Having personal experience of this I feel obliged to put in my 2p worth:
I once had a nasty off caused by a lock-to-lock tankslapper on my CBR 600 (no damper) triggered by an 'almost' highside. The thing I remember most is that it seemed to go on forever before I eventually parted company with the bike whilst still travelling at speed. Luckily the only damage was concussion, a sprained shoulder and a chunk out my wrist, and cosmetic damage to the bike. At the time I was still green behind the ears and did all the wrong things - put all my weight on the front, tried to wrestle with the bars etc. It got so bad just before I was ejected my vision was blurred because I was being thrown around like a ragdoll - I could hardly see a thing and thought I was going to be shaken apart
As is often the case with riding a bike, the instinctive reaction usually just makes things worse. Trying to stop a tankslapper by brute farce is pointless - the gyroscopic forces involved will break your wrists first. At the same time rigidity means your entire body will start to act like a pendulum, amplifying the headshake and generally making things worse.
Someone said there isn't a lot you can do but that is not the case, otherwise in bike racing no-one would ever cross the finish line. Just watch the TT guys! As already mentioned the correct way to end a tankslapper is to sit back in the seat taking the weight off the front, and accelerate - as soon as the weight is off the front wheel it will correct itself. Everyone always tries to find a cure by looking for that elusive perfect suspension setting, or expensive aftermarket parts rather than understanding what caused the problem and knowing how to correct it.
That said I would still recommend a damper - my gixxer often gets the wobbles under acceleration as will any bike with a sharp steering angle, but the stock Suzuki damper (which isn't particularly stiff at low speeds) is more than sufficient to keep things under control.
Keep it shiny side up
funny smell
