I've also found that if you give the bike something to do...like an input, it could effectively cancel out the wobble and have the bike under control almost instantly. For example, if you counter steer, push on one of the handlebars, it stops the wobble. MotoJitsu.com

Indeed, this happened to me, and I'll never forget it. Foolishly, I hit the throttle very hard at 60 and punched quickly up to over 90mph in a stupid macho effort to beat another bike on a quick pass. Death wobble started - which sobered me back into maturity - where just as described I loosened my grip and let off the throttle... bike came back to normal, forgiving me. And I cussed myself out, what a jackass. Bikes want SMOOTH control, no herkie jerky crap. Almost cost me my life. Learn from others and practice. Ride Safe,.

Don't say death wobble around old people, that's just how we walk

This happened to me 2 weeks ago when I accelerated a little on a bad road. I came off the acceleration slowly and relaxed my tension in the handlebars a lot more due to your teachings in previous videos. Thank you brother.

I lost a close friend from the death wobble.😢 Prayers up for him and his family

If you’ve ever experienced a death wobble it’s something you’ll never forget. I was on an sv1000 in the North Georgia mountains on an unusually warm January day. I just had new tires installed so I was naturally going at a slower pace breaking in my tires as new tires can already be slippery. I set up for a corner not pushing it by any means when I lost complete traction on the rear. Still to this day I’m not sure if I lost traction due to the tires being new or I had hit a patch of black ice as the temperature was below freezing the night before and those backroad mountain roads remain shaded most of the day. Everything happened very fast but in my mind I was in slow motion and it seemed to go on forever. Never having experienced a situation like that I gripped the handle bars and essentially froze. Fortunately the bike corrected itself and I was able to pull over on the side of the road to take a breather. I gradually let of the throttle which I believe was my only saving grace. When I got back home my wrist started to hurt and was noticeably swollen from applying extensive amounts of pressure while the front end wobbled. I definitely realize locking down on the handlebars is a mistake; however, In a situation like that my adrenaline kicked in and what happened was simply a reaction. Still to this day I believe it was mostly luck that kept me from going off the side of that mountain. The only way to combat such an occurrence is to practice practice practice and hope when fight or flight kicks in you make the right moves.

riders that are on here right now are wanting to learn and advance. and thats taking things to another level. ride hard ride safe ✌✌✌✌

Great and concise information as your usual high standard. I only twice in recent times borrowed a friends bike, both times the front pressure was below 15!! luckily, i had on me a right angle tyre valve so i could use the garage air line - those places almost never have a line that will fit a motorcycle tyre (i live in the UK)

Happened on my first freeway ride as a very new rider. 5:45 might’ve happened because my toe was over the rear brake and I might’ve been riding with stiffened arms. When I noticed it I KNEW not to make any sudden moves. Really scary but I knew to stay calm and focus on relaxing my arms and rolling off the throttle very slightly. Smoothed out right away. 😅

The best thing you can do if this happens is to take your hand off the handlebars and gently tap the rear break. It stops almost immediately.

Great video and perfect timing, I’ll be riding a Honda St 1300 pretty soon, and they are known for that “wobble “ ( at least at the beginning of production, and on a overloaded police bike ) back on my days the old timers said to try to put some weight on the front suspension by leaning on the tank and give the handlebars ( the name Grip is misleading 😅) a little of free play ( please correct me if I’m wrong ) I’ve been getting motorcycles from point A to point B , for a long time ( 40+ years) but I learn a lot from your videos , your videos are so clear that even a foreign with broken English like me ,can understand and learn , thanks again .

