Death Wobble Anyone?

MattsQuickE · Sep 28, 2019

I’ve noticed a pronounced death wobble with speeds above 20mph. For the uninitiated, it’s when the handlebars get going back and forth really fast and if left unchecked will exponentially get more wobbly and make you crash.
I was thinking of putting a longer stem or even moving everything over to a bull horn or drop bar style setup.
Anyone else experience this? Don’t think it’s unique to anything I’m doing.
Any thoughts on how to eliminate this would be great.

ride fast.

Tars Tarkas · Sep 29, 2019

Top of my head, sounds like the wheel isn't in the forks right, the tire isn't set right in the wheel or you have some loose spokes.

TT

MattsQuickE · Sep 29, 2019

Tars Tarkas said:
Top of my head, sounds like the wheel isn't in the forks right, the tire isn't set right in the wheel or you have some loose spokes.

TT

Thanks, I’ll double check

Al P · Sep 29, 2019

My Aurora will wobble if I completely let go of the handlebar. I believe it is a step-thru weight distribution issue. So I just don’t let go with both hands.

pocomo · Sep 29, 2019

This is often caused by an excess load bias toward the rear of the bike. Are you carrying a lot on your rear rack? If so, take a test ride without your normal load and see if the onset of the head shake changes. If it does, you could think about mounting a front rack or front panniers to help even out the weight distribution.

MattsQuickE · Sep 29, 2019

JayVee said:
Did you buy a low step?

Sorry, no, I didn’t say. It’s a 2019 quickE

pocomo said:
This is often caused by an excess load bias toward the rear of the bike. Are you carrying a lot on your rear rack? If so, take a test ride without your normal load and see if the onset of the head shake changes. If it does, you could think about mounting a front rack or front panniers to help even out the weight distribution.

This makes complete sense. Thank you!

gorse · Sep 29, 2019

In motorcycling parlance it's called a tank slapper. You can buy dampers to help control it for motorcyles and Hopey used to make them for bikes - http://www.hopey.org/

E-Wheels · Sep 29, 2019

MattsQuickE said:
I’ve noticed a pronounced death wobble with speeds above 20mph. For the uninitiated, it’s when the handlebars get going back and forth really fast and if left unchecked will exponentially get more wobbly and make you crash.
I was thinking of putting a longer stem or even moving everything over to a bull horn or drop bar style setup.
Anyone else experience this? Don’t think it’s unique to anything I’m doing.
Any thoughts on how to eliminate this would be great.

ride fast.

Maybe do some research to see if one of these will help https://www.canecreek.com/product/viscoset/

pocomo · Oct 13, 2019

Hey @MattsQuickE - did you get this straightened out? Just curious.

MattsQuickE · Oct 13, 2019

@pocomo, thanks for asking and your insight. Yes, I upgraded to some ergo grips with small climbing extensions that feel absolutely amazing for my riding style. Super comfy and they add a little weight to the front end, evening out the balance of the bike. I’ve been more conscious of shifting too much of my weight to the back. I’m a pretty heavy rider and I usually have an extra 10-15 lbs on my back so I can’t rely on the bike to be aware of that, if that makes sense, so I just try to be more mindful. Definitely can’t joy ride like on my steel 29er, but the quicke is my moneymaker, so I’m cool with that.
Thanks again for explaining how that works.

ride fast

Feliz · Oct 13, 2019

I get a speed wobble on my eProdigy step through causing me to put it in an out of the way hard to get at place where it will probably never be ridden again. Never had a Giant do that though. It's a crappy design with a lot of frame flex.

Clueless · Dec 20, 2020

my e-fat tire bike death wobbles when I let go both hands while peddling my other fattie doesn’t. So I wonder why.The bikes are different
Cheers

Dallant · Dec 20, 2020