| Author | Message | ||
     984gasm |
OK, so I was going around a slight corner on the outside lane on a highway and hit some bumps in the road, which in turn made my front wheel totally lose control and shake from side to side sending me right for the shoulder and concrete barrier... As soon as I realized I was heading for the wall I also realized the shoulder was covered in sand therefore not giving me the option of touching the breaks! Anyway front wheel hit the wall and somehow I got back on the highway, gave a quick prayer and continued.. Scarry shit! Any clue why these bumps made my bike lose such control?? | ||
| Metalstorm |
Too much rebound maybe? I can only speak from personal experience. I was getting a little shake/wiggle when I went through a couple bumpy corners on my daily commute until I turned the rebound on my forks down a touch. I don't have it quite perfect yet but it made a noticeable improvement. You should try asking this in the knowledge vault (suspension section) as well just to see if any of the guys who know a thing or two about suspension setup can help. | ||
| Jimduncan69 |
Glad to hear that you didn't get hurt. that could have been really bad. I would have had to change my pants after that one. | ||
| Diablobrian |
Happy to hear you didn't become a statistic on that one. when leaned over in a corner your suspension is only a very small part of the picture. your chassis itself has to absorb a large part of the hit. that's why you hear so much about tuned flex in racing motorcycle chassis. That is assuming your were at a high lean angle in the corner. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
I do believe that this might be one of those situations where a steering damper might have helped. When the bike strikes a bump whilst leaned over, the normally self correcting effect of trail is reduced or even eliminated altogether, so the bump can induce oscillation. A steering damper will reduce the initial oscillation and reduce the tendency of amplitude to increase over time, ie: a tank slapper. That is among the reason that steering dampers are required by most race sanctioning bodies. Steering dampers for the Buell are made by LSL, Storz, and Hyperpro, and are available from several of our sponsors, among them Appleton HD, and American Sport Bike. (Message edited by gentleman_jon on June 11, 2006) | ||
| Slaughter |
Unfortunately, if your suspension is PROPERLY adjusted for spirited riding on the road, it's NOT going to be able to handle a long series of heavy bumps because the preload is going to be too high, also the compression and rebound damping is going to be too high. The price of riding fast on the streets is that you end up running out of options if you're at the edge of traction or suspension response and hit major bumps, water, loose dirt or the occasional rock. That's kinda why I've slacked off a BUNCH since I started racing. I know from painful experience how far my body travels when separated from the bike. |
