Couple of Questions; Pullbacks, Tank Slappers and an Observation

thuban

Horse Scratcher
Top Contributor
XS650.com Supporter
Messages
1,035
Reaction score
3,380
Points
263
Location
Paris, Texas
First, does any one have a bike wearing a set of XS650 "Special" Stock Pullback Type Handlebars from Mikesxs # 25-1082?
29 inches on the overall with 13 inches pullback? 13 inches sounds like a lot?

Second,
- Anyone ever have a new bike, just out of break-in, and have it develop a Tank Slap?
- How about anyone ever have a hard-tail bike that did the Harley Shuffle?
_Anyone with a drive shaft bike ever have a tank slapper?

I have heard gillions of reasons that may, might, could be, responsible for Tank Slapping. Without getting into the science of it, using the KISS method...your sure you fixed it how?

Thanks
Thu.
 
I’ve never been involved in a full on tank slapper ( thank God! ). But I did have a brand new Triumph that had a front end shimmy , right off the showroom floor. The dealer couldn’t figure out. I replaced the front tire and cured it.
Took a whole lot of bitching on my part to get Triumph to reimburse me. The old front tire had a slight side to side deflection in it.
 
29 inches on the overall with 13 inches pullback? 13 inches sounds like a lot?
Just checked my stock 80SG pullbacks. Looks like about the same dimensions. Near as I can tell, pullback is 'tween 12 and 13"

Never had a full on tank slapper. Plenty of high speed wobbles though. In almost all cases cured by new swingarm bushings or head bearings.
 
Mailman-
"Took a whole lot of bitching on my part to get Triumph to reimburse me."

Hahaha I bet it did. I gotta be honest. I'm saving my observation for later. But I will say when the Kaw Mech ask me if it felt like it was in the front end or the back end, I said I don't F-in know! I was busy fighting for my life!
 
Swingarm bush, head bearings, bad tire, rear wheel not aligned properly, loose spokes, uneven damping from badly maintained forks, lots of things can cause it. I've had it happen on a ducati, leaned over and hit a bump just right avoiding a car that didn't yield, stood it up fanned the clutch and once the front wheel came up no more wobble. Still scared the crap outa me.
 
Just checked my stock 80SG pullbacks. Looks like about the same dimensions. Near as I can tell, pullback is 'tween 12 and 13"

Never had a full on tank slapper. Plenty of high speed wobbles though. In almost all cases cured by new swingarm bushings or head bearings.

Jim, the bars on my bike are overall 24 inches, and pulled back 10 inches. That 24 inches makes the bike feel more top heavy than it really is, ground handling, not when riding.

Tank slapping, I think your right on!
thu
 
First, does any one have a bike wearing a set of XS650 "Special" Stock Pullback Type Handlebars from Mikesxs # 25-1082?
29 inches on the overall with 13 inches pullback? 13 inches sounds like a lot?
Second,
- Anyone ever have a new bike, just out of break-in, and have it develop a Tank Slap?
- How about anyone ever have a hard-tail bike that did the Harley Shuffle?
_Anyone with a drive shaft bike ever have a tank slapper?
I have heard gillions of reasons that may, might, could be, responsible for Tank Slapping. Without getting into the science of it, using the KISS method...your sure you fixed it how?
Thanks
Thu.

Hi thu,
I bought my '84 Heritage Special NOS in '86. It was wearing the stock pullbacks for the test ride and the ride home.
Swapped them out right away for various different 'bars, ended up with black chrome Honda CB750 bars end-filled with a lead shot/cold hardening rubber slurry.
Had several rigid frame bikes but they were pre-WW2 and came that way and WTF is a Harley Shuffle?
Never had tank-slapper on a solo bike. Several on various sidecar rigs including my XS11 shaftie rig. My never-failing fix, tightening the headraces until the problem went away and then adding a hydraulic steering damper.
 
Last edited:
- Anyone ever have a new bike, just out of break-in, and have it develop a Tank Slap?
I had a minor one that almost threw me off during my MSF final test. Can't remember the details of it. It was a new-ish Honda 125. If you crash for any reason, you fail :)

Had another minor one once and only once on my '81 XS w/ CB 750 bars, during emergency braking. Did lots of emergency braking practice and never had one though. Bike was in good shape, no explanation. What are you trying to figure out? Did you have one with the bars you mention?
 
If you haven't done so, you need to replace, or at least service your steering bearings. Chances are very good though that they're shot and need replacing. On that bike I rode with the buckhorn bars, once I discovered the bearings were bad and tore into them, they turned out to be the worst bearings I've ever run across. They were all dried out and rusty. Thing is, I couldn't feel any of that with those "bozo" bars on there. It took changing to lower bars to be able to feel the bad bearing issue.
 
I had a minor one that almost threw me off during my MSF final test. Can't remember the details of it. It was a new-ish Honda 125. If you crash for any reason, you fail :)

Had another minor one once and only once on my '81 XS w/ CB 750 bars, during emergency braking. Did lots of emergency braking practice and never had one though. Bike was in good shape, no explanation. What are you trying to figure out? Did you have one with the bars you mention?

Yep, I hear you! " ...trying to figure out? " No, No.:) And the bars are a separate thing. I'm thinking, betting, no hard tails are tank slappers. I doubt any drive shaft bikes are either? But with all the riders here, experienced riders, I thought it was a good place to ask the questions. I read that some of these early bikes had wobbles, maybe for one reason or the other. I have about 40 miles on this build and the second thing I did after all the prelim checks was to try and git it to want to kill me! hahaha. I couldn't induce it to tank slap or wobble at 40 ish on straight level road and I was really twisting on it. Thanks for the input, xjwmx.
Thu
 
If you haven't done so, you need to replace, or at least service your steering bearings. Chances are very good though that they're shot and need replacing. On that bike I rode with the buckhorn bars, once I discovered the bearings were bad and tore into them, they turned out to be the worst bearings I've ever run across. They were all dried out and rusty. Thing is, I couldn't feel any of that with those "bozo" bars on there. It took changing to lower bars to be able to feel the bad bearing issue.

