Death Wobble at Top Speed?

[Nimajneb29]

Has anyone else encountered a wobble when riding right at or near the top speed of your 125? I know these bikes aren't speed demons, but i have had it happen a couple times now when driving a sustained 50+ mph for more than a minute. Is it an inherent trait of the suspension? is it because of the unbalanced wheels/tires from the factory? Curious to hear if anyone else has had this issue, and if there's a fix.
I have no problems under 50 mph, i usually cruise at 35-45 mph on my commute.

 

[m in sc]

nope and ive had mine well over 60 a few times but usually ride over or near 50 all the time. verify tire pressures.

 

[Rider]

I think it was SRK Cycles that did a CT125 / ADV150 comparo and one of the riders had a noticeable wobble in the rear wheel and the other guy did not(they were switching bikes periodically). They didn’t really look into why it was happening, but only one of the guys had it happen. FWIW

 

[m in sc]

another thing to note: with all the stuff people hang on these bikes, when you encounter any sort of significant speed the weight distribution and/ or aero will greatly affect how it reacts and handles. I noticed you have bark busters on your bike. that's a lot of surface area on the front. On a bigger bike it may not matter, but on a smaller one it might. Even on larger bikes it can make a huge difference at higher speeds. My concours doesn't like a top box and factory side bags at anything over 80 mph, feels like the rear tire is going flat. Good friend of mine has a 2020 tracer, and with the factory bags, it gets squirrely over 80 as well. (in fairness the owners manual states this).

 

[Rider]

another thing to note: with all the stuff people hang on these bikes, when you encounter any sort of significant speed the weight distribution and/ or aero will greatly affect how it reacts and handles. I noticed you have bark busters on your bike. that's a lot of surface area on the front. On a bigger bike it may not matter, but on a smaller one it might. Even on larger bikes it can make a huge difference at higher speeds. My concours doesn't like a top box and factory side bags at anything over 80 mph, feels like the rear tire is going flat. Good friend of mine has a 2020 tracer, and with the factory bags, it gets squirrely over 80 as well. (in fairness the owners manual states this).

Yeah, the most noteworthy difference between the two riders was that one of them was wearing a windbreaker almost completely unzipped and ballooning out - he had the wobble; the other rider had his jacket zipped up. I am not sure that was it.

 

[m in sc]

well, the rider is technically cargo.

 

[Nimajneb29]

nope and ive had mine well over 60 a few times but usually ride over or near 50 all the time. verify tire pressures.

I’ll do that, I’ll try to have someone balance the wheels as well to see if that helps.

 

[Nimajneb29]

another thing to note: with all the stuff people hang on these bikes, when you encounter any sort of significant speed the weight distribution and/ or aero will greatly affect how it reacts and handles. I noticed you have bark busters on your bike. that's a lot of surface area on the front. On a bigger bike it may not matter, but on a smaller one it might. Even on larger bikes it can make a huge difference at higher speeds. My concours doesn't like a top box and factory side bags at anything over 80 mph, feels like the rear tire is going flat. Good friend of mine has a 2020 tracer, and with the factory bags, it gets squirrely over 80 as well. (in fairness the owners manual states this).

Yeah that may be true, I experienced it a little before the bark busters and more so afterwards. That would be a bummer if it gets worse with more bags; I wanted to put a top box on the back at some point too so I’ll let everyone know what happens then

 

[Nimajneb29]

I think it was SRK Cycles that did a CT125 / ADV150 comparo and one of the riders had a noticeable wobble in the rear wheel and the other guy did not(they were switching bikes periodically). They didn’t really look into why it was happening, but only one of the guys had it happen. FWIW

Can you share a link to that video? I couldn’t find it on YouTube. Thanks!

 

[r80rt]

No wobble with mine.

 

[Rider]

My bad, it was TFL Bikes, and a Super Cub. But if you go to about 9:15 in the video you can see the rear wheel wobbling, and the other guy talks about it a bit.

 

[m in sc]

considering we have the exact same cub, i can assure you its not a design flaw. its the parachute hes wearing and that ridiculous pack on his back, and probably a slight cross wind.

 

[functionoverfashion]

Has anyone else encountered a wobble when riding right at or near the top speed of your 125? I know these bikes aren't speed demons, but i have had it happen a couple times now when driving a sustained 50+ mph for more than a minute. Is it an inherent trait of the suspension? is it because of the unbalanced wheels/tires from the factory? Curious to hear if anyone else has had this issue, and if there's a fix.
I have no problems under 50 mph, i usually cruise at 35-45 mph on my commute.

Are the wheels/tires known to be unbalanced from the factory on these bikes?

 

[dmonkey]

I got the wobble when hitting dips and bumps in the road at speed. I have YSS suspension upgrade parts coming anyways because it's been too easy to bottom out the stock suspension, so will see if that also addresses the speed wobble. On every bike I've owned speed wobble has either been a result of poor suspension or aerodynamics (huge box panniers tend to cause it).

 

[AZ7000']

Whats the over under on 200# for those with said speed wobbles?? I haven't experienced it yet, im 175#, sometimes with my 70# kid on the back.

 

[m in sc]

Im at 207. did about 75 miles yesterday most of it over 50 mph, actually hit 60-62 a few times... no issues and some of the roads were pretty rough. angie was riding along with me on her cub, shes around 125 lbs, same speeds, no issues.

 

[AZ7000']

Cam and pipe work? And sea level to get to those speeds??

 

[m in sc]

of course they work And i'm not at sea level. Wasn't at deals gap back in the summer either, and some rides up to 2800-3200 when i went. Typically there's only a projected 3% hp loss per 1000 feet (est). I'm at roughly 800 (lowest) here. Keep in mind, Angie's cub is dead stock and kept up just fine, they deliver power on the road better, no doubt. Flatland I can maintain 57-58 all day. headwind: 54-55. stock gearing.