Harley wobble-tragedy

[bob deluke]

On Friday, a close personal friend of mine who I have known for 35 years, died in a motorcycle accident on his way home. Phil was an excellent rider, always safe, had the best personal equipment money could buy. He had just picked up a new 2020 Harley and was about 20 minutes from home when the accident occurred. Witnesses said the bike seemed to swerve back and forth went out of control, hit a guard rail and threw the rider. Phil was killed instantly. I have heard of the “Harley wobble” from other bikers and wondered if the brain trust here has any thoughts about it. I don’t ride and don’t know much about bikes, not my thing. He just turned 70, was going to retire this fall. Instead, his funeral is tomorrow. Not looking forward to tomorrow. He was a great person, and I’ll miss him.

[Eric Hahl]

Such a shame, so sorry to hear.

[GH85Carrera]

Sorry for your loss.

[varmint]

Have the bike inspected. Maybe something off with the forks.

[HardDrive]

Perhaps he had a medical emergency?

[vash]

so sorry for the loss. super tragic!!

[masraum]

I've heard of wobble WRT motorcycles, but I thought it was usually something that happened when you were going really fast and either brake or let off. I'm not a bike guy, so maybe the Harley thing is different.

I'm sorry about your friend. My condolences to you and his family.

[gordner]

As I understand it (and have experienced it) it is a resonance thing to do with frequency. So all it takes is the right speed to be attained and held and it can develop. Usually related to low tires or shocks, but some bikes have inherent tank slap ranges that you either stay below or punch through fast.
Whatever the cause, I am sorry for the loss of your friend.

[manbridge 74]

Tough break for sure, my condolences.

My old FZ600 with a 16” front wheel would get the wobble, mainly because I was a dumb kid and put a lower profile tire on which increased the already steep head angle. Best was to ease back on the gas taking weight off and decreasing the angle of the front end. I doubt a bike built in 2020 that was unmodified new would have a wobble. Sounds like something loosened up...

[flatbutt]

Sounds like a tank slapper, all bikes are subject to it not just Harleys. My condolences for your loss.

[Scott Douglas]

So sorry to hear this. Sorry for the loss of your friend.

I experienced a tank slapper once on my V45 Sabre. Very unnerving when it happened but I'd read enough about how to get out of it and did. I'm sure your friend was looking forward to riding when he retired.

[asphaltgambler]

Sorry for your the loss of your friend. Regarding the 'wobble'...……. there is just not enough information from your post to even go down that road. I understand it's all 3rd/4th hand but honestly could have been anything. Depending upon the condition of the bike's front end / wheel attachment post accident - you may never know.

Were there police or traffic cameras in that area that would've captured that?

[Gretch]

buddy who rode for decades drove his bike off the road with his old lady on the back of it.......

in a group of riders.......

target fixation........

didn't kill him but fubar'ed the bike and put them both off riding, permamently.

wobbly can happen if you are looking at where you are going, not at where you want to go..........your brain fights your body and equilibrium and poof.

[Brando]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, my condolences.

I have heard countless stories about HD's "Death Wobble". Some say it has to do with the shift of weight from front to rear during deceleration or braking, something hits the front suspension just right and sets it off. Others say it's and issue with the suspension design of the rear swing-arm and sometimes bad motor mounts. The common thread is speed above 80mph.

Here's a short clip of how it goes, excess of 100mph:


Another at about 120mph:


Finally another showing the rear swing arm bushing issue:

[Jeff Higgins]

What a tragic story, Bob - my deepest condolences to Phil's family.

This alleged "Harley wobble" has been around for literally decades. There have been a number of lawsuits filed by grieving families, all alleging some sort of a "design defect" inherent in specific models of Harleys. As far as I know, none of those suits have ever led anywhere.

In at least a couple of cases of which I am aware, it turned out the motorcycle was loaded improperly, with far too much weight over or behind the rear wheel, leading to an inherently unstable condition. All motorcycle manufacturers, not just Harley, take great pains to caution against this dangerous condition. It can be bad enough even if the tires are properly inflated and the shocks properly aired up for the load, but throw in an under inflated tire and/or shocks and it just gets worse.

Obviously, if he had just picked it up and was on his way home, this is not the case. I only mention it because it is the foundation upon which the "Harley wobble" myth is built. And, like I say, it's been going on for decades. Even across several generations of substantially re-designed motorcycles. So, yeah, too many "experts" like to try to show they "know" something by trotting out this old myth after any such tragedy. It helps no one, of course, but that's just kind of how some folks are.

Again, sorry about your friend. His family may never know what really happened, unless, like others have said, he was experiencing some kind of medical emergency that led to the crash. About fifteen years ago an old riding buddy had a massive heart attack while riding down the freeway and crashed into the median. Autopsy said he was dead long before he crashed...

[sammyg2]

Back in 2006 or 2007 a guy who worked in my shop was on a ride to Laughlin with a bunch of other bikers for the annual event.
He had been riding for many years without issue, but that day he was just riding his road king in a straight line at about 70 on the freeway when it went into a serious front end wobble and threw him off right in front of his friends. He didn't survive.

[sammyg2]

I still have this from my office:

[Evans, Marv]

Very sorry to hear about your friend. I also tend to think he may have had a medical issue. On many old bikes, there was a knob over the front forks to deal with something like this. You could tighten the knob to keep the forks from wobbling so much at speed. My old '59 AJS had one.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Terrible to hear - RIP.

Maintenance on bikes is NOT optional! Not saying that’s necessarily what it was here but even so, a good reminder.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Terrible to hear - RIP.

Maintenance on bikes is NOT optional! Not saying that’s necessarily what it was here but even so, a good reminder.

Absolutely agreed. Far more so than with any car or truck, even approaching aircraft levels of necessity. But, that doesn't appear to have been an issue in this particular case:

Originally Posted by bob deluke

He had just picked up a new 2020 Harley and was about 20 minutes from home when the accident occurred.

This story reminds me of a stress engineer I worked with for many, many years. He took the "golden handshake" and retired when I did, and died literally the next day. Him and his wife were kayaking in the Skagit River. In no more than about a foot of water, with no life jacket on yet, the current swept him downstream, he capsized, got pinned against some rocks and drowned. Totally helpless wife watching the whole thing. Unspeakably tragic, just like this case. He had literally crossed the finish line, and was out celebrating the best way he knew how. Fate can be so very cruel...