Anyone ever have a tank slapper?

[Ruggybuggy]

I have a Scott's steering stabilizer that came of my DL650 and trying to decide if the FZ6 needs it. I experienced a tank slapper once about 10 years ago and since I've used a steering stabilizer. I've had the FZ6 up to speed and it does feel stable.

 

[CanadianFZ6]

I have a Scott's steering stabilizer that came of my DL650 and trying to decide if the FZ6 needs it. I experienced a tank slapper once about 10 years ago and since I've used a steering stabilizer. I've had the FZ6 up to speed and it does feel stable.

I have never had a tankslapper period.... which obviously includes the FZ6... which is a pretty stable bike anyway...

 

[Randomchaos]

I have heard that the Rake and trail on the FZ6 along with the wheelbase make it a very stable bike. Haven't heard of many tank slappers on it.

 

[QwickFliCk]

yes it was on my first bike 98 ninja 250....going to the beach hit a decent size pot hole on the highway at 70-80mph.

i called scotts and they dont make a mount for the fz6 let me know how ur goin to mount that bc i can get pretty good deals on those types of dampers and i want one

 

[FloppyRunner]

Pardon the stupid question, but by "tank slapper" do people mean when one's handlebars oscillate back in forth, usually resulting in you being thrown from your bike? Or do they just mean where the handlebars get thrashed violently to one side? Or something else?

 

[2Fast2Live2Young2Die]

Never had one but i've seen one, thought for sure my buddy was going down but he ended up saving it.

 

[outasight20]

Had one on my FZ6 when the front came up after gunning it in 1st gear. It stabilized itself I just stayed loose on the bars but man that was scary.

 

[chomorro]

I had one on the FZ only going about 15 mph turning onto the on ramp to the freeway.......... Still not sure what happened. I take that same turn everyday. That particular day i must have hit some funky grooves in the pavement. My bars thrashed violently left to right full lock about 4 times while i was holding onto it. I let off the gas and recovered without a fall but in hindsight i think if i had just let loose on the bars it would have corrected itself.


Dont know what happened but i dont ever want to feel it again LOL. My new bike has an oem steering stablilizer but i just installed a scotts to go with it and i have to say i feel so much more stable i might not ever ride without one. Even if its just in my head, i like the feeling

 

[CanadianFZ6]

Pardon the stupid question, but by "tank slapper" do people mean when one's handlebars oscillate back in forth, usually resulting in you being thrown from your bike? Or do they just mean where the handlebars get thrashed violently to one side? Or something else?

Yep, that's a tank slapper... Can result in a crash or sometimes you can recover... The oscillating part is correct, though...

 

[Willard]

I had a violent tank slapper on my KLR650. I was about 75kms out of Goose Bay on the Labrador Highway. Crashed the bike and separated my shoulder. Don't want to do that again! I have a Scotts damper on my V-Strom but never felt that the FZ6 needed one.

 

[Norbert]

i have.
bald tires.
dumb rider (me).

 

[banjoboy]

I've had some head shake on the FZ6 rip'in goat trails, ('think I need ta check mah steering head bearings?) but not a real "tank slapper" like this[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFcTi_qx6p8"]IOM_TT[/ame]

With head shake, you just get the bars violently flicking back 'n forth, usually brought on by a bump, but if you relax and don't fight it, it'll go away when the energy of said bump is gone.

With a real tank slapper, (As above) you have the motor exceeding the ability of a flimsy chassis, or other mechanical failure, and the whole bike wobbles outta control; nearly impossible to recover from.
The FZ6 is purdie stable and not in need of a steering damper.
Kawasakis from the '70s and that Honda 900 Fireblade were notorious for tank slappers; I believe this is a Honda 900 in the video.

 

[PhotoAl]

Never had one and hope that continues. The FZ6 will move around some when it hits bumps and when the front is setting back down under hard acceleration. Like a hard first second shift will pull the front up a several inches to a foot but don't fight it and it goes away and has never been violent. Interested in what has set off the head shake that others have experienced - so I can hopefully avoid.

 

[dxh24]

Not on the road bike...
Plenty of times on my MX bikes... my KX125 rockon:2stroke :rockon used to do it quite a bit, got used to it lol.

The Yz426f i've only had it happen twice, wrecked once, saved it the second time... nasty buggers if you're not anticipating it!

 

[Ruggybuggy]

Vstroms were prone to tank slappers when you loaded up the back racks, installed a touring screen and run up to 80mph +. I'm setting up the FZ for touring and trying to keep myself out of trouble.

 

[FinalImpact]

Last summer goin down real steep hill i had a pain in my arm so we were hands free for a 6~8secs or more. I was engine braking with no contact on the bars at about 60mph going straight. Anyway the nose got all flim flam bars going back and forth. The time it took to grab the bars it was near gown. Applied a gently grasp and it dissipated. Not a tank slapper but a good wobble at the nose with a constant oscillation. There was a dusting of sand looking stuff strewn from road patch work but nothing funny about the surface.

I think the lower the nose gets the MORE likely it is to happen. But as others have said, hard on the gas and nose gets real light and shaky too! Haven't seen it since and not with the R6 forks this year.

 

[NIN]

On the IOM clip above I read a few years ago that his rear shock actually snapped, which is why he couldn't recover....

 

[Ransom]

The combination of a bad shift from 1st to 2nd, revving too high, and shifting while in a turn spun out my back tire. :spank: Once my tire stopped spinning and gripped the road it caused a huge tank slapper. Somehow I was able to keep her up on two wheels. The only thing I can think is that I must have stayed loose. My left hand was whipped off the handle and slammed into the tank(guess that is how it got it's name), making my wrist swollen up for 2 days.

In short yes over a year ago I had a tanks slapper on the FZ6. Those it may be rare that it will happen, you can never be too careful.

 

[Humperdinkel]

Yep , twice on the FZ

1st was only a little one early in the morning heading to work having some fun on cold tyres.... The 2nd was HUGE all the Bris Fizz boys saw that one & all thought I was getting bucked off until I managed to pop the front wheel in the air & get it settled :rockon: That was due to being a little quick through road works & spinning the rear up on a little bit of loose gravel....

Neither were the FZ6's fault , I reckon any bike would have done the same thing :thumbup:

 

[aid-90]

I only ever experienced a tank slapper once! i was nearly touching cloth :BLAA:

I was driving to my gf in icy weather, the roads near my house were pretty bad, when you get to the main road (2miles away) everything is fine (normally)
I was driving slowly until i got to the main road, only doing about 20mph. i was about 500m away from the main road which is salted. i hit a patch of black ice which would normally be fine provided you drive steadily.
Suddenly the bars started swaying back and forth uncontrollably. my rear wheel slid out at a 90 degree angle while i was still going forward. as suddenly as it started the bike corrected itself :rockon:
i kept driving steadily but was really shaken up as there was a car close behind me while this happened :Flash:

For what its worth I think 95% of the time a steering damper isnt needed for the fz6 although if you come across 1 for a decent price new or second hand go for it :thumbup: :thumbup: