Vibrating mirrors?

[The Stranger:Me]

Heavier End weights will help, but if you find it was not enough ( like my old xt660 ) try this, it worked wonders for me to reduce vibration.

Make a home made bar snake.

Go to miter10 and buy some clear plastic tube, about 1m , the max diameter that will fit inside your handlebars. Go to a gun shop ( good one in Onehunga ) and buy small lead shot, enough to fill the tube to the length of your handle bars.

Cut the tube to the same length as your bar, minus the length of the bar end weights that go inside your bars. Seal one end, and using a funnel fill the tube with lead shot. Then seal the other end ( a bit of silicon sealer will do ). Feed you new bar snake inside your bars using some liquid soap to stop it sticking.

You can buy these already made up from the states, but a home made one cost me about $15 ( mostly the lead shot ).

Do they work ? YES.. A real and very noticeable difference over just bar end weights alone.

Heavier bar end weights reduced vibration on my single by 30%.
The added $15 home made bar snake took it down another 50% +

Ok, this has got me stumped. May I ask why?
I have an XT660, it vibrates a bit but it's a single I'd be surprised if it didn't.
I've ridden 600km a pop on it without any ill effect due to vibration.
Why buy a single if you don't want any vibration?

[cave weta]

Ok, this has got me stumped. May I ask why?
I have an XT660, it vibrates a bit but it's a single I'd be surprised if it didn't.
I've ridden 600km a pop on it without any ill effect due to vibration.
Why buy a single if you don't want any vibration?

I bought an XT and sold it within 3 months because it was foaming the blood in my fingers! horrible thing it was! now I have a BMW f650 and it is sweet as a nut I ride it at least 250 km every time I hop on it and it is smooth as! My KTM525 vibrates a bit but who cares when you have power like that on tap he he!

[jellywrestler]

rear vision camera like the trucks have

[jeffs]

Ok, this has got me stumped. May I ask why?
I have an XT660, it vibrates a bit but it's a single I'd be surprised if it didn't.
I've ridden 600km a pop on it without any ill effect due to vibration.
Why buy a single if you don't want any vibration?

Simple Stupidity, I wanted a motard and chose the wrong bike.

I suffered from carpal tunnel. and yes I did end up getting rid of the bike.

But while I had it, I did lots of practical experiments in what would reduce vibration.

Some of the bi-products of this was near vibration free mirrors on a big single.

[Hotpoker]

Thanks for the advice! The lead shot in the handle bar sounds like the go.

Also read that filling the mirrors with RTV silicone to add weight would also help.

And not worried about the thumper vibe - nothing wrong with that. Just would prefer to see the cops behind me (been caught out a couple of times)

[The Stranger:Me]

I bought an XT and sold it within 3 months because it was foaming the blood in my fingers! horrible thing it was! now I have a BMW f650 and it is sweet as a nut I ride it at least 250 km every time I hop on it and it is smooth as! My KTM525 vibrates a bit but who cares when you have power like that on tap he he!

An XT660? Which model the X, R or Z?

[jeffs]

Thanks for the advice! The lead shot in the handle bar sounds like the go.

Also read that filling the mirrors with RTV silicone to add weight would also help.

And not worried about the thumper vibe - nothing wrong with that. Just would prefer to see the cops behind me (been caught out a couple of times)

Several people have suggested bar end mirrors, what this does is 3 fold.
1. Moves the mirrors out so you have an un-obstructed view. ( no elbows and shoulders in your line of site )
2. Shortens the length of the mirror arm, and intern reduces the vibration passed to the mirror.
3. Bar end mirrors tend to be lighter and so do not pick up so much vibration.

Their only real downside is they make you handle bar longer, which if positioned wrong can be a pain if lane splitting at traffic lights.

I use bar ends because I'm wide, and I love them.

If you ride with out mirrors, and use the motorways in rush hour, you will never see the bike behind you wanting to get past. Some will say ride faster
and no one will ever pass you. Good luck to those people, and if you take their advise and I hope you like hospitals.

[cave weta]

An XT660? Which model the X, R or Z?

It was a late 90s XT600 - I bought it off Motu. -furkin horrible!

[The Stranger:Me]

It was a late 90s XT600 - I bought it off Motu. -furkin horrible!

Ok, we were discussing the XT660 a completely different bike with a completely different motor.
So your experiences are not relevant to the discussion at hand, but should we start discussing the XT600 feel free to chime in.

[jeffs]

It may vibrate, but my Xt660R was always great fun, and for all its snatch low speed issues and vibration white finger tenancies it was never once boring.
But when you commute and your hand can no longer operate the clutch because it hurts to much, fun or no fun it had to go. Shame though

[cave weta]

Ok, we were discussing the XT660 a completely different bike with a completely different motor.

Uhhh!? WTF? -read below before you start telling me where I can and can not post please!

It may vibrate, but my Xt660R was always great fun, and for all its snatch low speed issues and vibration white finger tenancies it was never once boring.
But when you commute and your hand can no longer operate the clutch because it hurts to much, fun or no fun it had to go. Shame though

I had one for a weekend from Waikato Yamaha to test last year and hated the harmonic rumblings and handlebar vibrations at certain speeds.
This was just after selling my earlier model XT600 which I found to be unridable on the open road because of its vibration.

Perhaps it is a completely different bike with a completely different motor- but we are not discussing that.
This thread is about handlebar and mirror vibration....

[jeffs]

The tips I offered are not bike dependent, just things I've personally tried because of vibration issues with a bike I had.
I'm sure and personally know that these options are transferable to any bike. As I fitted the bar snake and bar end mirrors to my ER6-n and
although this was not a " Thumper" I could see behind me ( bar end mirrors ), which is something the stock mirrors would not allow ( for me ).
Before you ask I fitted the bar snake because I had some left over and though " what the hell" And it did reduce the vibration.

I now ride a big four, because even though the ER6 did not vibrate in the same league as the XT660, the damage was done, the XT660 broke me and I had to have an op.
I still fitted bar end mirrors to my CB1300 because I think they are great while lane splitting on the motorway, and they look cool

[jeffs]

The tips I offered are not bike dependent, just things I've personally tried because of vibration issues with a bike I had.
I'm sure and personally know that these options are transferable to any bike. As I fitted the bar snake and bar end mirrors to my ER6-n and
although this was not a " Thumper" I could see behind me ( bar end mirrors ), which is something the stock mirrors would not allow ( for me ).
Before you ask I fitted the bar snake because I had some left over and though " what the hell" And it did reduce the vibration.

I now ride a big four, because even though the ER6 did not vibrate in the same league as the XT660, the damage was done, the XT660 broke me and I had to have an op.
I still fitted bar end mirrors to my CB1300 because I think they are great while lane splitting on the motorway, and they look cool

[The Stranger:Me]

Perhaps it is a completely different bike with a completely different motor- but we are not discussing that.

So why did you quote my post specifically referring to the XT660 if you weren't discussing that model?
I guess one should not attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity - so that's a rhetorical question.

[cave weta]

So why did you quote my post specifically referring to the XT660 if you weren't discussing that model?
I guess one should not attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity - so that's a rhetorical question.

Perhaps it is a completely different bike with a completely different motor- but we are not discussing that.
This thread is about handlebar and mirror vibration....

Just because I quote you - please dont think Im picking on you, Im just saying that I found that that model and its predecesor both had very bad handlebar vibrations. As Jeffs said in his post.
Get over it