How does a “tank slapper” occur? Why wouldn’t a motorcycle simply fall over instead of having the wheel wobble from side to side?
In: Engineering
A motorcycle wants to go straight. It will naturally correct its course by going to opposite the direction that would cause it to fall over.
So if there is sudden traction with the handlebar turning to the left, the bike will lean the opposite direction, which will inevitably turn the handle bar far right to counter. Which, inevitably makes the bike fall to the left, which then will jerk the handlebar far to the left.
This occurs if coming down from a wheelie and the front wheel was turned to one side. This also occurs if the front wheel hit a pothole or a bump while turned.
Usually a tank slapper will resolve if you speed up the bike.
The wrong move to do, as a rider, is to try to counter the tank slapping by trying to hold on to the handlebar harder. This will transmit the oscillation to the rider, which will transmit the oscillation to the body of the bike, further causing instability and ultimately a crash.
A bike, when encountering a tank slapper, will generally resolve itself if the rider relax on the handlebar, and speeding up. If speeding up is not feasible, then, letting go of the handle bar completely can resolve the tank slapper.
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