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vibrating handlebars, what's the best fix?


Gixxus Christ!

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The bars on my bandit vibrate enough to make my hands numb through leather gloves on extended freeway rides. Was thinking of filling them with expanding foam. I've also heard of people packing them with metal shavings from a lathe or mill...anyone out there found something that works? I know all I have to do is change the resonance frequency of the bars so that they don't match the motor at 4k rpm or so...just not sure how to go about it.

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Bar ends, since it's quick and easy. You can estimate the effect by adding weight out there to see what happens. sometimes I'll just shift my hand out to the end of the grip and it helps.

 

On aircraft hydraulic lines, rogue vibration is stopped by either adding an additional clamp (or relocating one), or adding weight on the line and adjusting it's position till the vibration stops. Which means that clamping weight to the handlebar and moving it around should find something that works. Basically the handlebars become a tuning fork, and you're trying to kill it. Difficult since there is a continuous input.

 

You also might try finding where the vibration is coming from. Motor mounts, bad bolt torques, bad front sprocket (drivetrain). Things like that. Fixed a Norton once by just re-torquing the motor mounts correctly. Well, made it better anyway. I don't think I've ever seen a motorcycle that didn't vibrate less when the engine mounts were done right.

 

edit: adding an extra clamp point is weird on handlebars, since they are two cantilevers sticking out. Rigging a bar between the two would probably work.

Edited by ReconRat
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i've used the vibranator bar ends with great success.   they are engineered using mass tuned damping technology.

 

i always would get bad numbness with regular clipons, but once i installed the vibranator, all the pain went away and I could concentrate on my ride.

 

i believe it's www.vibranator.com

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i've used the vibranator bar ends with great success.   they are engineered using mass tuned damping technology.

 

i always would get bad numbness with regular clipons, but once i installed the vibranator, all the pain went away and I could concentrate on my ride.

 

i believe it's www.vibranator.com

 

That sounds like a Schwarzenegger-endorsed lady toy...

Edited by magley64
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Bar ends, since it's quick and easy. You can estimate the effect by adding weight out there to see what happens. sometimes I'll just shift my hand out to the end of the grip and it helps.

On aircraft hydraulic lines, rogue vibration is stopped by either adding an additional clamp (or relocating one), or adding weight on the line and adjusting it's position till the vibration stops. Which means that clamping weight to the handlebar and moving it around should find something that works. Basically the handlebars become a tuning fork, and you're trying to kill it. Difficult since there is a continuous input.

You also might try finding where the vibration is coming from. Motor mounts, bad bolt torques, bad front sprocket (drivetrain). Things like that. Fixed a Norton once by just re-torquing the motor mounts correctly. Well, made it better anyway. I don't think I've ever seen a motorcycle that didn't vibrate less when the engine mounts were done right.

edit: adding an extra clamp point is weird on handlebars, since they are two cantilevers sticking out. Rigging a bar between the two would probably work.

I'm familiar with the practice, I used to clamp large cap screws to long boring bars on a lathe I ran to change the resonance and kill chatter and vibration. Was hoping to pull this off without anything extra clamped on my bars. The motor vibrates because it was designed 25 yrs ago and isn't counter-balanced.

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  • 3 months later...

I just ordered these bar ends from Motovation. www.motovationusa.com.    I put some lower profile bar ends on the Z. Didn't look much different and caused a noticeable amount of vibration. Tried to go back to stock and the stock ends wouldn't snug up all the way. I'm hoping I didn't screw anything up. These motivation ends are 2oz. heavier than the stock ends. They are pretty pricey I know but any ends I found that are heavier than stock seem to be pricey.  In case anyone is wondering, the stock ends on a 2011 zx-14 weigh 7oz. I couldn't find that info anywhere so I weighed them on a cheap $5 diet scale. From what I read Crazy, heavier ends are the first line of defense for vibration and probably the easiest. These Motovation ends are approximately the same length as the stock.  Some heavier ends were longer. I didn't want a longer bar end than stock. I found one pair that was 13oz. but they were 2.5 inches long I think.   

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Where the hell are aftermarket bar ends $100?? The only times I bought them they were like $30-50

For $100 you might as well spend a few more and get the heavy weighted throttlemeister bar ends

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Not sure if they make them for bikes but for snowmobiles you can get these things called, "Iso-Vibe" that is basically like a little motor that goes on your bar clamp and eliminates vibration.

Kind of expensive though: http://www.gripnripracing.com/product_info.php?cPath=41_49&products_id=137

 

The same company sells a product called Buzz Kill, for $35.

It's a gel formula that absorbs vibration.  

http://www.gripnripracing.com/product_info.php?cPath=41_49&products_id=168

 

.

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