Pothole almost killed my bike...and me!

[DWiggy]

Was on my Saturday (long ish ride) riding through Eynsford when I hit a pothole, I usually manage to avoid them but I must have taken my eye off the road for a split second when Bang, hit the pothole doing about 22mph, the bike when into a massive vibration/wobble kind of thing for a good 10-15 meters!!! (I honestly thought something had broken or snapped)
I had to pull over to check her, luckily everything was okay, but blimey i've never had anything like that happen to me before! The vibration/wobble seemed to go through the entire bike!, I initially thought the front forks had snapped. I was also very lucky as no car/lorries etc were going past when it happened as I kind of lost control for a few meters
Has anyone else had a similar thing happen to them? BTW my bike it Ali with Carbon forks.

 

[HovR]

Sounds like hitting the pothole initiated a speed wobble. Clamping the top tube with your knees and shifting your weight slightly forward is the technique used to stop this, some bikes are more prone to it than others, but every two wheeled vehicle with single pivot steering is capable of it.

 

[Broadside]

Has anyone else had a similar thing happen to them? BTW my bike it Ali with Carbon forks.

Yep, I had an almost identical situation about 8 weeks ago when I was coming down a steep hill doing 35mph+. It was much more than a speed wobble and I was certain I was going to fall off but somehow held on. I think in my case the front wheel got knocked sharply sideways and it took massive corrective inputs to sort it out taking around 10-15 metres as you say, but it was all subconcious because I was solely concentrating on what i was about to land on at 30mph, luckily it didn't happen!

Aside from the resulting pinch flat and written off front rim the rest of my bike suffered no harm.

 

[Glenn]

Report the pothole http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/

 

[DWiggy]

Yep, I had an almost identical situation about 8 weeks ago when I was coming down a steep hill doing 35mph+. It was much more than a speed wobble and I was certain I was going to fall off but somehow held on. I think in my case the front wheel got knocked sharply sideways and it took massive corrective inputs to sort it out taking around 10-15 metres as you say, but it was all subconcious because I was solely concentrating on what i was about to land on at 30mph, luckily it didn't happen!

Aside from the resulting pinch flat and written off front rim the rest of my bike suffered no harm.

I was lucky my rim and tyre survived

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I was lucky my rim and tyre survived

I had my first speed wobble a couple of weeks again and my rim was very nearly damaged. My bike's wheels were fine though.

 

[Psycolist]

Had a speed wobble once on my motorbike, but the only chance of getting up enough speed for a cycling wobble is likely to need me to be going down the side of Snowdon with a tail wind