I love everything about you! I'm a brit but you have showed me so much! There is not! Anything wrong with what you say, I owe My life to you! You have given me the beginning of understand I'm alive! ❤️👍

Thanks Greg! That happened to me on my sporty. I just easily rolled off the throttle and kept calm and relaxed 👍

After having seen videos related to death wobbles pop up on Twitter/x I wanted to know how this happens because it never happened to me and I just wanted to understand it. Now I understand why I don't have that issue. 1. My bike is serviced every year 2. I ride in a relaxed state (keeping the arms relatively lose) just making sure that it goes where it is supposed to go 3. I check my tire pressure occasionally (especially before longer trips) to ensure that it is what is supposed to be. I never really had anything less than 20% under the recommended pressure. Something I also noticed is that when the front tire is close to the point when it should be replaced it gets a bit more unstable. When the tire is new I can take my hands of the handles and it rides pretty stable. Once it reaches the end of its life I usually feel small "wiggles" when I take my hands of the handle bar. So replacing the tires can also reduce the risk of the death wobble happening I think. Btw. I know the phenomenon of people really clinging to handle bars/steering wheels. I've seen buffed guys jump into a gokart, drive it around a race track for 10 minutes and then get out to complain about their arms hurting because they held the steering wheel so tight and used way to much force for no reason. It's like you're carrying a shopping cart around even though it has wheels and can roll around just fine if you give it a slight push.

So true! Love the advice!

My '85 BMW K100RS had some wobble at slow deceleration around 40 mph. I replaced the head/steering tube bearings and used the big knurled nut to pinch the two bearing's preload together. After install and initial setting I had the same wobble but a little worse. So I tightened that knurled preload nut more. I got less wobble but still there, so I tightened it more and the wobble was gone, I could decelerate through 40 mph without wobble even could go "no handed" through this now. Setting can best be done with the front end jacked off the ground. The steering should go from lock to lock with a slight amount of resistance. My KTM 250 Enduro manual specifically states this slight friction setting. With good bearings, there is no "notchiness" from lock to lock but it won't flop from lock to lock or center to lock. Another lesson I've learned: by lowering the rear shock on my modern BMW GS to "one helmet" on long highway runs the bike want to go straight more and there is a little less wiggle on the highway, raising the rear to "two helmets" while riding alone allows the bike to "love to turn," however long highway runs have a little more front tire wiggle, its less like a chopper.

I love everything! This is. I have learnt everything from you! I might sound like a fool! I have learnt so much from you ❤️

Thank you sooo much you have really helped make me a more safe and responsible rider ✊🏿✊🏿

Thanks!! Stay safe out there, that's stuff is scary regardless

Two other tips I have learned from MCrider and I believe Fort9, not entirely sure. One is to let go of the handlebars, this lets them self correct without you trying to force inputs in. And the other was to lean far forward. They had a video from like the 50's or 60's with a crazy guy initiating the death wobble and showing how leaning forward stops the shaking.

I have a 2014 Yamaha FJR1300, and I started to get a Death Wobble at one point. took it to the dealer and they were confounded. So I had the forks serviced and new seals and fluid and installed a tapered head barring. And after all that I still had a Wobble. As soon as I installed an OEM front tire the trouble stopped completely. Even though you should never remove your hands from the handlebars, I can remove my hands and ride in a straight line for as long as I wish. In conclusion, it was just a matter of the correct tire.

As an artist (and bike rider), I know this about each new art work. There is no guarantee of success. How do you maximize the chance for success? Count on your knowledge, your perception or "feel" for what you are doing, and keep sketching (studying). No difference on the bike. Every ride is different. No guarantee something beyond your vision and control won't happen. And that last point-- "Keep the software (your brain) upgraded." Those upgrades come from practice and courses. Thank you Greg.

I had it happen on my GS550 going up a steep hill going quite fast !!!! I just shut the throttle off carefully and didn't touch the Brakes and it was ok !!! I didn't try to stop the bars from Wobbling but the bike was almost Wheelying when the Wobble Started. It really is Scary !!!! I am a bit more careful Now !!!!!

While ridding my street glide home at less then 40 mph, I started slowing down and wobble hits and nothing helps. Went down and bike ran over and broke rh leg and straightened back up and went another 100 feet and fell over. I still wonder why especially when I drive past the drop zone.

I think most people look for security and so grab on harder to the handle bars. What about pressing your knees against the fuel tank and gently holding onto the handle bars whilst waiting for the front wheel to stablise itself?

