tankslapper<what do you do
- Thread starter cfh
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There's a video around here showing two guys trying out new bikes. One was a '99 Busa. He had a tank slapper. It looked like he just let the grips pound his palms a few times. The Busa has saved me several times. I just held on until it quit.
Never been in a bad slapper though, just some bad landings when it decided to defy gravity.
About the best thing you can do is pin the throttle and hope,if it stops after you punch it...then ease off and clean out your pants.
Accellerate hard to lighten up the front end and let the steering damper do its job.
dmrowe
Registered
I was always told the only way to get out of it was to accelerate. Having never experienced one I can't say for sure but I think Dab and Revvv got it right...
1. Change your shorts
2. Pray
.......and not necessarily in that order either! A good steering damper helps to prevent it from happening though.
cosmo
Registered
Tank slappers are typically the result of alternating rear wheel slip - traction - slip and so on. The front begins to oscillate in response. Sometimes violently.
The natural reaction is to chop the throttle and fight the bars. Most pros (I like Pridmore) tell you to do NOTHING, it will come around on its own due to natural gyroscopic stabilization of the wheels, unless its so bad your going airborne anyway.
Some (like Spencer) will tell you to ease off the throttle 5% until traction is regained however if you've had one you know that it takes a Freddie Spencer to exert that kind of control under those conditions anyway so......
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PULL IN THE CLUTCH
A tank slapper is when the bikes geometry tries to correct and straighten out the handle bars, but goes past the straight ahead position, and once on the other side of center tries to re-correct the other way repeating the process over and over again while oscillating the steering violently back and forth. It’s so named because the handlebars are literally slapping the side of the gas tank on each rotation and the rider has no control of the bike while it does. It can happen for a number of reasons, such as setting down a wheelie with improper alignment of the wheel, or going through a rough patch of pavement at high speed. Just about the only way out of it is wide open throttle and ride through the terror.
Number one rule to performance riding a motorcycle since most of it's completely counter intuitive is - "when in doubt throttle out!"
Number one rule to performance riding a motorcycle since most of it's completely counter intuitive is - "when in doubt throttle out!"
Give it throttle!!
SANDFLEA85
Registered
has anybody who has offered advice actually had a "tank slapper"...just curious cause we all hear the same thing from various people but none seem to have actually survived one...that is one that is bad enought to be considered a ":tank slapper"..i think we haveall had a time were we got a little off up front for one reason or another but i personally have never had anything remotely that violent,but always on my mind when i get up and over 140mph...not sure id have the balls to give it more throttle when already going so fast,natural impulse is to back off..the only way i see throttleing up helping is if you get the front tire off the ground long enough for the steering damper to straighten out befroe you set itback down..hope i never need to find out
I've seen it in person. I was riding with a friend on a GSXR who set down a 2nd gear wheelie wrong and went into a tank slapper. I was thinking, not the life flight thing again when I saw the bike start shaking violently. He hammered the throttle and the bike stabalized almost immediately. He then pulled over to change his shorts.
XLCC
Registered
I had a tank slapper once, when I was a teen. I was on a Yamaha XS400, on the 91 Fwy, @ 60mph. I chopped the throttle and did not do so well... managed to slow the bike down to around 40 or 45 then dumped it. Now, if I feel the front end of my Busa lighten up AT ALL, I giver 'er the gas and she straightens right out. The biggest prob that I have is front end push in fast corners, but I attribute that to too much entry speed. I really do not have tank slapper probs with my bike... 0-180 and she rides like a dream. However sometimes, when coasting down from high speed (around 110 or so), I let go of the bars and notice that they begin a very slight, very minor, very predictable oscillation. I put my hands back on the bars and the bike stops the oscillation. This situation always makes me wonder if it will happen at high speed. I was thinking about doing the steering damper mod (changing to 30w oil) and seeing how that helps.
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