buzzy handlebars--anyone tried this as a fix?

[martin_14]

More weight = less vibs?

unfortunately no. Vibrations are a matter of natural frequency, and steel will add weight compared to aluminium, but also stiffness, so they might still be there.

[maxtog]

unfortunately no. Vibrations are a matter of natural frequency, and steel will add weight compared to aluminium, but also stiffness, so they might still be there.

Correct, it is essentially impossible to predict what effect adding weight or stiffness or anything else will do.  One just has to try different things and see what happens.

[philipintexas]

The bars are harder to make than one would think, there are several holes, index marks and pins in them, all at precise distances and degrees of rotation. The levers have locating pins that must engage holes in the bars.

[MAN OF BLUES]

Pull the pins...

[gPink]

Pull the pins...

yep^^^

[philipintexas]

The "pins" are cast as part of both levers to locate them & prevent them from rotating around the bars. There is also a pin that engages a slot in the stanchion to hold the bar from rotating while the bolt is tightened. If it were not for the latter pin you would not be able to remove the large bolt ho;ding the bars to the stanchion that is thread-locked like Ft. Knox!

[gPink]

I had to remove the locating pins when I changed bars on my '08.The control clamps hold tight enough not to rotate. YMMV

[MAN OF BLUES]

The "pins" are cast as part of both levers to locate them & prevent them from rotating around the bars. There is also a pin that engages a slot in the stanchion to hold the bar from rotating while the bolt is tightened. If it were not for the latter pin you would not be able to remove the large bolt ho;ding the bars to the stanchion that is thread-locked like Ft. Knox!

bummer

nice of K to control exactly what they think is comfortable position... it also insures that us old dirtbikers who were smart enough to tighten the levers enough that they didn't slip, but not soooo tight that when the bike hit the ground, they would move instead of snapping off...couldn't prevent that from happening....sweet.

the C10 had pins pressed into the grip switch pods, but those could actually be pressed in / out, allowing them to work on conventional bars...

[ZG]

I had to remove the locating pins when I changed bars on my '08.

+1... Same here...


I had the pins relocated when I switched over to the PE bars so I could rotate the controls to a different spot due to the new angle/position of my PE bars.

[Cold Streak]

Correct, it is essentially impossible to predict what effect adding weight or stiffness or anything else will do.

Not completely correct.  Natural frequency of a system is determined by the square root of the stiffness divided by the mass of the system.  Increasing the stiffness should move the frequency of the buzz up in the rev range and increasing the mass will do the opposite.  The question is whether you can increase either one enough to move the buzz out of the useable range of the bike.  If the buzz is coming at 4-5k rpm and that is where you happen to cruise on the interstate, then you will want to move it down to below 3k or above 6k.  In this case it seems increasing the mass would be easier than increasing the stiffness.  If you manage to do both at the same time you will probably gain nothing.  You can also damp out the vibration with the various products discussed here, but you can never eliminate it. 

I think the reason some bikes have more vibration than others is the machining of the individual parts.  The crank, rods, pistons, and balance shafts all play a big role in the amount of vibration and what range it falls in. 

[gildaguz]

I Want to share my experience about the  handlebars BUSSY and VIBRATIONS, had that problem since I bought the bike and after 38k get worse, did everything trying to fix the problem but the only thing that really fix it was adjusting the Steering Stem Nut ,even that when you check for play and seem to be ok it might be a little loose and that is enough to produce that buzzing in the handlebars , now  my numbness problem is gone, bike is lot better than when new, Now I believe those who say they do not have that problem on their bikes

[maxtog]

Not completely correct.  Natural frequency of a system is determined by

I said it is "essentially impossible to predict" because there are so many factors (angles, weights, distances, materials, etc, etc) and what I meant by that was not that we don't know what adding weight or stiffness does in general- but what effect X amount of weight on X bike at X location is going to do to X vibration.  In *theory* of course it could be predicted if you knew everything about the entire system...

So my advice was, and still is, just change things and see what happens.  Not very scientific, but often effective.