Hi @Motojitsu. I just changed my mt07 a wider handle bar. i liked riding it on twisties but why im experience wobble on Highspeed? is there wrong on my installation?

my fz09 taught me to deal with wobbles by wobbling ALL THE TIME when I had the stock suspension. I've been really good at being light on the handle bars

been riding for many decades and the worst thing is the REAR WHEEL wobble that is tougher to correct.... it needs all three axis control to keep it from getting worse.... usually happens with speed and speed around a corner.... VERY disconcerting if you do not know how to ride with it.

Do you find that your gs has speed wobble at higher speeds with the hard bags on? Or maybe because of the knobby tires? Thanks!

The only time I experienced the wobble I was at 70mph, and a small twig had somehow caught in the front spokes. I rolled off the throttle and then gently applied the rear brake. It was over in around 10 seconds, but took me a lot longer to recover. The twig also ripped apart front mudguard.

SOLID GOLD INFO MAN! you know the oddest thing i ever experienced was a speed wobble on a 1985 goldwing aspencade i owned back in the day. i was 20 and in the Marie Corps and i loved that bike. rode it all over California. but it had an odd wobble that occurred every time i let off the throttle as the speed fell to 50mph. now it only happened if i took my hands off the handle bars as it approached that speed. as long as i had both hands on it i didnt get that problem. never could understand why. didnt matter if the bike was empty or not or what the suspension was set at. even after tire changes. really odd. of course back then the didnt have a steering damper on them. dont know about nowadays. im guessing that the problem was probably mis-aligned fork tubes. maybe a little crooked or one was set a little lower than the other.. but yea having a kung fu grip on it is a recipe for disaster for sure

Back in about 1980 I owned a Yamaha XS1100 on which I experienced several tank slappers. The worst one I had it took 3 lanes to get the bike under control. I never found out why it happened but I very likely did the very one thing you say NOT to do and that was probably to lock arms and hang on for grim death. I did talk to several people about the problem and it was suggested that the forks were woefully skinny for such a big heavy bike and a fork brace was suggested. The bike didn't have enough power even though an 1100 to power out of the wobble if theses happened at about 100mph. I was quite young and inexperienced back then and this experience frightened me so I sold the bike. Unfortunately at that time where I lived there wasn't any quality rider instructors so I didn't have anyone to tell me that I was probably making the tank slapper 100% worse. Eventually over many years of riding I learned to go loose on my grip of the bars if the bike started to wobble for whatever reason. I have to say though I found it very difficult to overcome the urge to grip on tight to the bars when a loose grip and a little extra gas was all that was needed. [ Keith Code calls these panics "Survival Reactions ] I'm sure I was my own worst enemy for many of my early riding mistakes, i.e. griping bars too tight, stabbing the front brakes if I over cooked a bend, erratic throttle control and so on. I really wish videos like this existed in the late 70's when I started riding, I would have been a much better and safer rider.

I bought my first HARLEY back in 1984 . By 1985 I bought my New Low Rider one of the first things I bought for the bike was a STEERING Stabilizer for the front forks and a chrome fork brace . If you intend to ride over 100 MPH every once in a while you had BETTER have these two accessories ! Have never had the Tank Slapper-Front end wobble or death wobble . Just saying !

This happened to me today at a relatively low speed, coming off from a red light, I almost crashed, went all over the road but I saved it because I held onto the clutch for dear life and I was able to climb back onto the bike and pull over

Thanks man this was really helpful 👍

It's usually because the front wheel is not loaded, such as a naked bike with a rider acting as a sail, and lifting the front. Grab the tank with your legs, and loosen your grip, while backing off the throttle.

i have a 05 c90 and ill only get a wobble some time's when i hit a corner and when I'm using the front break while rev matching and down shifting at the same time some time's the bike will wobble a little bit in the front and now ive noticed that the front end is really slick feeling in corner's like the front tire wants to slide out from under the bike note when i had my other tire on it the slide out issue wasn't there but the wobble i was talking about was still a problem

"...stay loose..." good advice for more than just riding.

