160 MPH High Speed Wobble

[bak189]

You want to talk about a "wobble" back in the 1970's I got to ride on the salt on a very fast Vincent that had the old style Hampton girder front forks....at about 130mph it got in a wobble that was out of hand and I was looking for a soft spot on the salt to land.....the only thing that prevented a "get off" was to accel. and drag the rear brake to bring the speed down to below 100mph.....................we parked the bike and made a show piece out of it......................

PS. The later style Vincent front forks worked just great as proven by Marty Dickerson.
With above noted that the Vincent chassis/frame is very solid, in our case it was the front forks.

[TouringComet]

Minor correction, the old girder forks used on Vincents are Brampton forks, not Hampton.

[wobblywalrus]

Most of these wobble cures involve some sort of personal effort.  Tiny's movie says fat guy's do not have the problem.  Tonight it is time for a few burgers, lots of fries, and a big bottle of beer.   

[generatorshovel]

Most of these wobble cures involve some sort of personal effort.  Tiny's movie says fat guy's do not have the problem.  Tonight it is time for a few burgers, lots of fries, and a big bottle of beer.   

  , and I thought it was just because I have'nt been over 78 mph yet ?
I had to sacrifice 2 Kangaroo hides to fit my burgers, fries & beer into the leathers
Things will change next year, 'cos my not so friendly leather man refuses to work on my megga thick leathers any more, nope, not a diet, MORE cubettes 
Bring on the wobbles 
Tiny

[bak189]

Hampton and/or Brampton front forks......I do know that they are not very good at any speed over 35mph.   As noted in the previous post the bike is still just a show piece.....but boy, it does look good....................

[TouringComet]

Rollie Free set the bathing suit 150MPH record with Brampton girder forks.

[Dean Los Angeles]

This is what it looks like when it all goes wrong. El Mirage 1998
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTfKJFrUi9w

Please make the distinction between a speed wobble that this starts out as, and a tank slapper, that it finishes with. They are definitely different animals.
Main point? Notice that the moment he lets go, the bike straightens up and goes as straight as an arrow. And goes, and goes.

No such luck the second time. Instant tank slapper and spit him off.

[bak189]

I had the pleasure of spending some time with Rollie Free (Thru my sidecar racing partner Mike Parti) and I knew he was a better man than me already at that time.......................

[TouringComet]

Indeed. Thanks for your contribution in getting Mike into the AMA Hall of Fame. The three of them, Rollie, Marty, and Mike, are a source of tremendous pride to those of us in the So Cal Vincent club.  Mike is my go to guy when I need some machining work on my bikes.

Every few years, in September, a bunch of us get together with Mike and sit under the tree in his back garden, for an anniversary of Rollie's first record run.  Mike has quite a bit of Rollie memorabilia, and Mike's scrap books also have quite a bit of space featuring you, and rightly so.