[Stephen.G.Fiddes]

I Want to share my experience about the  handlebars BUSSY and VIBRATIONS, had that problem since I bought the bike and after 38k get worse, did everything trying to fix the problem but the only thing that really fix it was adjusting the Steering Stem Nut ,even that when you check for play and seem to be ok it might be a little loose and that is enough to produce that buzzing in the handlebars , now  my numbness problem is gone, bike is lot better than when new, Now I believe those who say they do not have that problem on their bikes

^^^has a very valid point! I remember having some issues wirh this when i swapped my front end on the 650 to a zx10 front end, and tightening the head bearings did help (wasnt the purpose, but was a side effect.) 

The shop manual should have the tq specs in it, when i get a free moment in a few weeks (leaving for annual training on friday) ill check the tq on the head bearings and report back.  Thats a super easy fix if its the case.

[VirginiaJim]

From what I recall the torque on the head bearings themselves is 17ft/lbs, but there is a procedure in the manual on tightening this correctly.  It may be that bumping it up to 18 or 19ft/lbs would help with the vibration in the bars.  The torque on the big nut is 79.7ft/lbs.  Fairly early on with these bikes the techs in Japan weren't tightening the big nut enough and it would fall off during riding..  Course the steering stem nut could have been loose to begin with...

[mgtibb]

I used some rubber material to make spacers and haven't had any issues in over 10,000 miles. Originally made them for the stock handlebars and now have them with my helibars. I used loctite on the bolts and they've never loosened. It helped slightly with the vibration. Between the rubber spacers, grip puppies, and padded leather gloves the vibration was almost gone.......until I pulled the secondary flies, then it reappeared, but not nearly as bad as it was originally.

[B.D.F.]

Which is, of course, what makes the teenage years so difficult for some people.

 

Brian

Correct, it is essentially impossible to predict what effect adding weight or stiffness or anything else will do.  One just has to try different things and see what happens.

[B.D.F.]

A little bit of a different answer than some others gave- what you are thinking of will work but only if you isolate the bolts from the handlebar stanchions as well as adding the sheet of rubber. What you would have to do is to machine the bolt holes larger in the stanchions, then put a washer and sleeve of rubber inside them, followed by a steel tube to tighten the bolt against. That way the handlebars would be 'floated' around the bolts. Exactly the way Kawasaki mounts the tank on a C-14, for example. That way you could maintain the structural stiffness (easy boys!) of the handlebars and yet isolate them from high frequency vibration at the same time.

A similar way to do the same thing would be to isolate the bolt that holds the handle bars proper in the stanchions, turn down the handlebar diameter that goes into the stanchions, and use either a rubber sheet wrapped around the handlebar or something like a series of O-rings to isolate the handlebars.

You would have to try different durometers (hardness) of rubber to find the one that works best.

A very different way to attack the problem is to add cruise control to the bike. By being able to relax your right hand, or even let the bar go for a little bit during a long trip, it tends to eliminate the problems caused by the constant vibration. At least it works that way for me.

Another thing to try is BMW sport bike grips. They are very soft and pliant, and combined with soft palmed gloves they go a long way to making the handlebars far more comfortable for long periods of time, again at least for me. The BMW grips are quite reasonable in price too. The one downside is that if you ride bare- handed, they will leave black bands on the inside of your hands.

Brian

Despite installing a throttlemeister, new exhaust and grip puppies, I still have that buzziness in the right grip that puts my hand to sleep.  I was thinking, what if I were to put something rubber between the handlebar riser and handlebar (to deaden the vibrations).

Has anyone tried this, before I go through the process of trying to find a flat sheet of appropriate rubber, cut it to size, etc?


thanks!

[Awaz]

I have been using tennis grip over the OEM grips for 4 years with no issues. Looks a bit ugly is all. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta to do to save a few bucks. Afterall, I ain't ZG ! 

[maxtog]

Which is, of course, what makes the teenage years so difficult for some people.

 

Brian

LOL.... yeesh!!