High speed wobbles on cornering or even straight lines. …

High-speed wobble occurs when the physical forces being placed on your bike by speed are too great for the bike to handle. Sometimes, but not always, this is initiated when cornering because it is then that greater stress is being placed on the chassis.

The “Death Wobble” is a phenomenon where a bike’s rear kicks back and forth and is brought about by something mechanical or by the rider where it affects the front tire or steering components of the motorcycle. He says, also, that Harley motorcycles do not come from the factory with stabilizers, but the trikes do.

Wheel bearings — If the bearings get worn out, this could cause lateral axle movement which leads to wobbling. With a rear-wheel wobble, if you are riding at a lower rate of speed with a full load on your bike, you may not notice the wobble so much in the beginning.

The death wobble is a shimmying, shaking or oscillation that occurs when a mechanical or rider induced irregularity occurs with the front tire or steering component(s) of the motorcycle. This causes the front of the motorcycle to shake from side to side violently.

A high speed wobble on a motorcycle can also be caused by rider error. Sometimes a motorcyclist will hit a bump or hole in the road and over correct themselves. This in turn can cause them to have that uncontrollable wobble. A loose front axle nut may also be the cause of a high speed wobble.

The wobble is because of sudden weight distribution. When you turn into the corner the suspension should be settled with 60% of your weight over the rear tyre, and 40% over the front as you accelerate through the apex.

It is true that the cause of head shake can be suspension that is too stiff, suspension that is too soft, a chassis setup that is too high in the front, a chassis setup that is too low in the front, a chassis setup that is too low in the rear or a chassis setup that is too high in the rear. Don’t panic.

A tank slapper is when the handlebars wildly oscillate. According to racing engineer Jeromy Moore, it’s an “underdamped torsional oscillation of the front wheel/suspension which can be set off by either a road input or input from the rider’s weight creating a steering moment or even a gust of wind”.

Tank slapper The term used to describe the performance characteristic when the back-end of a car steps out and, in rather violent fashion, starts to zigzag as the driver attempts to wrestle it back under control.

When a bike gets a speed wobble the steering tends to swing left and right as the bike struggles to find traction and grip with the front tire. This swinging effect on the steering can sometimes be so extreme that the handlebars actually hit the side of the fuel tank. This was then coined a ‘tank slapper’.

Death wobble is a distinctly harsher shaking force. Death wobble typically occurs at speeds above 45 mph and in most cases requires a trigger like hitting a bump or a pothole. It can also happen at speeds under 45 mph.