I won the lottery today!

[Lurkable]

...no, but it almost feels like I did and I'm still a little shaken from major tank slap. I must have been going about 70 when I crossed the bridge in the picture. I guess I didn't notice the drop in the pavement at the crease between the bridge and the rest of the road. My brother was behind me and said he saw a big cloud of dust and then the bike wobbling like crazy.

The ride ended at the intersection after the bridge. My (older) brother called it - good call! - and we went for some lunch. Many loud sighs and shy grins followed...

I should say I'm lucky nothing serious happened. But when I look back on it, those 2-3 seconds during the event were very serious for me and what seemed like an eternity in my head full of thoughts about everything ending. Am I overreacting? I don't know...over 9000 miles and I have not experienced a level of fear on my bike anywhere close to this. And as far as I'm concerned, this is just one more reason why I won't need a bigger bike for a long time.

[kkim]

Glad you made it out okay... did you check your shorts afterwards?

These are never easy to take calmly...

some discussions of someone who wasn't as lucky... good call on staying with a smaller bike. hope these help for you to figure out what went wrong and what you can do to help the situation... if anything.

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showt...t=tank+slapper

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showt...t=tank+slapper

[Lurkable]

Thanks Kelly. Yeah you know, in that "Close shave!" video it looks like his front wheel lifts off the ground, then contacts the road again before bouncing up a second time when both wheels leave the ground and his tank slap begins.

I think I must have gained some air at the front end of the bridge and then bounced so that my front wheel actually left the ground twice. I can think of no other reason why it wouldn't be aligned with the bike as I left the bridge. I imagine that if it had only left the ground once I would have been able to keep it straight. It's not as if I was putting any abnormal amount of pressure on the handle bars....I wasn't in the process of shifting and I certainly wasn't grabbing for the front brake.

...but then I suppose that any time the front wheel leaves the ground, chances are that one of your arms is pushing harder on the bars than the other...

Yes, yes I am desperately trying to understand it all...I don't ever want to experience it again!

[Alex]

Where is that bridge? How are your tire pressures? I've been able to provoke some headshake on the ninjette if I'm really railing and hit some bumpy pavement while making steering inputs, but the front end is light enough that you can usually muscle it in the appropriate direction if you don't panic. Sounds like you handled it just fine.

[Lurkable]

Yeah I checked and filled 28/32 yesterday in preparation for today's ride. It was West Ford Franklin School Road, west of Tomales.

I should have been more careful with an unfamiliar bridge in west Marin. This was actually the first day I've ever gone west from Tomales...I didn't even know there was a road there until my brother mentioned he'd been on it so I decided to check it out.

[miks]

Glad you made it out okay!

[Alex]

Small world. That road is, without a doubt, my favorite portion of this ride. We do that section after breakfast, after coming back south on 1 for a short portion, and we hang a right in Valley Ford on to that road. The pavement surface is a little choppy in the beginning, and it used to be a little strange even after it appeared to be less choppy, the pavement was a little grooved. But they repaved the vast majority of it about 6 months ago, and it's been simply phenomenal ever since. It is rarely patrolled as it doesn't really go from anywhere to anywhere, and few folks take it out to Dillon Beach, so once we hang that right you can really have some fun. I've never had a bike get out of shape on that bridge, and I've taken it many times at the absolute top speed of the ninjette (or at least the top speed I can attain on it while crouched down and holding it pinned in 6th for a few minutes).

Now I'm going to try and figure out how a bike got out of sorts on it this weekend, and with my luck I'll actually find a way for the first time. Glad you're OK!

[Alex]

For folks who want to play along at home, make sure you have Google Earth installed, and load up the attached .kmz file. In the Google Earth Tools menu, choose options. Go to the touring tab, and use the following settings:

Camera tilt angle: 60
Camera range: 150 meters
Speed: 500

Hit apply. Go to the Path that's within the path.kmz file you loaded in the left pane, select it, and press the play button. Uncheck the path checkbox for the most realistic experience, and the blue route won't be on the map anymore. You'll basically be flying down this same road as if you were in a helicopter, following the road almost exactly. Hit F11 to make it full-screen. The bridge Lurkable is talking about is clearly visible, in a high speed straight section of the road.

[GTsmokeya]

Wow, glad you are ok. Should be carefull with any bridge due to surface changes and wind conditions.

GTsmokeya

[Snake]

I'm glad you made it out ok. Thats why you always want to have all your gear on. You never know what could happen.

[komohana]

you did good. i witnessed a guy passing over a ripple on the pavement doing 60, 2 bike lengths in front of me. instead of letting the suspension work through the changes in the road, he stiffened and tried to keep the bars from moving. THAT initialized a wobble turned tank slapper, and right before my eyes, he was down and disappeared into an exploding dust cloud as he veered off the road. i recall looking in my mirror in time to see the expanding dust cloud for an instant...with his feet sticking out the top...

he lived..

did i say you did good?

[Sound Wave]

Originally Posted by Alex

For folks who want to play along at home, make sure you have Google Earth installed, and load up the attached .kmz file. In the Google Earth Tools menu, choose options. Go to the touring tab, and use the following settings:

Camera tilt angle: 60
Camera range: 150 meters
Speed: 500

Hit apply. Go to the Path that's within the path.kmz file you loaded in the left pane, select it, and press the play button. Uncheck the path checkbox for the most realistic experience, and the blue route won't be on the map anymore. You'll basically be flying down this same road as if you were in a helicopter, following the road almost exactly. Hit F11 to make it full-screen. The bridge Lurkable is talking about is clearly visible, in a high speed straight section of the road.

that is nuts! i gotta figure out how to do that tour for tantalus. i didn't know google earth could do that.

btw, lurkable, i am glad you made it safe. i have never encountered anything like that wobble. hopefully if i ever do, i am as lucky as you are.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Sound Wave

that is nuts! i gotta figure out how to do that tour for tantalus.

Here it is for tantalus/round top. Looks like a fun road!

[Sound Wave]

Originally Posted by Alex

Here it is for tantalus/round top. Looks like a fun road!

wow, that was like a 3 second delay from the time i sent you the pm til the time you posted this. what took you so long? lol.

but yeah, if you could pm me how you did that, i would appreciate it.

[kkim]

never mind how he did it, I want him to do that to my ride to work.

ready??? go!! one... two... three... hey!! where is it??

[Alex]

It's Waimea Canyon road and Kokee road, right? Here it is...

[kkim]

lol... thanks Alex.

sometimes your geekiness does come in handy. I would have never in a million years been able to figure that out.

mahalo!

[wyckedflesh]

hrm...tank slapper that went wrong, yeah, I know that feeling all to well. Very glad you came through it intact. Makes you think seriously about getting a steering stabilizer, that is what they were intended to help counter.

My tank slapper took almost 4 years to recover from.