5Twins, Yep, put in the needle bearings on the build up when I changed out the bent tree.
 
If you haven't done so, you need to replace, or at least service your steering bearings. Chances are very good though that they're shot and need replacing. On that bike I rode with the buckhorn bars, once I discovered the bearings were bad and tore into them, they turned out to be the worst bearings I've ever run across. They were all dried out and rusty. Thing is, I couldn't feel any of that with those "bozo" bars on there. It took changing to lower bars to be able to feel the bad bearing issue.

5Twins. Nope, Ground up build, head taper bearings and everything. This bike feels rock solid, at least 45 and below. Haven't gone faster. With my luck I could join the Salvation Army and they would mobilize and go to war. So, I'm not getting out on the hi-way till I get the tags and insp. sticker. :) ( Now with the replacement speedo and tach I can see whats what, more or less) I haven't been on a bike since 1974, until I got this one rebuilt. My motorized bicycle, Can-am 4X4 and horses don't count. I sold my Z1 in mid 1974 and said, "I'm done!" Then I got old and stupid and drug this thing out. I been chucked off bucking horses and run over so I figure, what the hay...And If I make 80, I'm gona start hanging off a big cigar too. :laugh:
 
Hi thu,
I bought my '84 Heritage Special NOS in '86. It was wearing the stock pullbacks for the test ride and the ride home.
Swapped them out right away for various different 'bars, ended up with black chrome Honda CB750 bars end-filled with a lead shot/cold hardening rubber slurry.
Had several rigid frame bikes but they were pre-WW2 and came that way and WTF is a Harley Shuffle?
Never had tank-slapper on a solo bike. Several on various sidecar rigs including my XS11 shaftie rig. My never-failing fix, tightening the headraces until the problem went away and then adding a hydraulic steering damper.

Fredintoon, Yep, my H2 750 Kaw had lead in it's bars, probably trying to add weight to help hold the front end down. Didn't work. You a Harley guy? Do I need to start running? The "Harley Shuffle". It's when the back wheel goes left, then goes right, then doesy- doe and tries to catch the front. If a Harley driver says "mine ain't never done it", I would add "YET", to that. But it's not just Harleys. Back in the day, you know, we didn't have an internet. If Tank Slapping happened to you no one heard of it. That or you just came out of the woopti-doos going stop to stop showing your colors. ( Then you came down wrong and into the snow fence and everybody is laughing, pointing and clapping! ) If your doing something stupid and you bite it, you say, ok, my fault. I won't do that again. But if your riding along and all is good with the world and from no where, for no reason and its all slow motion in a matter of seconds, it will break you from sucking eggs!

Thu
 
Fredintoon, Yep, my H2 750 Kaw had lead in it's bars, probably trying to add weight to help hold the front end down. Didn't work. You a Harley guy? Do I need to start running? The "Harley Shuffle". It's when the back wheel goes left, then goes right, then doesy- doe and tries to catch the front. If a Harley driver says "mine ain't never done it", I would add "YET", to that. But it's not just Harleys. Back in the day, you know, we didn't have an internet. If Tank Slapping happened to you no one heard of it. That or you just came out of the woopti-doos going stop to stop showing your colors. ( Then you came down wrong and into the snow fence and everybody is laughing, pointing and clapping! ) If your doing something stupid and you bite it, you say, ok, my fault. I won't do that again. But if your riding along and all is good with the world and from no where, for no reason and its all slow motion in a matter of seconds, it will break you from sucking eggs!
Thu

Hi Thu,
the CB750 'bars lead filled ends were an ineffective fix for the XS650's vibration (yeah, I know, "that's not a bug, that's a feature". Right.)
Good thing about a #7 lead shot/cold-set rubber slurry is that it drills out easy when you decide to fit bar end mirrors.
Never was a Harley Guy. Never had that kinda money. You could buy a BMW for that much cash. Too cheap to own one of them, too.
 
Hi Thu,
the CB750 'bars lead filled ends were an ineffective fix for the XS650's vibration (yeah, I know, "that's not a bug, that's a feature". Right.)
Good thing about a #7 lead shot/cold-set rubber slurry is that it drills out easy when you decide to fit bar end mirrors.
Never was a Harley Guy. Never had that kinda money. You could buy a BMW for that much cash. Too cheap to own one of them, too.

Fredintoon, I read somewhere hear abouts that lead shot in my bars would dampen the vibration. But I have holes in the bottom of my bars anyway.
If I add any more weight it will be crash bars and some saddle bags.

Thu
 
I bought new handlebars for my XS2, they were advertised to be weighted just like the original OEM bars.
Still can’t use my mirrors! :laugh2:
 
5Twins. Nope, Ground up build, head taper bearings and everything. This bike feels rock solid, at least 45 and below. Haven't gone faster. With my luck I could join the Salvation Army and they would mobilize and go to war. So, I'm not getting out on the hi-way till I get the tags and insp. sticker. :) ( Now with the replacement speedo and tach I can see whats what, more or less) I haven't been on a bike since 1974, until I got this one rebuilt. My motorized bicycle, Can-am 4X4 and horses don't count. I sold my Z1 in mid 1974 and said, "I'm done!" Then I got old and stupid and drug this thing out. I been chucked off bucking horses and run over so I figure, what the hay...And If I make 80, I'm gona start hanging off a big cigar too. :laugh:


Greetings from Down Under,

Love your thinking, "go you good thing!!!".

GeeDub
 
Back
Top