second. Once it's truly lock-to-lock there's not much hope. We are not talking about "headshake" or "wobble" here, but a lock-to-lock oscillation; probably 30 degrees in each direction. | ||
| Ingemar |
Unfortunately in most cases you'll go down, especially when it happens when you're leaned over. Exceptions like Roberts are rare. Just like that guy that highsided but held on to the bars. He was with his feet straight up in the air, came back down and landed on his feet, dragged along by his bike. By that time he was in the grass, had his bike back under control and jumped back on to continue the race. For those that never saw that, it all happened at a pretty high speed, he just held on to the bars and got dragged along. That was the most spectacular thing I've ever seen in GP500 race. Sorry for straying off-topic ...  | ||
| U4EUh (Ditch Digger) |
Had it happen on a Yam. 750 SECA, when the front tire gave way at 65-70 MPH. San Antonio loop 410 during dinner rush hour. Never on the XB though. | ||
| Jlnance |
Jim - Did you go down? | ||
| Xbolt12 |
Yes. Not quite a tank slapper but some really violent headshake while accelerating up a hill and hit some dips with the front end light. Very similiar to what DrGreg describes. That is why I run a damper. I can tell you that it makes a hugh difference and now it is fun to have the front get light or airborne over a rise on the gas. Even coming down with the bars turned to the side is no big deal now. xbolt12 | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
For those of you that are lost. There are some great examples at uponone.com | ||
| U4EUh (Ditch Digger) |
Jinance-No fortuanatley not. I had just bought a brand new pair of boots that day and they were pretty slick. Stood up on the highway and let the bike take me where it wanted. When I finally came to a stop, It took 30 minutes to let go of the bars, Was still sitting in the dirt track position at about a 45degree angle. Bike was pointed this way- / - steering was pointed that- \ -. I can still hear and see the cars screeching to a halt. That was a whole lot more terrifying than actually laying it down last weekend. The only two big events in my motorcycle riding history of 27 years. And that one was worse because I was not dressed for it. | ||
| New12r |
Rode the rev limiter for a couple miles and never did the front end give any bad vibes. The bike was a lot more stable than I had originally expected. So far the only tank slappers I have had were from wheelies and they rode out ok. | ||
| M1combat |
I was coming out of a right and into a left the other day... Both were pretty tight (for the speed I was traveling anyway) with just a bit of a tiny crest in between. I was in third at about 4K or so. I was counter steering in between the two turns to get the bike snapped over for the left hander. I was at full throttle or close to it. I snapped it upright about the time I came over the crest and the front end came up about 3-4". I was steering to the right so as to enter the upcoming left when it happened. It was completely unexpected and when the front did come off the ground I turned the wheel at least 70% towards the stop. I left it at full throttle and when the front wheel touched back down the handlebars snapped back to the spot they wanted to be in and I was in the left hander. NO tank slapper. No wiggle. Nothing but stability even when you do STUPID stuff on an XB. About 15' later I thought "Yikes... That could have sucked... Thank you Erik  ". If I'd had a steering damper... I think I would have kissed a guard rail and taken a little flight. | ||
| Xring |
Hey Ditchdigger, I totaled a 750 Seca because of a tank slapper. Crested a rise a little too fast; about 35 mph, on the gas, in 3rd gear, and don't know what hit me. I remember the tires actually chirping like cornering a car too fast, one, two oscillations, and on the third one low sided. I remember sliding down the road on my butt, looking at the Supertrapp stainless system throwing off sparks, thinking "it's not so bad...I can fix it". Then the handlebars caught and the bike started flipping. It was a mess. I had bought the bike repo'ed and had put a lot of work into it. I always attributed it to a flexy front end. I had ridden low wheelies off of that crest many times; this time, the front tire didn't quite leave the ground, just got light and then the death wobble. Looking back, it could have been input on my part that caused the whole thing. The bike slid 300 feet down the hill; I slid about 150 feet. Neither of us left our lane. I really liked that bike, too.  | ||
| Rick_a |
Tank slappers are definitely recoverable. I had one so bad that both my footpegs hit the ground HARD. I somehow kept it on two. I was riding in the rain with a nearly bald front tire that momentarily locked up, getting my bars and bike flapping violenty...not an XB though...S1. | ||
| Daves |
Try it with a 800 lb FLHT! That'll scare ya. I got pushed off the interstate by a tanker semi at about 80 MPH. Didn't crash. I have no idea how I survived it except I remember thinking to myself "I am not going to crash again" I had just crashed a XB at Brainerd about two weeks before. Scared the •••• out of me and the guy with me riding about 50 yards behind me. He thought I was dead for sure. | ||
| M1combat |
An 800Lb FLHT... Wouldn't that look like wiggling a wet noodle ? Sorry. | ||
| U4EUh (Ditch Digger) |
Xring-first street bike I ever owned. Had a set of drag bars, lowered the headlight and put on a bikini fairing, 4-n2-1 MAC, drug my knee on that bike twice! Got real lucky. It was an 82 model I bought in 88 with only 1200 miles on it. Darn thing still smelled new. Put over 30,000 miles on it. Burned 2nd gear, clutch slipping, but it was even still fun to ride to the guy I sold it to, for $700.00, considering I paid 1,400 for it two years earlier. I really liked mine also. Mine was the charcoal grey. Coincidently my father had one also, cept he had that bada$$ factory bullet fairing, and it was that bright red color. Awsome bike, I hated the remake of it in the late 90's. |
