Experienced the Death wobble!!

[907Guy]

Experienced the death wobble yesterday on a left hand turn probably doing 70. Pushing it into a left-hand turn, there was a really rough uneven spot in the road.
Seems like it lasted a long time but in reality probably more like eight seconds or so.
Thought I was done for. it started and grow in intensity, I was all over the road, finally subsided and yeah it was scare.
Pressures in my front tires were even at 18 PSI.
May have been pushing it a little bit hard, had no idea this bike would do that.
My perspective has definitely changed on how much I can push the spyder.
Maybe an anti-sway bar would help a bit, but for me it's backer down and take it a little bit easier for sure.
Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Lew L]

.

I got a little shaker a few weeks ago. Going far too fast and got a bit " light " over a rise and slight curve in the road surface. Shook when landing. Didn't last along at all. Nothing like the high speed " death wobble" on my poor, old, slow V-Max when I first got it. Fixed is quickly with the help of a V-Max forum. Steering head adjustment problem.

Lew L

 

[Eckhard]

Pressures in my front tires were even at 18 PSI.

What brand of tires?

 

[spyderdave]

Scary stuff!!! I had that happen decades ago w/ an old Honda 350; wound up launching myself off the back and watching the bike tumble down the street. It took awhile for the asphalt rash to go away; even longer for the memory of it.

My opinion is to get yours to the dealership asap and explain what happened. Ask them to check tie rod ends, the dynamic power steering unit and ask for an alignment; I would think it should all be covered under your warranty. To me, an incident this radical is indicative of something more than tire pressure, balancing loose lug nuts, or sway bar. And if my understanding on the DPS is correct, it should help dampen movement at that speed, not magnify it.

Hope this helps.

 

[RayBJ]

I had that happen on my '20 RT last spring in West Virginia. The RT is laser-aligned, has a BajaRon sway bar, Elka stage 2 shocks and Q5 tires. Was going very fast (70+) on a un-divided 4-lane highway in a left sweeper and hit a rough spot. The RT went into what I'd call a tank-slapper type wobble. It lasted for about 100 yards and pushed me over the center line into the on-coming lanes before I settled it down. Luckily, there was no traffic coming towards me or I'd have been history. Hasn't happened since and my riding style hasn't changed. I wrote it off as 's**t happens.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Experienced the death wobble yesterday on a left hand turn probably doing 70. Pushing it into a left-hand turn, there was a really rough uneven spot in the road.
Seems like it lasted a long time but in reality probably more like eight seconds or so.
Thought I was done for. it started and grow in intensity, I was all over the road, finally subsided and yeah it was scare.
Pressures in my front tires were even at 18 PSI.
May have been pushing it a little bit hard, had no idea this bike would do that.
My perspective has definitely changed on how much I can push the spyder.
Maybe an anti-sway bar would help a bit, but for me it's backer down and take it a little bit easier for sure.
Has anyone else experienced this?

This sounds Bizarre to me ( 3 spyders 100,000 + miles ) and have NEVER experienced anything even close to this. .... Decades ago I had a G.W. and experienced this .... but it was caused by a FLAT tire on the rear :gaah: .... you are a Newbie here and I think this may be factor in what you experienced..... Lots of possibilities come to mind, however they are all PARTS failure re-lated .... Which would not SELF Repair itself..... 8 seconds is a hugh amount of time, so road surface condition isn't likely either. I doubt the Dealer is going to find anything .... UNLESS they hook it up to BUDS and see what was recorded .... If they say BUDS doesn't tell them anything, that's BS, anything that occurs to your Spyder is recorded in the Computer system - FOREVER ..... A long time ago, I had issues with the Paddle shifter on my RSS, and three trips to the Dealer and couldn't identify or even find the glitch :yikes: .... At Spyderfest 14 a BRP Tech examined my problem, He found it .... ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND 247 more recorded incidents that were filed in the COMPUTER .... I then had the Dealer - TECH who couldn't find it contact the BRP Tech who did ..... My Paddle shifter was then re-placed under warranty ..... good luck .... Mike :thumbup:

 

[RayBJ]

"This sounds Bizarre to me"

May be bizarre but I have 4 guys that saw what happened that can testify to the event. All machines have limits and I found one.

