Tank Slapper?

Question

How do you get out of it or can you?

Answer 1

Well those guys were certainly helpful.
In a true "tank slapper", the best thing to do is apply rear brake, which stands the bike up and removes the pressure from the front wheel, allowing you to regain control.
The trouble is that tank slappers happen so darn fast, it can be almost impossible to react at all, much less properly. And not necessarily at high speed, either.
I had a tank slapper at 15 mph turning into a gas station. There was a layer of fine sand on top of the concrete apron into the station's pump island. I was in a 10-15% lean, and the front wheel slid out on the sand. I yanked it back, and it over-corrected, the bars oscillating from lock to lock. I started to high-side, and then stomped the rear brake. I came out of it with nothing worse that the shakes for the next 15 minutes ... not something I'd care to repeat.
Anyway, if you have the possession and reflexes, use your rear brake and you may come out of it. ABS helps.
Good luck!

Answer 2

A "tank slapper" can be caused by a high side slide, which will be almost impossible to correct because the bike changes directions very quickly, too quickly for an ape who bench presses 500 lbs to stop.
A tank slapper in a straight line is easy to control, by either : a) throttle up to lift the front end and stabilize it, or get off the throttle and very gently feather the rear brake to stabilize the unsprung weight, it also helps if you lift your rear end off the seat a little by standing on the pegs.

Answer 3

Depends on how it started, and at what speed.

Only way I can think of is to grip the tank with your knees, loosen your arms up to keep from getting tossed off, and EASE the throttle off. Oh yeah. Pray. Praying is key.

If it's just a shimmy that started cos you ran over a rock, keeping the throttle set and good body posture should allow it to correct itself. But a real honest-to-god tankslapper is probably gonna end badly...

... of course, there's probably something about the bike that should have been fixed or adjusted to keep it from happening.. and no I don't mean putting on a steering dampener... that's just a band-aid. I mean tire pressure, suspension settings, fork oil, bearings etc etc etc.

Then again, some bikes have such radical rake/trail numbers (in the interests of fast and nimble cornering) that they go into a 'slapper if you look at them crosseyed. Those ones pretty much need a dampener.

Answer 4

On a motorbike, when the front wheel loses proper contact with the road surface because of baldness, too high a speed or a mechanical fault, the handlebars (could) bang against the side of the tank - hence tank-slapper.

Answer 5

you need to find out why it happened in the first place. check tyre pressures and tread depth/type/size. if you have enough power you can accellerate out. If not, rear brake to load some weight onto front wheel. automatic reaction is to fight it which makes you overcompensate and make things worse. you have to relax a bit and go with the movement for a few seconds. You also ned to check steering bearings, wheel bearings and swing arm pivot bearings as any of these things can make life more difficult. It would help if you old us what bike it was as most have a slight instability a some road speed/condition (usually so fast it wont happen)

Answer 6

the best thing you can do is TRY(operative word here) your hardest to let go.. not entirely but jus enough so that u still have control of the handlebars or clipons depending on what u ride and let the bike settle itself. The problem being that when this happens our natural reaction is to HANG ON FOR DEAR LIFE....
we tighten our grip which only makes the shake worse. Your stiff arms going against the force coming from the front tire riding over Whatever started this shake in the 1st place. Add that to the ensuing shake from the clipons.. it can be a disaster if u react too fast.....When it happens to me, I simply TRY to calm down,,,,slightly loosen my grip , apply a little rear brake, NO FRONT, and ride it out

Answer 7

a really violent proper tankslapper is impossible, the bars shake from lock to lock very very fast, your hands are thrown off the bars, usually at speed. You are up the road.

Happened to me at 100+mph

Answer 8

half skill half luck i was going over 100 when it happened to me didn't wreck but i will never forget it a steering stabilizer would help it not to do it again

Answer 9

if you got ape hangers you are done. thats why I use drag bars. just lock my arms straight and hang on.Of course it helps that I can benchpress over 500 pounds.

Answer 10

CRANK THROTTLE WFO! WHEN IN DOUBT GAS IT !