Death Wobble

Does your bike do this? With stock Tires it would wobble a bit at 75-80mph.

Now, with 606's it starts at like 60-65 and get's really bad (scary) if you go any faster. I put them on myself so I did not balance, but I think folks have been doing pretty good with no balancing...Also, the tires have been on for a while now and this just started happening.

Is there something else wrong?

I've got the 606's on mine and to be honest, I haven't experienced that. I had a bit of a 'vibration' at first but that was due to not lining up the little yellow dot on the tire with the valve stem on the rim. After spinning the rubber so the dot was aligned with the stem, it was gone.

Do you have a rim lock installed? If so, that can cause quite a bit of off balance. I have a Scotts Steering Stabilizer installed because I know what it feels like to have a "tank slapper" at speed and I never want to do that again... Also check your steering head bearings...

Yeah some of these bikes come from the factory with loose head bearings. Luckily mine wasn't one of them. I've got a good little bike.

Well everything seems to be in order. No, no rim locks. I am not lined up with the yellow circle you speak of wuff, didn't even know it was there, could that be it??

It has gotten worse, i cant go above like 55 now with out a progressive death wobble.

My wrr does not behaive like that. I was a little sceard that it would wobble , beccasue my XL500 back in the 80's did that and its really awfull. Why do some bikes wobble and not others ?

Mine is fine. You can try lining up the dot with your valve stem, it certainly isn't going to hurt.

my WRR with the stock tires does the same thing above 70mph. i thought it might have been my tire pressure, but i was to factory specs. i scoot up towards the tank as much as possible to get some weight on the front wheel which seems to help a bit (although this may not be the best idea) but I'd love to find out how and if you fix this issue. i've also considered some of the gearing options you guys have posted in this forum and am wondering if that will make the problem worse?

Tire balance will cause a wheel hop or vibration but not a steering head shake
When a the tire wears down or worse is wider than stock and worn down it will have a larger contact patch, basically the contact area moves farther away from center on slight lean angles and then swap's sides repeatedly
And yes your rear tire can do weird stuff, even a taller rear will steepen the steering angle like lowering the fork in the tripple clamp
And if it only does it when you let go of the bars.....................then dont let go of the bars, lot's of bikes do that

^^If he is right, then never mind this....

What about the spokes? Maybe a couple are loose and the wheel isn't true?

*Sometimes (not always) above 70mph I get a shake. I attribute this to me gripping the bars too tight. I've gotten to about 93mph (indicated) and that scared me. Had some serious wobble going on.

I've never ridden a dirt bike that doesn't wobble somewhere at speed.

That being said, ground surface irregularities (more often than not the cause), tire pressure, alignment (the wheel being "true"), wheel weights (circumferential balance) tire wear and wheel-to-wheel resonance (cumulative gyroscopic effects of the bike itself) will all contribute to the observation.

Most all bikes have a sweet spot at various speeds. Find yours and stay in it. That spot changes (will change) based on the above influences.

One consideration that helps the overall effect regardless of the speed or terrain is an adjustable steering stabilizer. I swear by mine.

I don't have that on my WR.

But, then again, I have Continental SM tires.


Seriously though it sounds like you're running into a tire wear issue. What you describe sounds like the trailwing TW21 front tire on my KLR. It's OK for a while, then it can get just scary. You're running along cool at highway speed, pull out to pass someone, and the front end starts wobbling like crazy from side to side. Once it's over the painted line it's fine again. But, you're now in the opposing traffic lane, so eventually you have to cross back over the line and have it happen again.

I have also found that while the WR actually handles quite well, it does produce a bit of 'head shake' when the front gets light and starts to lose grip in the straight line. It sounds like maybe non symmetrical tire wear (knobbies) and a light front end (ie. slacker head angle due to the large front wheel and maybe sitting back a bit further) are contributing.

On the track we cure the bit of 'head shake' on an otherwise well handling bike by adding a steering damper. I'm thinking of getting a Scott steering damper for next season. It may be weight well spent.

Lowering the rear to the minimum factory adjustment helped mine to be more stable above 60MPH. This has the effect of increasing front fork rake angle which makes steering less sensitive. If you weigh less than 180 LBS you may also want to set the rear spring preload to less than stock. I am 200 lbs and the rear sag is just at 4 inches with the stock setting. Getting the full 4" of sag combined with minimum static height gives the most stability without going to mods like a Yamalink.

