On October 4th, I was heading to Tennessee to pick up my Bushtec trailer. The weather was perfect for riding: sunny, dry, and a comfortable temperature. At about 10:30 AM, I was traveling about 65 MPH on a limited-access parkway in Connecticut and had just leaned into a left-hand curve when, I believe, my front tire hit something on the road causing the bike to go into a violent tank slapper. I couldn’t recover and after a few seconds, I was thrown from the bike and tumbled down the highway for an unknown distance. I remained awake the entire time, watching the horizon rotate while various body parts took turns hitting the pavement.

In addition to a medium-weight Langlitz Columbia jacket, I had a Shoei full-face helmet, elkskin gauntlet gloves, jeans, and Aerostitch combat-lite touring boots. The gear did their jobs superbly: I had no abrasions on my lower legs or upper body (although I did receive a broken left shoulder, broken left rib, and a broken right wrist). Because I only had jeans on, I got a half-dollar sized wound down to the bone on the outside of my right knee and a less serious wound at the corresponding place on my left knee (at both places the jeans had fairly large holes). I was in the Westchester County trauma center for a week.

Unfortunately, the EMTs had to cut the jacket off me; I just examined it, and all I can say is WOW! It took an incredible amount of damage. Obviously the leather has a lot of scratches and scuffs; the only place it wore through is a nickel-size area below the left elbow, but I had no abrasion there. Much of the brass snaps on the back of the jacket and on the watch pocket were ground down, as was half of the ball on the Sam Brown belt post. The stitching was abraded away on the outside in many places, but the jacket still seems sound. My helmet has large gouges on the right side and rear; the visor has a two to three inch wide scratch from one side to the other. The right glove has major abrasions on the outside of all four fingers and a pencil eraser sized hole worn through on the little finger, but like the jacket, I had no abrasion on my finger. For some unknown reason, the boots look like new. Although I had/have some serious damage, I believe having good gear save me from more critical injuries and the helmet saved my life. I’m definitely replacing the Langlitz jacket and adding a pair of goatskin pants. I know they are expensive, but if I had abrasions on my upper body like I have on my knee, I would probably still be in the hospital.

The bike, 2008 Ultra Classic, suffered $12,000 in damages. The service manager contacted HD and asked them about the tank slapper. According to him, Harley has never heard of such a thing happening to an Ultra. They said when testing touring bikes, they intentionally put them into tank slappers and the bikes self-recover. It has something to do about where the forks come into the steering head; on the touring bikes the forks come in behind the head, while on the soft-tails they come in in front of the head. Because of this difference, the soft-tails will not self recover from a tank slapper, but the touring bikes will. Does this make sense? When the tank slapper started, I maintained a loose grip on the handlebars and rolled off the throttle. But because I was in a curve, I thought rolling off the throttle would further destabilize the bike so I slightly applied more throttle, at which point the shaking got extremely violent and I got tossed off. Any suggestions as to what I should have done to recover from this would be appreciated.

 

I think a lot depends on what you may have hit and did that hit bend your rim? Glad to hear you made it okay.

 

I had a similar experience on a Honda 750K in 1982. Going around a bend at a relatively slow speed my front tire went over a plastic bag and immedieately began to skid and a tank slapper developed. Fortundately for me it ended after a few seconds and I regained control. It scared the living s--t out of me.

 

Wow. Glad to hear it wasn't more serious and you are on the mend.

Do you remember what you hit? There has been a lot of discussion about the flex in the touring frames which many (including myself) have attempted to correct with any number of stabilizing devices.

Most of the instances have been little more than a wobble and while a little un-nerving have not been as violent as you seem to have experienced. I usually found that rolling off the throttle and straightening out corrected the wobble.

Was your tank slapper stop to stop or something less? I'm also wondering if you didn't hit a second object or pot hole.

 

Glad you're ok,I hate to bring this up,but how long have you been riding?I have had a tank slapper at 130 mph on a 1200 lb bike it was scary but that was all.

 

The "flex" is not in the frame, it's at the swingarm pivot.

 

i distinctly recall riding a buddies TL1000R. i was put into such a bad slapper that the rear wheel was bouncing off the ground- i know this because the bikes owner was behind me on my GSXR.

to this day, i dont know how i recovered and kept it up, but i did.

needless to say, that was the first and only time i rode that bike. it wasnt until later did i learn of the TLR's "common" tank slapper problem

 

Thankfully you had a Fullface helmet on,or you might not have been here today!

 

What I think I hit looked like a piece of asphalt about the size of a brick only about half as thick. My tires were properly inflated, and I don't think the rim was bent.

I've been riding for 15 years, logging somewhere around 100,000 miles and have taken four days of Keith Code's cornering school, several MSF ERC, and a Ride-Like-A-Pro course (although the latter two don't have much to do with this accident).

 

glad you are OK. smart man wearing that protective gear. this story has convinced me to do the same, full faced helmet and all. alot of guys i ride with deride those who have a full face (real bikers dont wear full face, etc..etc). i have seen the damage that can be done by not wearing full protection, just needed convincing.