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    Why do my handlebars do this when riding without hands?

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    26 Comments

    2. GDRMetal_lady on

      I have the exact same issue on one of my bikes, everything is fine on it, except that the rear wheel on it seems to be out of round. I don’t know if that can cause the front to violently shake with no hands, but I haven’t looked into it further because I don’t ride it right now.

    4. patizone on

      Idk i would say it’s caused by very specific geometry. I know it happens on motorbikes, there are many videos on youtube, looks pretty scary.

      Idk why it happens but once it does and you hit the resonance frequency, it gets gradually worse.

    5. No0O0obstah on

      While I don’t know exactly why that happens, I can say the oscillation is combination of multiple things. As little as leaning forward could fix it, as more weight is on front tire.

      On motorbikes, I think failing to adjust rear suspension preload when having a passenger can lead to front tire wobble.

    6. kavid1 on

      That’s a kind of speed whobble. The first thing I would check is the headset. Is it tightened as it should with no play and little preload?
      Maybe your front wheel is the problem? Not running true or the tire/wheel has a big weight balance offset?
      Fork is straight? Wheel tightened correctly?

    7. UserNameTaken404 on

      I used to do this for fun. Your tire auto steers straight. And when you lean back in the saddle you take weight off the front the tire, it will try to constantly auto steer due to the rake of the forks and your body auto correcting and steer to far and go back and keep this up. If you keep leaning back it will get worse until you can’t correct it and crash.

    8. Low_Transition_3749 on

      That i the slowest “speed wobble” I’ve ever seen, but that looks exactly like speed wobble. Something in the system is hitting a frame harmonic, and there it goes. Try this, next time it happens, rest the inside of your knee against the top tube. If it goes away, it’s a harmonic issue. Check that your rims are true, and the tires are seated properly. Try dropping your tire pressure a few PSI.

    9. OhDavidMyNacho on

      Only other possibility I can see (wild guess) is perhaps one of your cables is tight enough, it slightly pulls on your handlebars to one side. Then the bikes natural movement tries to pull it true, which then causes the tension to pull it back, and forth until you get the shakes.

    10. HelioSeven on

      Shimmy!

      I won’t pretend to understand it exactly, I personally haven’t dealt with it much, but it’s a sprung-mass resonance thing. The problem is not a poor adjustment of any particular part, but rather the holistic balance of mass distribution and geometry of the entire bike.

      For sure, changing the weight of any significant part of the front end (a lighter weight front wheel, for instance) or the fundamental geometry (getting a new fork with longer trail, for instance) will mitigate this issue, but there may be cheaper ways as well that I’m not familiar with (wheel balancing, maybe?). Curious what others have to say.

    11. Nap_In_Transition on

      There are some very useful tips in the comments.

      I recommend fixing one thing at a time, so you know which one helped fix the issue.

    14. Dramatic_Ad_5157 on

      I reckon your saddle might be a bit high, or possibly check that your knee is directly above where your foot sits on the pedal when the cranks are parallel to the ground. Of not, adjust the height of the saddle and/or move it a little forward or back. If you dont need to drop your hips, and you’re smoothly pedaling right around the stroke, then you aren’t going to be wobbling the bike.

    15. LineEquivalent5148 on

      I had the same problem, although not as severe. Tightening the headset a bit more fixed it for me

    16. SlightlyFlustered on

      Look the frame over and be sure there isn’t any damage like a crack or loose lug. Something triggers the harmonic and the frame is not able to resist. This happens on step through frames because they are not as strong. Also check quick releases and wheel bearings are tight.

    18. ArcanisVis on

      Unrelated to your issue. I would have no advice just lurking and learning.

      What bike is this? The secondary brake grip looks neat!

    19. niffcreature on

      This happens on my road bike sometimes because the frame is large and very thin flexy tubing

      You can squeeze the top tube with your knees. Might also help to unweight your saddle a little bit.

    20. YoCal_4200 on

      I would guess that there is a slight wobble in your rim or tire. At a certain speed you hitting a harmonic that is amplifying wobble through the bike. When you put your hand on the bar you are buffering out the harmonic that is building from the wobble. The wobble is still there but is so small you don’t notice it.

    22. 404notfound420 on

      Idk why there’s a trend of riding hands off its just fucking stupid innit. I see people riding hands in pockets on the footpath it’s just so fucking funny when the go for the brakes, can’t and crash. Maybe you should try idk holding the bars?

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