Sunday Times jumps on the bandwagon

Yes, doing a Leonardo, on cruise control, over a washboard surface seems to have kicked off some wobble that was easily brought back under control.

But I bet many bikes would become unstable if treated in this way. The ST story does seem like a lazy journo filling column inches with bit of content trawled from the web.
 
Back to the original topic, I don't consider myself a riding god by any standards but I rode it as hard as I could on my test ride, and not once did I even get a hint of instability. It was a dry day with good grip and decent gusty side winds, and I rode like a hooligan. :nenau
 
Bluesticky1 said:
Back to the original topic, I don't consider myself a riding god by any standards but I rode it as hard as I could on my test ride, and not once did I even get a hint of instability. It was a dry day with good grip and decent gusty side winds, and I rode like a hooligan. :nenau
Click to expand...

Yeah but you need to take your hands off the handlebars, your bum off the seat and ride fast on cruise control over rough ground to initiate the instability. :-)
 
If you haven't, you chaps should try the KTM 1190. Good bike, fast but flighty.....I had a quick blast on one, a few weeks ago. On a straight smooth section of road, wound it up and got a wobble, not a full blown slapper but enough to make me back off!

I posted a longer write up in the KTM section.
 
I think there is a slight confusion over the word `Tank Slapper`.
Firstly the tank slapper experienced by older riders of us on British bikes of the 60`s was down to poor front end geometry . Dare I say things have moved on and a tank slapper on a modern bike is a thing of the past thank goodness.
Secondly so called tank slappers on modern bikes are probably due to over correction of a violent sudden oversteer from the rear. This is not an `old fashioned` Tank Slapper but by many riders would refer to it as such.
Just my pennies worth.......
 
I thought the article was reasonably well balanced.

Whether we will ever know the true story behind the sad death of Kevin Ash remains to be seen. From my own personal experience (a two hour test ride) I found the bike incredibly stable. I'd forgotten all the 'tank slapper' stories and the reservations of 'fly by wire' and just wrung the things neck.

My ride was around the roads of North Yorkshire and two blasts up the Helmsley - Stokesley road. I know this road well and felt confident pushing my limits. If a bike has inherent handling issues, I'd have said this was a road that would high light them. On a couple of occasions I got a slight wobble from the bars but I associated this with the speed I was travelling and the general road surface. Most other bikes would be attempting to tie themselves in nots at this point. One of the reasons I ordered the bike was because of it's stability under these conditions.

As for 'fly by wire'. It didn't enter my mind at any point in the ride, which I reckon is exactly what the bike's designers were after.

I'm happy with my decision to order the bike and can't wait for it to get delivered.
 
There is nothing new in the Times article - I read it and it was just a re-hash of all the old stuff about Kevin Ash, the Bike mag test and their subsequent re-test that showed that there was nothing wrong with the bike and that they were happy with its stability.

I think the Sunday Times had some space to fill, so got a couple of unknown, second tier journos to cobble something together.
 
One thing I have never seen reported is the extent of Kevin Ash's injuries or the cause of death. Could not the extent and the type of injuries sustained indicate the type of accident? Has anybody considered that it could have been a heart attack for instance.?

It was certainly a freak accident.

Regards to all,
 
Does anyone have a link to the Times article please?
 
Has an inquest been held into Kevin Ash'e unfortunate death? What was the outcome?
 
I provoked, and thankfully recovered, a tank slapper on my Triumph Daytona T595 through over aggressive acceleration on rippled tarmac. Pure rider error admittedly. But that bike has no reputation for instability.

Over application of torque on an imperfect surface combined with a lack of rider attention is likely to upset any bike. One or two odd cases of head-shake do not mean the bike has a problem.

There is more risk to a GS rider from countless everyday road hazards, that equally threaten any rider, than this nonsense.
 
I had a real wobbler accelerating leaned over on white-line chevrons a while ago, but I think I'd call that feedback. It was fun while it lasted :P
 
Jumblemo said:
There's a link to a scanned copy of the article on the KTM forum higher in this thread
Click to expand...

found it, thanks

Scan1-1.jpeg
Scan2-1.jpeg
 
Reading that article some things become clear.

First off it states that there is a mystery why he crashed on a straight road with no other vehicles involved. But later on if you actually read it becomes clear that the road was unsurfaced and potholed. Hmm. Also the rider who was following him said there was a lot of dust affecting visibility, and that he crashed in trying to avoid hitting either Ash or his bike. Ahh.

The other journo who claimed to have experienced a "tank slapper" in a separate unrelated incident has been unable to either describe what caused it, or reproduce the condition under test.

I am sorry for the death of Ash, but this supposed GS handling issue is all hogwash of the first order.
 
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