Handlebar vibes

[live2ride]

Past weekend I had a 400km trip, and noticed that cruising in 6th gear around 120-130km/h (about 80mph), the handlebar suffers from intense vibrations, to the extent that my right hand gets totally numb in a matter of minutes, forcing me to release the grip time to time to "awake" it... have you guys noticed something similar riding your bikes?

Cheers.

 

[Ralph]

Don't feel vibes at any speed, at low revs you can feel the firing pulses from the crank
layout but no vibes that I notice, I had a BMW that sent my hand to sleep at about 80
and many Yam 4's have a vibration patch at about 60 mph for some reason but the 07 is
smooth, may be worth going round the engine mounting bolts with a spanner see if any
are loose.

 

[addy]

Don't feel vibes at any speed, at low revs you can feel the firing pulses from the crank
layout but no vibes that I notice, I had a BMW that sent my hand to sleep at about 80
and many Yam 4's have a vibration patch at about 60 mph for some reason but the 07 is
smooth, may be worth going round the engine mounting bolts with a spanner see if any
are loose.

That's odd cause the bike is quite buzzy higher in the rpm, I don't do a lot of motorways but when I do I often sit at mid 70's cause above that it is buzzy.

Saying that op you shouldn't be having trouble after a few mins, after about an hour my hands feel a bit tingly but nothing more. Are you sure you are not gripping the handle bars too tight? do you feel a lot of vibrations at lower speeds also?

 

[live2ride]

I can notice some (moderate) vibrations at almost any rpm range, a twin will always vibrate to some extent, my previous bike was also a twin and vibrations were present, too... but these annoying high frequency hand-sleeping vibrations seem to show up around 120kph in 6th, gear. Doing city or curvy roads everything is ok, but cruising straight motorways at legal speeds is a bit of a pain in the #ss...

Do you guys think mounting heavier handlebar weights could help?

Thanks.

 

[Scim77]

Check that all engine mounting bolts are correctly tightened before you do anything else. If you can't find anything loose or adrift, then weighting the bars in some way is a good idea. I had vibes on a MotoGuzzi V50 that made my hands totally numb. I tried different bars and heavy bar-end weights. They reduced the vibes a bit but not enough. So I bought a bag of lead shot from the internet, took one handlebar grip off, tilted the bike over as much as I dared and poured the lead shot into the bar cavity, filling the bars. Voila! No more vibes. The lead shot was a lot cheaper than the bar-ends too!

 

[Ralph]

Maybe you are just sensitive to vibes at a certain frequency and heavier or even lighter
weights will move the frequency of those vibes out of the range that annoys you.

 

[live2ride]

I'll check the engine mounting bolts first, then the lead filling thing sounds clever... thank u very much guys for your comments!

 

[Simoncrp]

Is there a possibility that your front wheel is very slightly bent/warped? Maybe it got knocked. Then the wheel would have a very slight wobble at speeds?

 

[bobh]

Another possibility is to fit alloy bars (e.g. Renthals). I've done this on a couple of bikes (MT-03single, which obviously vibrates a lot, and Fazer8, which also has some vibration periods at cruising rpm), and used unweighted bar ends with them.

Aluminium damps out vibrations better than steel, so bar end weights are less essential. Also it means the frequency of vibration is moved up the scale, which you may find less noticeable.

A side benefit is that you lose a kg or so of weight up top.

 

[sdrio]

I'll check the engine mounting bolts first, then the lead filling thing sounds clever... thank u very much guys for your comments!

I've heard of dry sand being used to do the same job.

 

[robodene]

I've heard of dry sand being used to do the same job.

Grip puppies anyone? And haven't I heard of silicone sealant into the bars is helpful?

 

[Eddieh93]

Never felt this issue and done a 300 mile round trip.

 

[sdrio]

Grip puppies anyone? And haven't I heard of silicone sealant into the bars is helpful?

I'd have though sealant would just add weight, whereas lead shot / sand will have some kind of inertial damping action.

My only doubt would be that if you only half filled the bars, the weight of whatever was in there could actually slop from one side to the other when cornering, and effect the handling.

 

[robodene]

I'd have though sealant would just add weight, whereas lead shot / sand will have some kind of inertial damping action.

My only doubt would be that if you only half filled the bars, the weight of whatever was in there could actually slop from one side to the other when cornering, and effect the handling.

Sealant will cure and go soft solid - no slop. On another site someone added lead to the sealant. It did not remove the vibes but did improve it. Its a messy job and has to be done right.
PS On that site, one said that bar end weights had been more effective.

 

[sdrio]

Sealant will cure and go soft solid - no slop. On another site someone added lead to the sealant. It did not remove the vibes but did improve it. Its a messy job and has to be done right.
PS On that site, one said that bar end weights had been more effective.

As you'd remember, the MT03 had bar end weights that had their own gravitational pull. I've still got mine, I changed for Renthals and put small ones on, then someone nicked the bike. They weight about 3/4 of a ton each.

 

[Ralph]

The ones on the 07 don't look that big so maybe a experiment with other sizes may help.

 

[Scim77]

Trying to dampen out handlebar resonances is a matter of trial and error. No two bars are the same and different bikes generate different vibration amplitudes at different revs. I have used extremely heavy bar-end weights on other bikes with some success but I seem to recall being inspired to fill the bar cavity with lead shot after I found the "Bar Snake" website. I appreciated that cramming the cavity with small leads balls would dramatically alter the bar resonance, for better of for worse. Luckily it was better. Phew!

Barsnake

I got lead shot from Ebay at 1/4 price of a Bar Snake and it worked really well. You could get sand for free if you live by the sea, although it is not as heavy as lead. I guess lead shot could increase the bike's weight by up to 1kg.

 

[Yaminator]

Try borrowing some thicker fingered gloves / Winter gloves?.. if that helps you might need some different grips..

 

[live2ride]

After checking engine bolts (all them ok) I have filled the handlebar with caulking and some of these guys



I will give it 24h to dry, and then... fingers crossing! I'll keep you informed.

Thanks.