This past weekend I was riding down a hill at 45 miles per hour when my bike started to shake. Is this common? Was I doing something wrong, is there something wrong with my bike or is it simply the result of a crosswind? A few minutes later I hit 44 with no shake.
Is this the first time you’ve gone 45 miles an hour? This happens more commonly with larger frames but always in high speed descent. Sometimes attribituted to the bicycle and the rider reaching a resonant frequency. I’ve had it happen on a 50 cm at 55 miles an hour. Typically changing your position makes it go away, sit if standing or stand if sitting, or more simply, put a thigh or knee on the toptube.
One way of helping to steady the shake you are getting is to press your thighs/knees together against the top tube. This will absorb the shake and steady the bike when going downhill. You will often see pro riders do this in a race.
I would check the headset and make sure it is adjusted corectly.
Just a thought.
Thom
You just experienced “death wobble”. Scares the sh*t out of the rider. My early model aluminium Giant TCR used to do it all the time. Unweight your seat and squeeze the top tube between your knees and it’ll go away instantly. Explained somewhat here:
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Put the magnet of your cycle computer at a differnet position in the wheel. For instance opposite to the air valve.
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Check your wheels (rims) for excentricity.
Other then mechanical things are mentioned earlier…
RELAX!!!
Tension in the hands and arms will make your bike wobble. Allow the bike to move under you. Don’t try and hold the bike still…allow it to flow in the wind.
I am with zipp on this one. I’ve spoken to people about this issue many times, and more often than not it seems the culprit is that they get going fast and put a death grip on the bars. Of course, you want to be sure that the bike is mechanically sound (regardless of whether you’re riding 45 mph or 15 mph), but also want to be sure to relax your grip on those bars.