I made a 212cc predator scooter an finished it today. It has a seat not a atandup scooter an i experince a death wobble. I need help to fix this issue. Any help would be appriciated

I get my Bycicle Speed wobbles due to rack ...front ever so slightly light ....fortunately it only kicks in at top speed no handed 26mph not that fast ...hands on it no issue ...but if i was to load in my rear battery then 20mph is tops speed hands on all time because it will shake it self out ...can feel the oscillation trough the frame from rack to front ...weird feeling

Just a note on tyre pressures, when I was in Cyprus I had a BMW K1300S and in the summer the tyre low pressure warning light kept coming on even though the tyre pressures where correct " I checked them on several calibrated devices". I read the owners operating manual and it said that in hotter climate's "Cyprus summer temperature was +40°" the type pressures should be increased. They did provide a table of temps to pressures. I adjusted the pressures according to the table and did not have this issue again.

Around here it's usually....we can check your bike out in 90 days at the major dealerships. I think i've narrowed my speed wobble to suspension. The bike does not have any preload/adjustability on the fork.

Thanks! Very helpful. I saw a British video about this and besides the things you mentioned they also said laying down on the tank helps. Not sure why, lowering the center of balance thing? Your hair looks good by the way. The one pic where its really long, was that pre-Marine time?

What about carefully squeezing on the rear brake while lightly rolling off the throttle?

Hi question for you I own the 2022 BMW S1000RR M Sport its fitted with a oem steering damper would this help in preventing speed wobbles? what would be the recommended setting?. The other question I'm thinking of fitting the carbon front winglets, would these help for high speed stability knowing they affect downforce on the front wheel or would it be detrimental to this phenomenon?

my bike was wiggling a little when braking, I immediately checked and corrected the tire pressure. it got rid of it instantly!

Can a large windscreen on a motorcycle cause high speed wobble?

Lot of the time what sets off speed wobble is a debris in the road little bit of dirt what's that you're tired into a little bit of a spin then when it hooks back up lift the front tire up and then you going to speed wobble..... So if you see any debris make sure you're letting off and not accelerating but yes easier said than done it could be a small as a little patch of dirt that fell off a truck

Does this happen only on high speeds? Also does weather affect this to happen?

This happened to me when I rented a Yamaha fg or j 1300 when my normal bike was a Honda c90 cub when I was very young and very stupid...

Have a good look at new tyres to make sure beads have popped up even ,and be very careful first couple hundred K, till mould shine off treads

Waiting half an hour at a dealer to have a check over something that might be concerning you is better than 6 months in hospital when any issue like a seized calliper for example has just launched you off your ride.

I was thinking that the Yamaha Shop might actually now! In Vietnam it's not really!

It's happened on a bmx bike to me before and a skateboard! lol yep i crashed.. quickly! It does make sense to not be so tense on the grip. I believe that's why I crashed.

5:43 is where the actual advice starts. Jitsu, I'd suggest adding chapter markers to your video.

If you get bar wobbles and end up pulling the throttle you'd be hanging off the back and depending on the bike be difficult to get forward my death wobble was on Motocross 250 with the front wheel hovering and I think I managed to put back brake on but it's something I definitely won't forget

I've seen this first-hand only twice and both times the front end geometry was fiddled with. Forks poking up thru the clamp and whatnot. Is that related? I cannot say, because I dunno sh*t. But I got a good feeling that geometry like rake and trail is calculated by far smarter people than the riders who've decided to change things. Like I said, I dunno if that's causal, and that's a small number of anecdotes, and it probably happens more often for other reasons, I just can't imagine it has no effect at all. My thoughts; good video.

Thanks it was very helpful

Happened about 50mph last night on a supermoto. Had no clue wtf was happening, but I naturally let off and it corrected. Doesn’t take much sense to figure out

Cracking video

I survived a wobble on my 10 speed. I gently slowed with brakes. Whew. That was close. Down a huge hill on pavement. They were tube tires inn a race bike, maybe glued a little off. Sold it....

