I have a f4i and whenever you hit bumps I get alot of front wheel wobble. Well friday night I Was going down freeway and was going to speed up alittle bit to pass a couple 18 wheelers in front of us. I was going about 120 mph as I passed the first one. I'm in left lane on freeway, Wall to my left and 18 wheelers to my right, I hit a bump at like 120 and tank slapped for like a good 10 seconds total. After about 5 seconds of tank slapping I hit the gas as it was tank slapping and than it started going torwards the 18 wheeler. At that point I was like I ain't getting crushed by no 18 wheeler and leaned to the left (Handlebars are still going left to right all the way and front tire screeching at like 100+ mph.) Let completely off the gas and was about to hit the wall and somehow it stopped tank slapping and I just slowed down to like 30 mph till I got to where we were going and than sat there for awhile. Lol. My friend was behind me (in his car) His passenger was like holy **** and he looked up from his phone and saw my headlights just going every which direction and he thought he was about to see someone die. After I made it alive and slowed down he wanted to pull over so he could puke. Lol

Anyways so i'm looking at what all can reduce tank slap besides steering dampers? I was looking at scotts steering damper and it's like $500. Was wondering if ebay ones like this are worth a ****?

Steering Damper Full Set w Bracket for Honda CBR 600 F4i 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 | eBay

Don't really have $500 to spend on a steering damper atm. Is there any other stuff you can get to help reduce it even more?

 

Sounds like your bike has something wrong with the front end, I have no steering damper
on my bike and don't have any problems. Hows the front tire and headset bearings?

 

As rd91si said, it may be more of a local issue you could fix without getting a damper as, I can't say I've ever had such an issue even at similar high speeds, and a lot of people on here have said how great the steering are on these bikes.

I'd start by checking your front tire as rd suggested and, you suspension settings and go from there. Could also possibly be your forks need some attention?

 

Just had a brand new tire mounted and balanced a week ago. Michelin Pilot Road 2, 30 psi of air. It does get more wobble on bumps than the previous tire though. Any ideas from that?

 

I remember hitting a huge bump going down i-95 one night, jamming the throttle. And nothing. I second rd91.

 

You need to loosen your grip on the bars, a lot of wobbles will solve themselves with little to no input from the pilot.

 

↑ This is the most likely source of your problem. Unless you have something seriously wrong with the bike's front end, it wants to track smoothly and will do so if you let it.

 

I'm about to do a fresh oil change in it because it's that time but once I go out again. I'll go down the freeway and whenever I get to the regular small wobble bumps I won't grip down real hard and see what it's like. Ever since that incident I posted about I been gripping hardcore on bumps. My brake pads are shot too gotta buy some new pads.

 

Get some muscle memory for NOT doing that, grip your tank with your thighs and take all the weight off of your arms. You may feel safer holding on tighter, but the outcome will be much worse if this situation happens again.

 

I also have the Pilot Road 2 tires on my F4i, now with about 8K miles on them. I run 38 rear and 34 front for pressure (psi). To me, it seems like the steering feels loose or unsure when my front pressure drops into the 30-32 range. Maybe the speed combined with a low pressure front produced or contributed to your instability? In the time I've had this bike, it has always felt stable and planted with the Road 2 tires and the stock suspension.