Stupid stunt # xxxxx42 for me ... also on a motorcycle.
Back in college, bought a 100hp jap touring bike. Went on a weekend trip, heading home at 2:00 in the morning on interstate 94 here in MN. A guy on a Harley comes on the freeway and taunts me to race. He just wanted to do a "roll-on" (that means keep her in high gear and see who can out-accelerate the other). I always turned down any invitation to race cause I didn't want to get killed or get a ticket. This guy egged me on til I couldn't resist. On his mark we both let her rip. After 5 seconds I was doing over 100 and could only see his headlight getting very small in my mirror. I didn't want to face the guy again because I figured he'd want some kind of rematch so I kept the throttle open. The speedo was hovering around 135 when the bike went into a "tank slapper" (an instability of the front end caused by too little weight on the front wheel). When this happens the front wheel tries to turn around backward but of course it can't so it just oscillates back and forth. At 135 mph the handlebars where shaking back and forth at least 4 inches where my hands were holding them. I found out why it's called a "tank slapper". My knees were hitting the gas tank so hard it was dented on both sides. Needless to say I was scared &@#?$less. The worst thing about tank slappers is that once they start they only get worse if you try to slow down. So there I was keeping the throttle wide open wondering whether I would hit the end of the interstate or run out of gas first. All through this I had been riding with my feet on the rear passenger pegs. I told myself that I need to gain my composure, sit up straight, and prepare to slow down and muscle the handlebars to a standstill. As I sat up and moved my feet to the normal riders pegs the weight shift was just enough to make the shaking stop. Believe me I thanked the Lord and I'll never do it again. Never did see the Harley guy again cause I think I was 50 miles ahead of him by the time this was over. If you've never done it you have no idea how bumpy and curvy an intersate highway can be when you're going too fast.