I always felt it was due to suspension not equally setup, especially with V twins. I’d think that grabbing the clutch would help.

I’m a new rider and I’m really nervous about this happening. I haven’t gone over 20mph yet 😅 but I’m only rode for 2 days maybe 30minutes. It’s still cold out

where I've felt speed wobbles the most ...Bicycles ...But even more so Skateboards ....interestingly with skateboards if you try compensate your go down ..that you have to keep everything same as when wobble starts with body weight an feet position and lean ....what happens then is skateboard finds it Ballance it self ....the speed wobble is object trying to stabilize and weight shift will make it harder and cause it counter spin and flip Interesting mention tire pressure ...that would be similar to Skateboarders feet pressure ..they even on both feet or more weight on back or front ...again that makes massive difference when going down hill boarding that weight on each foot is like pressure in each tire on bike

I've been riding since i was 4 years old and ive never had to check my tire pressure. Its really not that important to me. I've never had an accident, but then again i am riding a broom... 😏

Thanks dude 😎 🏍️

I watched this several times

Well I was overtaking a person in Vietnam and I am sure I did everything right,,,,she was going slowly,she turned into me I lost the front wheel, I broke my shoulder and,it was expensive!

Make sure you neck bearings are intact and properly lubed.

Its very easy to say dont panic.

I had a tank slapper on a stone stock DR650. It was heavily loaded and the rear sag was way off. I just put a slightly stiffer shock spring on brand new V-Strom 800DE to correct rider sag and now my bars shimmy. Under braking they shake rather hard. I can't seem to adjust this out of it.

It’s physics, if you grab harder on the steering then you actually transferring the full energy of wobbling right and left to the whole bike through your body. So instead having it limited to front part of the bike the whole bike start to resonate.

This happened to me when i was practicing wheelies and landed my front tire unaligned. I stopped practising wheelies :D

It's called " Induced Dynamic Instability".

3 main causes tires out balance low tire pressure stem bearings

Wow, dude, it's been like 6 months since I last saw one of your vids. There's a saying where I'm from in Portugal that goes " I can't have money" it means that you're a wastrel that you spend and spend. In my case we're in August 2023 well since last August in 2022 I've bought 9 yeah nine "Effing" bikes 7 Honda's and 2 Yams and I'm not rich, not at all. The worst part is that I didn't buy any of them on credit, I payed cash for all nine which meant going into my savings. Anyhow I'm just really curious about this topic, speed wobble. Take care. Mike.

Over a decade of riding, two years past a near death crash, and I still have not had this happen. This seems genuinely scary...

Everything I've got headshake, I have always had plenty of room to do this but it always happen during acceleration and the only way I have pulled thru it and stayed up was to keep the weight off the front tire as much as possible versus planting it by letting off because it won't land strait, 95% of the time.it takes some balls to stay in your bike when it's trying to find the steering stops and buck you off the throttle but that's what's worked for me as many times as I have had it

This is why MSF is so important because it goes over this.

You need to see Vietnam 👍😳

Wish you were Texas

I only get the wobble when I ride my cbr like the lion king.

One question, what do you do in case the death wobble happens and there is a curve in front of you..?

If you want people to check tire pressure have them buy a KTM adventure bike my front tire has a passive air down system! I did the Idaho BDR and it seemed to be good the entire trip but the last day it lost 10 pounds (highway ride back to the trucks).

