Front wheel wobble

eavesy31

Hi,

Been cycling a few years now nothing too serious but like to get out as much as possible. The other day I had the shock of the front wheel wobbling around after catching a gust of wind. Was travelling around 25mph and literally thought I was coming off. Since this experience which most of you are probably like happens all the time I’ve been so cautious travelling too fast. Anyone got any advice or don’t just need to man up 😂

trevor.hall12

Confidence will come back in time .Only thing you can do to help is keep the rims under 40mm to help

eavesy31

Yea thanks for this chaps I do have a set of bontrager 50mm which I guess will never help the situation.

sungod

you can control/stop speed wobble, combination of...

press knee(s) hard against the top tube

unload weight from the saddle, i.e. weight on the pedals

do not tense up/death grip the bars, it can make it worse, use a normal light grip

from personal experience, the above work well at far higher speeds

if you really want to slow while wobbling, apply a smidge of rear braking, gently

using a tyre wider than the rim can make wind-induced wobble more likely, typically best aerodynamics is tyre width about 5% less than rim width, never wider

feelgoodlost

Bracing the top tube with your knees will definitely help.

Another bit of advice would be to keep pedalling when you hit cross winds. The worst thing you can do is freewheel in that scenario - I think the force you put through the bike counteracts the wind. Not sure of the exact science but it has definitely worked for me.

First time you experience a speed wobble can be pretty terrifying. Try your best not to tense up, as hard as that might be at the time.