Low Speed Death Wobble

[GTO MIKE]

You keep saying over the rough roads and if you could tighten up the bolts on the bars then that may be the problem . I would really  double check the rear wheel alignment also as was previously mentioned.

MIKE

[Vansflyer]

Do you have a top box fitted? They can sometimes cause an issue.

 

[duhg]

My first reaction is to check the rear wheel - chain adjusters and axle nut - to see if anything is loose.  I recently thought I had a front wheel wobble and found it to be a flat rear tire.

[Wintersdark]

On 7/11/2020 at 12:25 AM, Buggy Nate said:

Just making sure you aren’t doing anything silly like taking your hands off the handle bars are you?

We used to get so many customers come in and say my bike wobbles when I take my hands off the bars.

Id say ‘don’t do that then’.

I'd argue if your bars wobble when you take your hands off the bars, there's still something wrong.  I mean, I'm not a professional mechanic by any means, but I've managed to restore bikes from the 80's, and run new bikes, all where I can ride consistently with no hands on the bars for any amount of time (particularly now I've got cruise control instead of a plastic throttle lock!).  Any wobble gets fixed.  Hell, I frequently do 10+ minute stretches of my commute without touching my bars.  

---

I'd agree with checking wheel alignment, just in case, but I'd suspect the front tire itself.  Maybe, just maybe, a suspension setting is uneven though?  Are you *sure* both preloads are set the same?  Are you *sure* your forks are parallel?

 

[koth442]

2 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

I'd argue if your bars wobble when you take your hands off the bars, there's still something wrong.  I mean, I'm not a professional mechanic by any means, but I've managed to restore bikes from the 80's, and run new bikes, all where I can ride consistently with no hands on the bars for any amount of time (particularly now I've got cruise control instead of a plastic throttle lock!).  Any wobble gets fixed.  Hell, I frequently do 10+ minute stretches of my commute without touching my bars.  

I'm inclined to agree with you. 

[quaxum]

Mine wobbles when u reach around the 70km/h mark on the stock D222s. Changed my tyres to T31's Solved the issue.

alot are reporting the same issue. A tyre change will solve it.

The tyre is the problem. But YMMV

Edited July 14, 2020 by quaxum

[Fat Jeff]

Rear wheel alignment is good, checked to the swingarm bolt and no I don't have a top box.  Weather has been crap this week so haven't had a chance to see if tightening those anti vibration risers fixed the issue yet.  I can't see the tire being the issue at such a low speed but who knows.

Funny enough, I mentioned it to my son and his comment was "just ride it and quit being a perfectionist" ...easy for him to say, he wipes out and he bounces back like a rubber ball, I wipe out and I break every bone in my body. 

 

[rodb47]

Check the bolts that hold the risers on the triple tree. One guy on Facebook had one come out when he was riding. Somehow didn't crash.

[Motocheck]

I noticed slow speed wobble due to top case, removed the top case and bike didn't wobble. Suggest to remove rear high weight and see if its still there.

[Wintersdark]

4 hours ago, Fat Jeff said:

...easy for him to say, he wipes out and he bounces back like a rubber ball, I wipe out and I break every bone in my body. 

 

This is so real it hurts.  I remember getting up and walking off 120kph motorcycle accidents with the help of my good friend alcohol.  Now, if I sleep slightly askew I'm in pain for days.  I miss being a teen/twenty-something and invincible. 

[Vansflyer]

If no topbox tyres would be my next go to. Common for the front tyre to have ridges on some makes when they have done a few miles, really upsets the handling. 

[WKE002]

My Triumph Bonneville was having this issue, when hands free trying to adjust my riding jacket at around 40-60km, it sometimes will wobble, initially i was shocked. i wud guess it has to do with wheels, dunno exactly where. when i double stand on my triumph and put in 1st gear, the rear wheel is slightly going up and down(dunno the word, as its spokes, need to do Truing), hence i suspect it could be these that cause the wobble as see some after change tires, no issue.

[jreinhardt]

Has your dealer ridden the bike and checked it out?

[Bill H]

On 7/12/2020 at 4:04 PM, Manxkiwi said:

Sounds like a tough one to diagnose. I would check the wheel alignment next. With string or straight edges, don't trust the swingarm marks and don't think it's necessarily bang on from the factory. Having checked all you have already, that's all I can think of. It will be interesting to see if the problem goes away as soon as you put new tyres on?!

uuhhmmmm,,so how do you check wheel alignment with string or straightedge ,,im a contractor and trying to figure that one out ,,please explain thanks

[KillEmAll4u]

You wrap a string around the rear wheel and extend the string on both sides to the front of the bike with no obstructions. You measure the width of the rear wheel and use jack stands as posts or something similar and measure the same width between the distance of the strings in the front to match the width of the rear wheel. So you are basically getting a good visual aid of the projected alignment of the rear wheel to the front of the bike. Then measure the distance of the strings to the front tire on each side and adjust the alignment of the rear wheel accordingly. If the projected alignment (the strings) of the rear wheel leaves equal distance on each side of the front tire then you know the rear tire is aligned with the front tire. Hope that makes sense and I know this because I did it myself with perfect results. Many other tools and methods but this one is free!