I probably don't need the project either, eventually the right bike will appear. That bike is made in china.
I've had my Terra up to 160km/h multiple times, little harder now with the dropped front sprocket. Only loads of engine vibs at those speeds. Never experienced any type of head shake or handle bars shaking bad until....I installed my Bark Busters with the extended wind deflectors and the Wolfman Day Tripper bags and a Wolfman tail bag. Now the bars will start to weave about 130km/h. Personally im blaming the shake on the fact I screwed up the aero dynamics of the bike. The wind buffering on the Hand Guards, pushing either the l/h or r/h guards and the natural tendency of the bike wanting to pull straight is putting the bars in a weird situation. My 2011 DR650 done the same thing once I put on a hard mounted hand guard and got rid of the flimsy factory ones.
I have went down with a lock to lock due to a front tire blow out. Since then I have read up on it some. The stabilizer sounds like a good idea. The only other thing I have read, said that the best counter to do is to shift as much weight over the front wheel as possible by moving up onto the tank etc to help recover. I hope I never have to test that maneuver. I also read that headshake seems to appear more often during a curve. There are a couple of good post on youtube showing recovering from headshake and illustrating how it works. I am going to look into one of those suit's you were wearing as at my age, going down is not as much fun as it once was and getting back up can be less than enchanting! LR
James Rideout: The hand cover weave has been covered in the forum quite well. You will have to search. The problem appears to be vortex shedding at the worst place it could be ie. at the place where steering input is higest. There are several strategies that can help. Easiest is a spaced spoiler attached to the upper/lower air release edge of the barkbusters.
Unfortunately, usually, the best way to react only occurs to you when it's too late. The first time it happens, you don't know what is going on, and by the time you work it out, it can be too late to react, or you'll be reacting too slowly. ONe thing the years have taught me, and I'm sure people who have raced and crashed a lot will know better than I do, is that the first time you have no idea what happened, but after that every accident gets slower and slower and you can practically commentate on what is going on. Just look at how quickly some of the GP riders come to their senses and start looking around for danger when they come off during a race. Fortunately a massive tankslapper has only happened to me once. It happened at about 120kph when I hit a bump on a sportsbike. My instinctive reaction to the lock to lock slapper was to grip the bars harder. What this did was to actually transfer the force via me from the front wheel to the back wheel, which then lost traction and spat me over the front.
I had one off due to a massive tank slapper probably 10 years ago on a 1999 triumph tiger. I was on the expressway in the rain, headed to work (thankfully very early, no traffic) I hit a tar strip snake and next thing ya know I'm sliding down the highway on my ass watching the bike somehow ride itself out of the slapper and end up gently laid down on it's side... other than being stunned and having shredded rain pants, a ripped up palm on one hand and my license and 2 credit cards worn through (wallet was in my butt pocket for some reason, the other cheek was fine) I was ok. Shaking knees, I got the big girl upright with the help of an amazed motorist and was on my way- heart beating out of my chest!! I'm pretty sure the slick condition contributed to my sliding and not rag-dolling... which I'm sure saved me a lot of grief.
Nev's point is VERY valid. If you haven't watched "twist of the wrist" videos you REALLY should. The bike wants to stabilize itself. It doesn't need you to do it. First reaction of most riders is to lock up which means the bike can't damp it's own oscillation ( that's what the raked forks are for), so the whole weight of the rider is now flopping side to side reinforcing the wobble. ( It's more complicated that that . To do with the effective moment of inertia increase of the stuff pivoting around the steering head). It is also why experienced dirt riders usually get out of trouble much more often , as riding in the dirt required you to ride completely loosely to stay upright and not fight the bike.
So I am about 98% sure I figured out the cause. Took mine to a track this year. Track rules had me remove the mirrors. I used to get the wobble at 82 to 88mph. Since I have had the mirrors no wobble under normal conditions. How ever I don't think they are the whole problem. The design of the front end has something to do with it. Passed a semi doing 75 and got a wobble again. I think that instance had to do with the wind sheer and poor aerodynamics of the bike. Now just need to find a solution to the mirrors.
