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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Handlebar Vibration
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Message started by koehlerrk on 12/11/14 at 11:57:53

Title: Handlebar Vibration
Post by koehlerrk on 12/11/14 at 11:57:53

Has anyone here ever done anything to reduce handlebar vibration?

I recently acquired my first bike, a 1987 Savage. :) Anywho, I like it, wife likes it, but man do those bars vibrate...

So, out in the garage thinking a bit and I wondered about pulling the caps off the handlebar and filling it with lead shot. Shouldn't take more than 3 pounds of shot, and I'm thinking it would turn the handlebars into something like a dead-blow hammer. Worst case, if it doesn't work, I can pull the cap and dump it back out... just wondering if anyone else here had tried that.

Rick

Title: Re: Handlebar Vibration
Post by verslagen1 on 12/11/14 at 12:04:04

Stock bars already have weights welded in them.
If they aren't stock then fill away.

If the motor mounts aren't tight, it will cause the bars and pegs to vibrate more than normal.

Title: Re: Handlebar Vibration
Post by KennyG on 12/11/14 at 12:52:55

You may want to think about using something other than lead shot.

I have removed handlebars that were filled with lead shot and there was nothing left but lead dust. I don't know if any of the dust can escape, but you sure as hell don't want to be breathing it.

Steel shot will work, and 1 LB will make a lot of difference in vibration.

Kenny G

Title: Re: Handlebar Vibration
Post by MnSpring on 12/11/14 at 14:32:58

Lead Shot:
1st, Never NEVER, EVER ! Melt Lead, SHOT. Many brands of Lead shot, has a little bit of arsenic in it,
(It is what helps make it ‘round’, when dropped).
2nd. If you use it for weight, encapsulate it ’something’.
(Using plain, WILL, ‘Dust’), and you do NOT want to breath that dust.

Now before everyone gets their underwear in a bunch. About Lead Shot.
The above treatments, ‘melting shot’, ‘turning lead to dust’. are Abuses.
They are not normal uses for that substance.

The, ’normal’, use, such as in shooting lead shotgun shells, or eating things that have been shot with a lead pellets in a shotgun. NO WORRIES.

You eat a Pheasant or Duck, or Venison, and ingest a lead piece. NO PROBLEM !
It will just pass right through. (More teeth have been chipped with, ’steel’ shot, in the last 10 years, than have with lead shot in the last 200)

I haven’t done it, in a MC. (factory bars), but if I needed to, weight the bars, I think a piece of flexible tubing, that easily fits inside, cut to length, then if using lead shot, a dab of, ‘cheep’ calk, a little shot, dab of calk, shot, etc. etc, and pushed down with a rod, dowel, tape the ends, it’s still flexible, push it inside the bars.

Did Many a stock or forearm, and used a piece of hose, plastic/rubber tubing, copper, etc.
Filled it full of lead shot, then dumped ’that’ amount out. Mixed up some 2 part epoxy, poured that lead shot into the epoxy, stirred it about, Then, poured it into the, ‘container’. Let it hard, then put it into the, ‘place’ it was to go.

This would also work on the handlebars, Where they were, Straight. Caus it ain’t gonna bend when hard.

Now a word on, ‘LEAD”. It is NOT Harmful, when used correctly !
The use of ’Non’Toxic” shot in today's shotguns shells, is PURE, Bravo Seaira !
Yes, Lead, ingested by something (bird) that has a gizzard, is ‘ground up’, along with the grit, and seeds and whatever else that bird is eating. And lead, so ground up, can, that is, CAN, cause a problem, IF and ONLY if, it is eaten is sufficient quantities. Which it CAN”T BE !. And a piece of lead, in a gut pile, eaten by a, ‘Condor’, and the Condor getting sick from it. Is TOTALLY, TOTALLY, Bravo Seaira.

And this, MYTH. is Backed by the people that SELL Ammunition.

Think of this, a company, making a good profit, making Lead shot. Is SUDDENLY, given the opportunity to make 20 TIMES MORE MONEY, (do to the the Al Goriets). Ya think they will turn it down ?????

Title: Re: Handlebar Vibration
Post by Ed L. on 12/11/14 at 19:25:34

Try not to hold onto the hand grips as tight. The harder you grab them the more you will feel the vibration.

Title: Re: Handlebar Vibration
Post by Serowbot on 12/12/14 at 08:32:22

Stock bars shouldn't vibrate much at all...
My guess is a loose motor mount...

Title: Re: Handlebar Vibration
Post by koehlerrk on 12/12/14 at 11:14:36

OK then, I guess I'll start by checking the motor mounts. Good thing it's winter here in Upstate NY so I have a few months to get bugs found and squashed before spring. Some more info:

It's a 1987 Savage (obviously) with 14K on the clock. Bought it from a co-worker in October and have plans of going through it this winter and finding/fixing all the little bugs that have cropped up. I'll post my list later, mostly it's fix/replace parts that are cracked, dry-rotted, old and brittle, etc. The bike is stock except for a cone filter and airbox delete. I was told to come here and read up about the cam chain tensioner. Did that, will be popping the cover and checking it out soon. After that I'm just planning on making sure the wife and I have a reliable machine to learn how to ride, so I'm not going crazy with mods or performance enhancements.

MnSpring, yes, I'm fairly well versed in working with lead. Co-worker of mine is a bio-chemist by trade, because sometimes we have to know how what we build reacts with a living thing. One day I asked him about lead, most of what he said was stated in your post, but here's a couple other points.

Lead, in it's metallic form, is nearly bio-inert. That means most animals, if they eat it, will poop it out a day later and basically, nothing will happen because it does nothing.

Lead oxide on the other hand is highly bio-reactive and is one of the easiest ways to get lead into an animal... just feed it lead oxide. which, coincidentally, lead oxide is EXACTLY what was used as a base in "lead paint" which is where that whole scare got started.

Thanks everyone.

Rick

Title: Re: Handlebar Vibration
Post by koehlerrk on 12/14/14 at 05:52:57

OK, got in some wrench time yesterday.... had two really loose motor mounts. :o

Torqued them all to spec and I'd say 80% of the vibration went away. ;D

I'm still amazed at how much of a difference that made. Thanks folks!

Rick

Title: Re: Handlebar Vibration
Post by grandpa on 12/27/14 at 19:11:26

I have found that low tire pressure increases the handlbar vibrations. Just two pounds low is noticeable.

Title: Re: Handlebar Vibration
Post by Flint on 12/27/14 at 19:41:26

44675A797B60676E090 wrote:

I like the way you think regarding Al Gourd. I worked in a gold mine and we used lots of arsenic in the slime press, not as bad as a fellow would think. It takes very little arsenic to harden lead shot and if you cast your bullets or other stuff outdoors there is little to fear.