0007onWR wrote:

And if it only does it when you let go of the bars.....................then dont let go of the bars, lot's of bikes do that

Well, this seems to be the case. I've talked to many people and checked just about everything in the steering, suspension, tires, wheels, ETC. The slap has improved slightly through dialing in the suspension, but it's still bad. Normally my grip on the bars is pretty loose...so I tried really holding on tight and it seems to get better. So if you see a guy riding his bike like he's bench pressing it...that's me

I talked with some of the mechanics at my stealer and they said it could be a faulty tire, like a tire that slipped through QC or something .....could that be the case?

Time to start saving for a steering stabilizer........any companies have a cheap alternative?

Thanks

Wild.... seriously the WR doesn't need a stabilizer... it's not nearly big enough of a bike. Shit my 1982 450 lbs BMW r650ls doesn't have a stabilizer, neither does my RD350LC.

the Simplest fix is to just keep on hand on the bars at all times, simple enough and cheap.

On the WR... make that ANY dual sport or Dirt bike... A stabilizer should be the last thing you buy... in fact it should never be purchased... EVER, it's not needed.

It's better to just bulk up strength in your arms... seesh...

Tibarus wrote:

It's better to just bulk up strength in your arms... seesh...

Oh shit...I'm not even gonna touch that one. I somehow envision a lot of lube tubes being distributed....

I experienced this death wobble a couple of times on my home from work riding across a peninsula with a strong head wind. I figured out that if I took my left hand off the bars and laid down over the tank the wobbles would get better. Like I said this would only happen in a head wind I don't know if that is the cause or not though.

NorCalWR wrote:

I experienced this death wobble a couple of times on my home from work riding across a peninsula with a strong head wind. I figured out that if I took my left hand off the bars and laid down over the tank the wobbles would get better. Like I said this would only happen in a head wind I don't know if that is the cause or not though.

It was more than likely wobbling because you were being buffeted by the wind, DON'T go out and get a stabilizer, you'd be better off installing a windshield or just not riding when it's windy.

I'm not going to put a stabilizer on the bike, I agree with you there is no need for one. From what I experience what I did was the more I tried to fight the wobble the worse it got, I just sort of powered leaded over the tank and powered through it with the throttle.

sorry what I meant to say at the end there was I just leaned over the tank and powered through it with the throttle....got a little distracted trying to work and post at the same time

I haven't had any wobble on my X. But the the front liked to kick off bumps & holes on the highway. Added two clicks of rebound damping up front... Now it is nice & sweet.

Tibarus wrote:

Wild.... seriously the WR doesn't need a stabilizer... it's not nearly big enough of a bike. Shit my 1982 450 lbs BMW r650ls doesn't have a stabilizer, neither does my RD350LC.

the Simplest fix is to just keep on hand on the bars at all times, simple enough and cheap.

On the WR... make that ANY dual sport or Dirt bike... A stabilizer should be the last thing you buy... in fact it should never be purchased... EVER, it's not needed.

It's better to just bulk up strength in your arms... seesh...

Yea, I dunno....It seems to me that a light dualsport motorcycle would benefit more from a steering stabilizer than a heavier bike because of the fact the steering is so light and will be thrown off by mud, sand, pavement, logs, ruts, etc. more easily.

Steering stabilizers are for 4x4's.

above 85.....things get real hairy. even in no wind conditions/sunny fing day. almost had a REAL bad experience trying to top it out.......hit 115mph. wind to my back and with a downgrade.(i was so focused on not crapping my pants I didn't even pay attention if I was hitting the rev limiter, which is why I was doing this in the FIRST place) I DO NOT RECOMMEND!!!!!!!!!!! lol ish. it was scary. no stabalizer,but no death wobble. however if i seemed to blink the steering would go nuts. wr250x STOCKish

Something is not right with the bike, Id suspect and bad tire first. Im on my 3rd set of 606s, I never have them balanced and Ive never experienced anything like this. Ive had mine to over 100 indicated(actually around 75 with the 13/49 sprocket set up) and never have any wobble. Id get a new front tire before I did anything else, a stabilizer would be nice off road but shouldnt be necessary for highway use. Also, lowering the rear a bit with the built in adjustment will increase trail a little and help with high speed stability.