Let me know if you find out - I've contacted the manufacturer and they offer it up at $550 - which is MRRP, and they don't want to "undersell" their dealers. As they are in California, I would be paying sales tax as well, something I'm "allergic" to;-)
Interesting reading. I had an incedent myself. I was on a backroad, good surface, slight down hill, straight and cracking along at 140 - 150 Kph For no reason that i can think of the Terra started a headshake / speed wobble. Not violent but as close as it gets without being violent. On reflection I know the front tire (standard rubber) was possibly low on pressure. Scared the bejesus out of me. I will be looking for stablizer and soon.
Ktm-parts.com has the red one for 495, but they don't offer one in black. Might just have to order from the manufacturer.
Nice find JBrown! I have just ordered it from ktm-parts.com (who'd have thunk it - ordering bits from the orange team for the Italian Supermodel!! Ohh well, might as well get used to it....;-)) Just saved me $114 over buying it from the manufacturer in San Diego!! Will report my experience with it, once I have it fitted. Until it is installed, my Husky isn't going faster that 110 kph. Scared the heeby-jeebies out of myself the other day, with a high speed wobble at 130kph in a gusty crosswind. I do have the Barkbusters Storm handguards installed, and I do believe they may be the culprit for the occasional weave / wobble.
I'm thinking to get the GPR stabilizer. After having it for a while do you have any comments, hints, suggestions, etc. I should know about before I move forward? You seem to be using the stock bars, which I'd like to do also. Their website only lists risers for fat bars. I can machine a reducer sleeves if need be. I might be better to purchase the fat bar version (and use a reducer sleeve) in case I'd want to upgrade to fat/tapered bars in the future. Any thoughts?
I was speaking to a fellow in the weekend and his mate on a TR650 got the slow weave going on, he tried to fix it by accelerating.....bad move it flicked him, the biked endowed six times or more, he survived luckily but the bike was pretty much completely destroyed. I've had the gentle weave a number of times, but wasn't concerned and just eased off and all is sweet....I dont understand the need to add to what induced it in the first place.....
Two days ago I adjusted the forks on my Strada. I saw this post pop up again and figured I'd say something hoping to help another forum member. My Strada has always been twitchy. I moved the front forks down to the top line in the triples. This greatly reduced the twitchy feeling. I had been reluctant to make changes as this is always a trade-off. You gain stability at the expense of flickability. I don't think I lost much. With the added stability I found it also holds a line better thru the sweepers. Also if the front tire is a few psi low it gets much worse.
Glad your ok. I was on my 1200 bandit on the highway. I had a mountain that ended on my right side. All of a sudden I'm in the open air with the worst cross wind blowing across the three lanes of highway. It blew me and the bike like a sail across the three lanes into the left shoulder. I was about to cut the grass. I took my body weight off the seat and put all of my 300lbs on the left peg. My last desperate move. She stayed in the shoulder and I recovered. It's just a weird situation. I travel that highway a lot and never experienced a cross wind like that before. I was like a piece of paper blowing across the highway. I figured out why so many new riders on street bikes end it because they have no dirtbike experience. Everything that works in the dirt, body English works with the street bike. I was on my Polaris quad once and tried to save it when I hit a hole in the ice. I jerked and handle bars and looked back and seen the rear rack going verticle.(slow motion) thinking this isn't going to be good I did a face plant on the ice. I remember everything in slow motion and seeing that back rack verticle I never thought a quad could launch my 300lb body over the bars. I broke my ribs three times on that quad. I never got hurt on a bike. No I'm on the bandit and we haven't had rain for a longtime. All of a sudden I'm in a monsoon. The roads were white from the oils seating out. I should of parked under a bridge but being I was in a hurry I drove in it. Now I almost dumped the bandit I felt the front wheel washing out. I did the same handle bar jerk I did on the quad with a little body English and saved it. I got lucky. All of this is true I swear.