I’ve heard that everything you said plus a gentle lean left or right helps the bike stabilize faster but I’m not 100% so don’t take that to the bank

Jesus Christ, that happened to me just two weeks ago in the middle of the sharp right turn! TLDR: the bike (250kg) fell on it's left side right on my left foot -- bad bruise, no fractures (thanks to new crash bars), 2 weeks with crutches, still limping a bit, but learned about 4 important lessons Hope someone aside from myself will learn from my mistakes, so here's the long version: I was commuting, just a regular sunny day, nothing special, had to take a sharp turn right after a downhill. But although the road was super dry, right at the top of that hill a sewage leaked quite badly through the manhole, making this entire slope wet. I see this and start gradually slowing down, shifting from 4th to 3rd (50->30 km/h), and then to 2nd (30 -> 20 km/h) right before the end of the slope where the turn began. Before taking it, I could clearly see that the turn itself was dry (because cars passing by were dragging the water further down the main road) and I guess my first mistake was that I assumed: "-- Oh, the turn is dry, therefore it's fine." But I didn't think that my tires were still wet. Didn't slow down enough, leaned the bike juuuust enough to unintentionally start losing the rear. Felt it, panicked a bit, but the first reaction was to roll off the throttle and get the bike straight. And then I don't remember what I did wrong, but as soon as I pulled it back vertically, the wobble happened. I didn't know at the time what it was, didn't know how to fix it and probably hit the front brake too hard. So in the middle of the turn the bike tipped over the front wheel and fell on the LEFT side, catching my left foot between itself and the pavement. It was fucking painful, pretty much my first crash with a disabling injury. Thankfully a couple of drivers passing by stopped and helped me to come to my senses, turned off the bike and offered to drive me to the hospital. The ironic thing is that I just installed the crash bars 1 day before, and in their first ride they probably saved my foot from fracture. Lessons learned: -- slow down EVEN MORE when the road is wet, remember that the wheels can be still compromised after the wet/muddy patch of the road, and just be careful EVEN MORE -- buy proper boots that can hold such a fall, I was riding in some tracking shoes which are great for hiking but proved to be terrible in this case -- buy an insurance (the xray and laying in a hospital for 5 hours cost me about 130$, which is quite a lot for where I live right now) -- start doing motocross courses with a good instructor, and replicate all these unlikely scenarios in dirt at lower speeds -- replicate the wobble in a safer controlled environment with proper gear to learn how to deal with it P.S.: I'm only riding for 6 months, mostly in the city and the odometer is just shy from 2000km, so I'm not an experience rider yet.

Motorbikes would be tons of fun if they weren't so damn dangerous! They're still fun though :) Anyway, ANY motorbike can do it regardless of make, model, and mechanical condition. It's because of the steering caster trail, which is necessary for the bike to naturally stay upright when rolling along. That's why the steering axis is tilted back at the top: It's not just to make your bike look cool, it's there to make it stay upright. The same steering axis tilt that gives caster trail is also what causes the steering head to naturally shake side to side. So, ALL motorcycles have an inherent design flaw that causes steering shake. But, it's absolutely necessary for the bike to remain upright naturally.

tank slapper sounds like something funny.

I wish I could joke about the forbidden slamming salmon or the road

Had a speed wobble @ 145mph, down hill on a long grade. Loosened the grip, slowly came off the throttle, all was good after that. Glad Im not that invinsible 22 years old anymore. 😊😅😂 Dont be stupid out there!

What makes you feel like BMW so difficult to work on

I’m lucky, my bike is so balanced I’ve landed a full lock wheelie and it just snapped back straight

Tires must be put on corretly they go a certain way. There is an arrow on sidewall

I was taught about Tclocs

100 mph wavy pavement then gunned to full throttle 115 mph speed wobble significant eased throttle back below 110 mph wobble subsided kinda scary Yamaha sr500. BMW k75 120+mph no problema

Squeeze bike with your legs and relax upper body and arms to become part of motorcycle and let the motorcycle do its job :)

just a small push on the back brake is all you need i had it happen one time on the road when i first started at teen was not fun now as soon as i feel the front get nutty i push down on the brake do it slow and do not lock it up it goes away been ride'n 26 years and if you like to take off fast just drag/tap on the back brake when you dump your clutch 4/5k rpms...... o i drag race top 1000cc bikes on the weekends just saying dont fear your bike it's a tool for fun/race'n around be safe

You know the video is good when you try to double like it 🤦‍♂️🤣🤣🤣

We got a knock-off Tom Cruise Don Throttle

A good mechanic is very very hard to find