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Old November 6th, 2019, 11:25 AM   #28
gantt
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Name: michael
Location: Central Georgia
Join Date: May 2013

Motorcycle(s): 2019 Ninja 400, Sold 2012 Ninja 650, Sold 2009 Ninja 250r, Sold 2007 DRZ400s

Posts: 628
Quote:
Originally Posted by adouglas View Post
There's often a rush to blame something mechanical for any issue, because *of course* the rider can't be doing anything wrong, yeah?

IMHO the most likely cause of wobble is you. Chances are you're pushing back against the deceleration and putting unnecessary input into the bars. The bike is fighting you.

As well it should, because as we all know bikes are smarter than we are. It's our job to get out of the #@$#()@ way and let them do their thing. This is a really common cause of tank slappers. The bike hits a bump that causes a steering deflection and the instinctive response is to put a death grip on the bars. That only makes things worse. Chillax and the bike will sort itself out.

In this case, the deflection is likely caused by you inadvertently steering the bike because you're gripping harder to counteract deceleration forces.

So to avoid this in the first place, use your legs and core (i.e. belly), lock into the tank and don't put all your weight on your hands.



On a separate note about hard braking:

Something really important to understand about threshold braking... first LOAD the tire, then WORK the tire.

Never ever grab a fistful of brake all at once. That can instantly exceed your traction budget. If you brake progressively -- first squeezing moderately then squeezing HARD -- then the tire squishes into the pavement, the contact patch gets larger, and the available traction goes up.

It can all happen very quickly, but the key is to be progressive, not abrupt.

Relevant footage about this starts at about 4:20

Link to original page on YouTube.

Another advantage of load-then-work is that when you load the tire, the chassis settles down and gets stable before you ask a lot of it.


very good information. i like how he explained it too
i have always thought of my bike like an animal, a horse...
you can tell it what to do, but tell it to do something it doesn't like and its going to throw you. I've tried to tell guys i used to ride with, that you could feel what the chassis likes and what it doesn't like. the bike will tell you its not happy, usually before you get thrown, if you only listen to it. at that point they just look at me like i am speaking a foreign language and ask me when i am going to buy a 1000cc bike.
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