Watch this high speed wobble. Bet this will make you think twice before trying a wheelie
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"What could go wrong? I’ve done it at least a thousand times. I know what I am doing." These are the first things that run trough your head before doing something dangerous with your bike. Then the disaster struck.
Let’s watch the video first
This guy has one life in minus. You can spot a good rider when you see the way he handels his bike and the rider above seems to know what he’s doing. Popping wheelies is not something new for him. If you watch the video closely, you can see the way he modulates the gas while building up the speed. Then things go really ugly.
At 0.26’ he wants to put the front wheel back on the ground. Unfortunately, today is not a good day for landing for our guy. The moment he lands the front the bike starts wobbling violently. Now this is not a thing you want to experience at 250 km/h (155 mph ).
The wobble is common to motorcycle and bikes or any vehicle with a single steering pivot. It's related to the resonance frequency. When the frequency of the front wheel interacts with the frequency of the frame you get the speed wobble. The chances are high to encounter one on smooth roads, but fortunately, it happens rarely.
To counteract the wobbling racing bikes come fitted with steering dampers. A lifesaving piece of engineering. The new bikes have one installed by the manufacturer, but this is not always enough.
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The rider in the video struggles to lose some speed and gets the bike stable again, with no luck. The shaking is too violent, and even the most experienced riders have problems putting the bike back on track. You might need a small miracle to save your bike in situations like this. Always remember if you are a stunt addict that these phenomena may occur and try to fit your bike with a steering damper. Nobody can train for wobbles but you can learn a prayer or two.