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Old June 29th, 2011, 12:45 AM   #252
Lowspeed Lowside
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Name: Hans
Location: Lexington, Ky
Join Date: Apr 2011

Motorcycle(s): '09 Ninja 250R

Posts: 161
Intriguing thread...

I don't think we can completely rule out that the kkim-wobble might be the result of torque-induced precession: when a spinning top slows down the amplitude and frequency of wobbles increases.

There are many sources of torque that have the effect of pushing the wheel to one side, such as a minute amounts of debris rattling a bearing ever so slightly. Now, when you take the wheel off and hold it horizontally and whack it a couple of times when changing the tire the piece of debris dislocates and the problem disappears!

This would easy to check: take the tire all the way off and put it back on as if it were a new one. If that solves the problem, it would save people experiencing wobbles a lot of cash, as it would prove that the new tires are not an essential part of the solution.

For what it's worth, the following scientific paper has other explanations:

Study of stability of a two wheeled vehicle through experiments on the road and in laboratory
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