Had a scare this morning.......

Hi guys,

Had a scare coming home this morning after working nights. It was a lovely sunny morning and id had a busy night, so was wanting to get home. As soon as i got onto this nice long stretch of road.....not a car or anything else in sight so i gave it some ( so i know, i know it was me own fault but go easy on me !) lets just say i was shifting.
Next thing i got a really bad front wheel wobble, the back end felt rock steady, but the front wheel felt like it was gona come off.......needles to say i f...ing s..t myself. Shut the throttle off straight away and it settled down pretty quickly. What i wanted to know (Coz im noobish) was this due to anything on the bike which may need checking out, or is it more likely to be due to maybe hitting a bump or something at the speed i was doing ?

Thanks guys................im off for a nice warm bath now, and a strong cuppa !!

Tyre pressure,otherwise check out the whole front assembly for bearing wear and security.
Sometimes you do get a bit of road surface that starts a wobble and if you are going quickly it can turn into a tank slapper.

Tyre wear as well... Not really sure what else. I got a very slight weave the other day when I gave it some, I put that down to tyre's that are getting ready to be changed. 8K miles on them both now...

[STRAMASHER]

You may be holding on too tight. That can amplify any wobbles. Ease up on your grip by bending your elbows if you are not already.

Have you sore thumbs after the bars tried to rip out your hands? That would be a tank slapper. Not pleasant!

[yorkie_chris]

On a basically stock SV unless you were indulging in some utter stupidity then you need to check out the bike. Loose bearing or a knackered or flat tyre somewhere.

Don't discount the back end being the problem either, the 2 ends are connected.

How fast were you going in this totally empty private car park exactly? One mans hooning it can be another's gentle bimble through town

Also +1 for holding on too tight and/or putting too much of your weight on the bars.

speed wobble, only ever had that happen once I was going pretty damn quick tho, later found out the headrace bearings were a tad shot. I must add this happened on my private property :P

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by sv_rory

later found out the headrace bearings were a tad shot.

might be worth having a checksie


What mileage is the bike on? Has it been wheelied a lot or anything?

[flymo]

front wheel may be out of balance

As other have said, check the tyre and head race. You shouldn't get speed weave on an SV unless something is not right. I had my curvey up to 130ish and it was perfectly stable.

Also, if you are gripping the bars tightly (cos you were sh*tting your self) then you would amplify the problem, so it could be a small isue that manifested itself as you gripped on more due to the higher speed.