Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => The Bike - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: martin_14 on September 02, 2011, 03:04:54 AM
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After hunting down the buzzing at 4500 rpm last year (and getting rid of them, thanks to a great dealer) my bike is soooo smooth that I'm starting to be neat picking. My old RT was like sitting on a cement mixer where somebody threw some coble stones in, but the panels stayed put. Now, on the Kawasaki, under the windshield there is this front triangular panel (held by 2 black screws in the bottom and two push ribbets in the upper part) resonating at 2200-2500 rpm and when the world is silent, I can hear it, and it bothers me. :-[
I narrowed it down to the push ribbets not holding the panel and the cowling together tight enough. Does anybody know how can I achieve a bit more clamping in the ribbet? can it be replaced by a screw and a nut? Did somebody do this?
Thanks in advance,
MartÃn
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Martin,
I think that some folks have removed that panel and applied some double faced foam tape under that area then reinstalled the panel with good results. Mine is doing the same thing and I'll be trying this trick myself.
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I slid a piece of foam,about 6" long, between the top of the cluster and fairing. Seemed to work on my '08.
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I already did that, helped a lot, but I still get the little "bzzzzzzz" at those rpms. When I put my finger on the ribbets, it's gone. Hence the question...
As I said, it's so vague that my girlfriend tells me to take my prozac every time I ask her if she hears it ???
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I already did that, helped a lot, but I still get the little "bzzzzzzz" at those rpms. When I put my finger on the ribbets, it's gone. Hence the question...
As I said, it's so vague that my girlfriend tells me to take my prozac every time I ask her if she hears it ???
That panel starts whistling on mine right at 43MPH, and it's loud enough I can almost hear it with ear plugs in.
Martin, you could try shimming the plastic rivets (ribbets) with a thin plastic washer, to take up some of the slack and tighten them. One other thing I was considering was using rubber well nuts and screws instead, but not sure if the panel would sit flat enough after that. With the screws, you would have to take the shield off any time you wanted to remove any other plastic, but not a big deal.
Of course, you could do the unthinkable, and listen to your GF. Either that, or use ear plugs, and enjoy peace and quiet. :)
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Ribbits = the sound a frog makes.
Martin, you don't park your bike near a swamp do you? ;)
Just messin with you, your English is light years better than my German.
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RE: Your question about replacing the rivets with screws. You can use the same spring-clip type nuts that appear throughout the bike and use two screws threaded into them. I found the plastic "nose" that comes down between the headlights was vibrating and double-sided tape stopped the noise.
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I just ordered some extra rivets for that very part of the bike. one of those rivets has gone missing. just popped out somewhere down the road.
may try the wash add on. will be digging into the dash this weekend to cure that buzzzz...
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After reading this I went out and pulled the windshield off and started tapping around and found where it was rattling.
Added some duck tape beneth some of the pieces and wahlaa ... buzz all gone ...
All I can say is WOW ... what a huge difference. boy is it nice to not have that nasty sound anymore.
Thanks for sharing ya'll!
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finally I've got the time to take the windshield off and dig in the fairing. I used all the tricks mentioned here (a bit of tape on the joints, an extra rubber washer on the ribbet) and the "bzzzzz" is gone as far as I can tell. Wow, this bike is smoooooth! I wish Kawa had the panel gaps better put together. That'd do justice to such a vibration free engine. Sometimes I can't really decide if it isn't smoother than the in-line 6 from BMW. Nope, I'm not mad. I know what I'm talking about. And the suspension in the Kawasaki, although harder, actually deals better with the little irregularities on the road, and makes the ride smoother.