So, earlier in the week,the weather finally reached comfort level (50-some degrees) and my son and I head out for the 1st real ride of the season. As usual, i'm riding point on my chopper, he's riding tail on his 20' blue Macargi. As you can see in the pic, the spring has been completely removed from the springer for maximum lowering.
He rode around like that all last fall, but doesnt recall feeling anything weird as far as handling issues.
Anyway, our return trips home always involve coasting down a fairly substantial hill, I cant locate any firm numbers regarding elevation or length, but I estimate it at roughly 7 to 8 stories tall and 1/8 to 1/4 mile long.
About 1/4 the way down when I spun my hat backwards (aerodynamics :wink: ) he was right behind me.
When I got to the bottom and had to brake for a red light, I turned to speak to him, he wasn't there. I looked around, figuring he possibly had to brake to allow for pedestrians or a car, I couldnt see him anywhere.
Then I looked wayyy back up the hill at the right turn lane, and saw a black blob not moving at the side of the road.
I tell you, despite being an out of shape middle aged smoker on a single speed overweight chopper, I got back up that hill pretty frikkin fast!!
Thankfully, he is basically ok, some decent road rash on both arm and leg, and a stretched shoulder ligament.
He says about 1/2 way down, the front end went into a speed wobble, which worsened as his speed increased. When he tried to brake, the bike reacted violently, which ended up tossing the front wheel all the way to the left.(into traffic) He then felt his best option was to lock up the back brake, steer right(away from traffic) and try to skid it to a stop. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens when skidding, the tires hooked, which flipped him sideways.
He figures he skidded on his side the entire length of the turn bay.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...d=113968679613716985170.00000111deb536ad558ec
{for reference, the point marked "A" on the map is where the hill actually starts, pretty gentle drop at first, its when you get to the 2nd bus stop icon that the drop really comes on}
I've gone over the bike, the forks still seem square, the rim and tire seem nicely straight and well balanced, handlebars and stem are lined up with the front tire, the works. I figure I was rolling about 25-30 mph, so his speed should have been somewhat less, maybe 20-25mph. I've been down that same hill on my orange krate (with spring) and dont recall any signifigant issues.
What would cause such a speed wobble to occurr? Anyone else with lowrider/springer experience got a handle on this?
Rick
He rode around like that all last fall, but doesnt recall feeling anything weird as far as handling issues.
Anyway, our return trips home always involve coasting down a fairly substantial hill, I cant locate any firm numbers regarding elevation or length, but I estimate it at roughly 7 to 8 stories tall and 1/8 to 1/4 mile long.
About 1/4 the way down when I spun my hat backwards (aerodynamics :wink: ) he was right behind me.
When I got to the bottom and had to brake for a red light, I turned to speak to him, he wasn't there. I looked around, figuring he possibly had to brake to allow for pedestrians or a car, I couldnt see him anywhere.
Then I looked wayyy back up the hill at the right turn lane, and saw a black blob not moving at the side of the road.
I tell you, despite being an out of shape middle aged smoker on a single speed overweight chopper, I got back up that hill pretty frikkin fast!!
Thankfully, he is basically ok, some decent road rash on both arm and leg, and a stretched shoulder ligament.
He says about 1/2 way down, the front end went into a speed wobble, which worsened as his speed increased. When he tried to brake, the bike reacted violently, which ended up tossing the front wheel all the way to the left.(into traffic) He then felt his best option was to lock up the back brake, steer right(away from traffic) and try to skid it to a stop. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens when skidding, the tires hooked, which flipped him sideways.
He figures he skidded on his side the entire length of the turn bay.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...d=113968679613716985170.00000111deb536ad558ec
{for reference, the point marked "A" on the map is where the hill actually starts, pretty gentle drop at first, its when you get to the 2nd bus stop icon that the drop really comes on}
I've gone over the bike, the forks still seem square, the rim and tire seem nicely straight and well balanced, handlebars and stem are lined up with the front tire, the works. I figure I was rolling about 25-30 mph, so his speed should have been somewhat less, maybe 20-25mph. I've been down that same hill on my orange krate (with spring) and dont recall any signifigant issues.
What would cause such a speed wobble to occurr? Anyone else with lowrider/springer experience got a handle on this?
Rick