Why Ryan Vickers’ shocking Snetterton BSB vibration actually marked an improvement
Ryan Vickers says the eye-catching vibration he had at the Snetterton BSB had been “10-times worse” in previous races.
TV images showed Ryan Vickers experiencing a huge amount of vibration at the Snetterton BSB, but the Honda rider says the issue had been “10-times worse” at previous rounds.
Vickers had spoken about vibration with the Honda to Crash.net since the opening round of the 2026 BSB season at Oulton Park at the beginning of May.
The issue was a part of a tough start to the season for Vickers, whose best results from the opening two rounds was a seventh.
Things started to turn around at Knockhill where he was fourth in Race 3, but the vibration that was seen on TV at the penultimate turn of the Snetterton 300 layout, Coram, was so substantial that Vickers; hopes of
“To be honest it was a little bit of a different kind of vibration,” Ryan Vickers explained, speaking to Crash.net after Race 3 at Snetterton.
“Coram hasn’t really been a normal vibration that we’ve been getting, it has been a little bit different.
“To be honest, what you saw on TV on Saturday was absolutely nothing compared to what we’ve been suffering with.
“Honestly, it’s been 10-times worse than what you saw on Saturday and that is no joke. It’s just that we’re a bit more up the front now and getting a little bit more camera time.
“If I could show you every lap it was at its worst at Oulton and Donington, you would be amazed.
“It’s been very difficult to ride, so we’ve definitely improved it a lot.”
Vickers was much improved by Race 3, able to finish fourth and challenge for the podium for most of the race, running in third ahead of Bradley Ray for a large chunk of the game before running wide at turn two as his tyre faded towards the end.
The Honda Racing UK rider explained afterwards that in Race 3 he was able to start making time through the first part of Coram, but that the vibration issues became worse again as the rear tyre wore.
“The biggest problem has been Coram this whole time,” said Vickers.
“[Race 3 was] the first time that in the first part of Coram that I was able to make a bit of time on the guys around me.
“So, thanks to the team, they’ve done a fantastic job with the bike, just fine-tuning it, because we were in such a good window with the bike for everywhere else on the circuit, and it would’ve been very easy to go around changing massive things, but the guys kept their head very strong and just with small tweaks we’ve managed to make it a hell of a lot better.
“I don’t think my bike then at Coram was that much worse than the rest, they were just a bit better when they got the throttle open and they were able to keep turning – I’d lost a bit at that point. We made a huge improvement.
“I started to get the problems back at the end of the race; last four or five laps we started getting the problems back, but that’s just something we’re getting on this bike at the moment and that’s probably the next task now.
“We’re starting to understand more and more how to get rid of this vibration and now the task is to make that period longer.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
