Death wobble is a phenomenon that most riders experience at least once or twice in their entire age of riding motorcycles, regardless of what brand or category of motorcycle they own.
Wobbling commonly occurs in powerful motorcycles that are capable of achieving higher speeds. It happens when the motorcycle becomes unstable.
But, there are plenty of other reasons why one might experience a death wobble.
"Wobbling" was an alien of an issue in Indian markets. Not much of the motorcycles were capable of reaching higher speeds. But in the past few years, big brands like Enfield, Honda, KTM, Bajaj, recently Triumph and Harley and many more have gotten themselves in a race. A race to provide more and more powerful motorcycles at cheaper price which has made them cut corners with quality to compensate for the powerful engines. One such element to get affected by these cuts is a bearing.
Royal Enfield Himalayan and the 650 Twins are prime examples of motorcycles that suffer from wobbling, primarily because of poorly made cone-set bearings: a bearing that is in the top and bottom of the motorcycle's neck, which is responsible for smooth turning, (and also how aggressively some owners ride these bikes). But not only these, any bike as a matter of fact with cone-set issues would inevitably suffer from wobbling.
How to fix wobbling? As follows:
Not only cone-set but any issue mentioned as follows can be responsible for wobbling-
Uneven road surface - one might be aware of the road surfaces in India, riding at higher speeds or aggressively on such roads would make the bike unstable.
Tyre pressure - refer owner's manual to aptly get your tyre pressure adjusted.
Wheel alignment - caused by frequently jumping potholes or a breakers. Get your rim checked/spokes tightened by a skilled mechanic.
Wheel bearing - bearings installed on both the side of the hub of a rim which sits onto an axel. Any sort of play in it would be visible to the naked eye, especially in the rear.
Cone set - loose/faulty cone set caused again by jumping potholes or breakers, and rusted/jam cone set, frequent during monsoon, caused by lack of grease (lubricant).
Fork seals - a broken fork seal dramatically affects the dynamics of a bike, the bike would start swinging too, however, the chances are less if both the fork seals are broken.
Fork alignment - misaligned forks at the T - clamps. Get them aligned by a skilled mechanic.
Tyre - ensure that the tyre is fitted properly onto the rim, according to the marking mentioned on the side walls of the tyre.
All the causes above are listed in a most to least occurring order, 1 being the most and 8 being the least. The mentioned issues must be inspected and fixed at the earliest to avoid any possible mishaps. Ride safe.
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