Jack Miller’s Motegi chatter: “I’m not making this shit up!”
“That’s been my life for the last ten months”
Camera footage on Saturday at the Japanese MotoGP captured the extreme chatter vibration that Jack Miller has battled for much of the 2024 season.
Triggered when various weights, stiffnesses and forces on a bike combine to create a resonant frequency, chatter results in a machine bouncing up and down through the corners.
In Miller's case, as he exited Turn 11 at the end of the back straight, his KTM began shaking violently.
All manufacturers have experienced chatter due to the revised grip characteristics of the modified 2024 Michelin rear tyre.
But while most seem to have found a way around the issue, KTM and Honda riders continue to mention the vibration problem.
Miller’s corner-speed style seems to make him especially vulnerable.
“That’s been my life for the last ten months,” the Australian said of the video clip.
“We haven’t been able to resolve it. It was really good to see it in slow-motion, because in normal speed you don’t notice the swingarm and so on stressing like it was.
"It was really good for the engineers to see it so clearly.
"I’m not making this shit up! It’s been doing it for ten months, ever since we put this [revised rear] tyre in and I haven’t been able to find a solution - as you saw.
“The solution is trying to ride through it, but it’s like a wall you keep hitting your head against.”
Speaking to Dorna's Jack Appleyard on Sunday morning, Miller added: “By this point, you’re kind of used to it, get that brace position going and get ready to almost stand up and just absorb [the chatter] as best you can.”
Miller said that some ‘radical’ set-up changes had moved the chatter problem away from Turn 11, but it now appears in the following left-handers.
“We made a radical change with the balance of the bike and it dulled it down a bit, but it was still there in the last sector and through the double left-hander. So more work to do,” he said.
“It’s all a part of it, just understanding the bike and my riding style to try and ride around it.”
Miller finished eighth in the Sprint race and, on a day when Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder failed to finish, was the top non-Ducati rider.
“It wasn’t a bad day yesterday in the Sprint,” Miller said. “So fingers crossed on the medium [rear tyre instead of the soft] this afternoon we’ll be able to have another decent run at it.”
Miller will move to Pramac Yamaha for the 2025 season.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
