I was returning from the lakes on Monday am in rain when traveling at a around 70 ish mph in the out side lane as I had just overtaken as lower van, when for no reason that i know of I was confronted with what I think was a mini tankslapper, the front forks and handle bars for some reason shook at an alarming rate with nothing in the road in front of me to contribute to the shake.

The handle bars diddnt hit the tank but with it happening that fast in around 3/4 seconds I couldnt work out what had happened altho the shaking transmitted thro to the back of the bike as this alarmed the pillion.

I have as you all know riden for a number of years and never have I had such a thing happen before with such strength and with out warning, so was it a mini tank slapper, or some thing Im not aware of, I checked the bike over and I do mean checked over and found nothing untowards that could bring on such a wobble.

Answers on a wobbly jelly please.

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Well if the bike was fine then the only thing i can think is that praps there was a peice of dodgey road that railroaded you, that would run through to the rear as the rear tyre follows the front.

Or there may have been some diesl on the road.
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small stone on a greasy white line contributed to mine mid overtake, but like yours Plug it wasn't a fullon tank bending one. front wheel lifts a little and then has no grip when it returns to earth causing the flick of the bars. I'm told that it happens all the time on bikes but very mildly and riders don't notice them as long as both hands are on the grips.





sorry I ate the jelly already



wibble

I think you could be right regarding the road but it did seem very well surfaced and I was thinking as we had had a good few days of warm sunny weather the oil had been washed to the surface and caused the problem but who knows? its realy scary when it happens to you..

Sounds like aquaplaning to me dad, I had the same thing during a monsoon in Welsh Wales on Sunday - a real brown trouser moment

If you were on the Banana with it's sit-up riding position, coupled with luggage and the featherweight Mrs P on the back, then the front end would have been pretty light anyway. Add a ribbon of water running across the road - a few millimetres depth is enough - and Bob's yer dad's brother. Scarey innit?


BTW, to save on posts, I'm dead chuffed your results came through ok, and the lovely Pat is going for it two-wheels wise I've been limited on the net for a few days but I'm on hols now - hence the crappy weather - so I'm catching up. Might pop up for a biccy soon

As a general rule, aquaplaning tends to give a gentle drifting feeling - unless you're midcorner whn it happens that is.

You say you were overtaking a van, so in accelerating the weight was rear biased making the front light to start with, so like everything in biking - it could have just been a slight depression in the road surface, even may have started as you crossed the white lines but only manifested itself when you opened it up to pass the van if you get my gist. Very similar to bikes losing it coming out of Paddock at Brands, the tankslapper has already started on exiting the turn but doesn't really show itself till the give it a handful.

Most importantly, you're here and you haven't sold you bike so call it experience.