Headshake and tank slappers: let the front end settle
When the bars start shaking out of a corner or over a bump, a tight grip is usually what makes it worse. Relax your hands and hold the throttle steady.
2 min readBy PitPin Desk
A tank slapper is the handlebars snapping from side to side, sometimes hard enough to hit the tank. It usually starts as a small headshake, most often over a bump or ripple in the surface, or when you accelerate hard out of a corner and the front goes light. When the tyre lands slightly off line, it flicks back and forth while the bike tries to straighten itself.
Life at Lean's recent video notes that the steering geometry that keeps a bike stable is also what makes this oscillation possible, so it can happen on a bike with nothing wrong with it. On a healthy bike a small headshake usually dies out by itself, as long as the rider leaves it alone.
Why riders make it worse
The natural reaction is to grab the bars. A stiff grip sends the shake through your arms into the rest of the bike, and the shake grows. A steering damper helps, but a bike with a damper will still shake if you are tense on the bars.
If it starts
- Relax your hands. Do not try to hold the bars straight.
- Squeeze the tank with your knees and lift your backside slightly off the seat.
- Do not shut the throttle. Rolling off puts weight on the front and makes it worse. Hold a steady throttle, or keep accelerating if there is room.
- Afterwards, check the front brake. A violent slapper can push the pads back from the discs, so the lever may feel soft until you pump it a few times.
Prevention
Ride with your lower body doing the holding: knees on the tank, elbows bent and pointing down, arms loose. It is the same relaxed upper body that helps you turn, and it lets the front end settle by itself.