Weave & Wobble

Anyone here up for a game chicken or motorhead roulette?  Old school chicken was kinda' like a pistol duel...except on motorbikes.  One idiot would be on one end of the street.  Since it takes two to wango tango, another idiot would be facing the first idiot....all the way down on the opposite end of the street.  The longer the street, the more intense the dual was.  Once the signal was given, the two riders would twist wide open on the throttle and head towards each other.  The dude who braked, let off on the throttle or veered out of the flight path of the other bike first, was the loser.  (Both were losers to begin with.  I can say idiots with all authority endowed, because I have tried it a few times.  Here is a tip;  Make sure your opponent knows left from right...then tell him that when the time comes to veer out of your way, to veer right and right only!)

Modern day chicken is a little more tame, and probably something you all have done.  Modern day chicken is simply finding a good, long road that is straight, smooth, void of debris and the law.  The object is simple;  Start and one end of that road and run it with the throttle wide open until your motorbike just won't go any faster, or until you hit the rev limiter.  The rider with the top speed wins.  This doesn't sound all that dangerous unless you factor in Weave and Wobble. 

I have encountered weave and wobble many, many times.  I have always thought it has something to do with the way the rear tire tracks the front tire, or a misalignment of the two.  I also thought it might be bad bushings on the rear swingarm.  It might also be due to imperfections in the road...which is sometimes the case when you have those rain grooves in the pavement.  In most situations, it's none of those culprits I found out...even though, logically, all my theories would certainly contribute to my pony bucking.  As it turns out, every bike out there has this problem.  I have hit this weave at 50mph as well as 125+mph.  If you hit this phenomenon, you can be almost certain one of three things will happen;  You will crash and burn....or, you will shit yourself....or, you will make it out of it AND shit yourself...maybe even throw up on the side of the road. (which was my case when it happened at 115mph)

WillyD and I were out playing chicken together on a deserted road outside of town awhile ago.  He was putting his new ElectraGlide to the test to see how it handled.  He was sitting up, and I was hunched down behind my bat fairing to facilitate minimum wind resistance.  I wanted to win.  Suddenly, Willy's bike started to buck and weave violently...Hell yeah!  I fucking win!  Whooooo hooooo...  WillyD, he wasn't so happy.  I could tell he was more than unsettled about wobble and weave. (He never admitted to shitting himself...so I'll never know.)

He did some research and I did mine.  There were all sorts of explanations for this, but none could be proven beyond doubt.  Then WillyD dug up this video he found on the e-net.  It might seem kinda' hokey, and slow at first, BUT I URGE EVERY ONE OF YOU TO WATCH THIS IN IT'S ENTIRETY.  IT JUST MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE AND THE MORE YOU KNOW ABOUT THE MOTORBIKE, THE BETTER OFF YOU ARE GOING TO BE, BECAUSE I KNOW MORE THAN ONE OF YOU LIKE TO RIP IT OFF OVER 85 MPH.

(Ok, if you must, you can skip to forward to 4 minutes into the video if you just want to get to the weave and wobble section.)



The video has clued me into some things regarding my Street Glide and has helped my planning and thoughts regarding long haul gear load outs.  It has also made me pay closer attention to tire pressure as well.  So now that you know what to do in the case of weave...who wants to play chicken! (errrrrr...unless, of course,  your bike goes faster than 110mph...that's the fastest Tramp will haul before it hits the factory rev limiter...pfffftt.)