I can’t go OEM since Yamaha never made stabilizers for the first Gen that I am aware of. I’m going to have to find a good high quality aftermarket stabilizer.

I guess it was meant to happen. I told my friend who sold me the R1 about it (since moving we have kinda fallen out of touch) and wound up negotiating a sweet deal on a 2003 CBR600RR that he’s had for a while.

I’m gonna be grabbing a stabilizer and piecing together a stunt bike.

Glad you are in one piece and not a stain on the road.
Had one and one only out in Salt Lake City on my Z1000. Scared the shit out of me.
As others mentioned, have the bike checked out and get a steering stabilizer.

Had that happen on an early gen R6. The old adage "When in doubt, throttle out" saved my ass for sure.

Glad that you are okay.

Glad you got out of it unhurt. Had a very short instance of wobble years and years ago. Scared the crap out of me.

The brittle boned easily bruised old me would sell that today. Too many good bikes out there that don’t have that tendency. You seem to own them too. I could never trust that bike again, just me.

I had a 2001 R6 that was prone to have a front shake when going after it aggressively. It is counter intuitive to gas your way out it. Those that let off the gas, or try to fight it usually end up in a full blown tank slapper and a high side slam to the pavement. I did install a stabilizer, which added a ton of confidence but it was no replacement for proper technique and experience.

I’ve had front end wobble, I’ve successfully drifted a bike through a turn (not by choice), and I’ve gone down on a bike. Thankfully my one time kissing the pavement was a relatively slow speed low side with no oncoming traffic. Lost the back end in a turn and grabbed a little too much throttle on cold tires.

I had this happen on my BMW as well about 20 years ago, it actually did it 3 times on one ride but never again. I had no idea what it was or what caused it. Stopped as quick as it started. I was in very heavy fast traffic so I had no choice but to get on the throttle. Once I got out of the traffic I could literally hardly ride, scared me that bad.

quote:

Originally posted by greco:
I’ve had it happen several times on various bikes. It is disconcerting at best. Last time was on a friends custom Gold Wing. He later lost it and his life on it near Las Vegas doing about 120 mph I also had it occur on a BMW and my Norton Commando. At that time, everyone I knew added a hydraulic steering damper to their bike and it seemed to help. I would add one if my bike didn’t come equipped with it. But I’m just repeating what everyone else said. It seems tire air pressure was a factor too.

Lots of things contribute to causing the slappers from design flaws to mechanical, weight distribution, tire pressure, road surface.

Glad you got through it

Check the neck bearing preload, be sure it's correct, tire pressure and alignment, and get the steering stabilizer installed.

It honestly started and stopped so quickly I had hardly any time to react other than to hold on tight.

The R1 is grounded and will not be ridden until I get a quality steering stabilizer installed and the bike is looked over by a professional.

Glad to hear you are OK!!!!! As others have said.....Steering Damper!

Happened to me once when I was much younger. Owned a GPz1100 when I was younger and dumber. One day I wanted to see how fast it would go on the highway. Found a freshly paved 3 lane highway with no traffic so off I went. Got up to 150mph on the speedo (probably more like 135-140 real speed) when the stripped lines started looking more solid. Was all full of myself for going that fast then cracked off the throttle....too fast. Handlebars immediately started with severe headshake. I was too terrified to throttle up so I held on for dear life. It stopped headshaking within a bit, maybe a couple to few seconds. During that time I was convinced they would have to scrape me off the pavement. That was the last time I ever rode a dirt bike or street bike without a damper and it was also the last time I felt the need to go that fast on a bike.

My only experience on an R1 was at the muffler shop. Was bringing my dads 1962 corvette in to have the exhaust massaged. The guy rode an R1 and offered to let me ride while he worked on the car. Of course I went for a ride. Spent most of the time wondering why it didn't seem to have much acceleration. Then I went wide open from a stop light and as the bike almost wheelied right out of my hands I realized that a 2 stroke has quite a big hit over 3000-3500 rpms. Damn near wrecked the guys bike were it not for my strong hands and arms

Yeah man. The long stroke first gens are anemic in the low rpms with no power and little torque to be had as well but once it gets north of 6,000 rpm the engine begins to wake up and it goes from docile to absolutely mental in the blink of an eye. It just begs to be revved. My R1 damn near punted me on my first ride, I had just finished replacing the rear sets (and other odds and ends) that got ripped off when it punted it’s previous owner and I got on the throttle hard then the front end lifted much faster than I was expecting. It was wild.

I had a high speed steering wobble on my 2014 HD Low Rider after I mounted a windshield. Cause was loose steering head bearings.....after I had paid for a 1K check.

I adjusted them myself. A bit tighter is better than a bit loose.

A buddy of mine worked in the parts department at a dealership in 1998. He told me that they sold quite a few parts to people with R1s and ZX-9Rs because they flipped them over on themselves. Both were new, substantially lighter (close to 100lbs as I recall) and more powerful than the bikes they replaced. Neither had Nanny aids.

Hey Stickman - I just found that they had video of your incident!






Steven Odendaal's unbelievable FP3 save! | Moto2™#CzechGP 2019

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
It honestly started and stopped so quickly I had hardly any time to react other than to hold on tight.

The R1 is grounded and will not be ridden until I get a quality steering stabilizer installed and the bike is looked over by a professional.

Be careful stickman, you never know if the stabilizers work until they don't. Go very easy and don't get hurt.