 

[907Guy]

What brand of tires?

Stock, only 4200 miles on bike

 

[bigbadbrucie]

Interesting thread....don’t see ANY reference to weather conditions (I hope that I didn’t miss them). I had the same thing happen to me on a trip 4 years ago. In my case, it was EASY to figure out what happened....my RTS started to hydroplane. In my case it was raining. Was the highway/road surface in your case wet? The rough road surface made MY tires lose traction and opened the door for hydroplaning. just another thought to ponder.

 

[Tonylmiller]

What was the speed limit where you were doing 70 mph?

 

[907Guy]

Truth be told, both tires were at 15psi cold this morning, at sea level because that's were I am. Two days ago when I checked them cold at 5500 ft they were 18psi. So maybe low pressure had something to do with what I experienced.

 

[907Guy]

What was the speed limit where you were doing 70 mph?

55, But not really sure I was doing 70 because I don't really look down at the sponometer when I'm in the curves and in the zone.
Pay more attention to the road, revs and gears.
Yeah I admit I was driving a little sporty!

 

[907Guy]

Interesting thread....don’t see ANY reference to weather conditions (I hope that I didn’t miss them). I had the same thing happen to me on a trip 4 years ago. In my case, it was EASY to figure out what happened....my RTS started to hydroplane. In my case it was raining. Was the highway/road surface in your case wet? The rough road surface made MY tires lose traction and opened the door for hydroplaning. just another thought to ponder.

Road surface was dry it was just a really rough and uneven.
What I'm discovering is 3 wheels is a unique configuration in itself.

 

[BertRemington]

Spyder suspension is a bit of a noodle

PMK said it best -- the Spyder suspension is a bit of a noodle.

Car tires and aftermarket shocks will help. Perhaps some extra toe-in. I looked into urethane A-arm bushings. Maybe there's parts crossover from the snowmobile side of the house but I didn't have the contacts to pursue it.

I suggest you PM PMK and see what he suggests.

 

[RayBJ]

The WV thrill-ride road was dry and generally flat, except when I hit the bump that threw the RT into wobbling. Speed limit was 65, I may have been flying too low.

 

[BajaRon]

All new to me. I've ridden my 08 GS about as hard as I think it can be ridden. Of course it's nothing like the late models. But I have never heard of this happening before today. Must have been missing it.

 

[RayBJ]

Trust me when I tell you it scared the crap out of me. That's what happens when you chase your spirited 2-wheeled sport-touring pals on 3 wheels I guess.

 

[redrazor]

:yikes: YIKES!! A flat tire on the rear will definitely do that. It happened to me on the freeway with a slow leak. Wobble started out mild; but kept getting worse on a straight smooth road!?!? When I pulled over the rear tire was completely flat. Turns out that the 90 degree rear stem extension had unscrewed itself and slowly let the air escape. Glad I had my HD air compressor to plug in and fill up with the retightened valve in the stem. :cheers:

 

[Raven]

Ok I will be the first to admit that I don't know squat about Spyders.
But when the bike got light on the rough road, maybe the electronics kicked in.
I know on most two wheelers, when this happens it is because the rider is trying to correct and is out of sink with the bike.

 

[Peteoz]

PMK said it best -- the Spyder suspension is a bit of a noodle.

Car tires and aftermarket shocks will help. Perhaps some extra toe-in. I looked into urethane A-arm bushings. Maybe there's parts crossover from the snowmobile side of the house but I didn't have the contacts to pursue it.

I suggest you PM PMK and see what he suggests.

Ray’s wobble occurred on a Spyder WITH car tires, Elkas, stabiliser bar and laser alignment though, Bert.:dontknow: