Handlebar vibration

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  • Steve L
    Steve L
    4 years ago
    My Superglide is bad for bar vibes, it has a Predator front mount which didn't make any difference to the vibes at all. I also replaced the rear mount as well. Ive tried rubber bushes and poly in the risers and neither made any difference. I've noticed that the bars vibrate heaps compared the the triple tree which barely seem to vibrate at all. I've heard of solid bushing for the risers instead of rubber or poly, my brother uses them in his bike and he reckons it barely vibrates thru the bars at all. Has anyone else tried them or found another solution to curb the handlebar vibration blues.
  • Smokey61
    Smokey61
    4 years ago
    Try adding some weight in the bar ends. 
  • Steve L
    Steve L
    4 years ago
    I've tried bar end weights on other bikes and they don't make much difference unfortunately. 
  • speedzter
    speedzter
    4 years ago
    It sounds like you have something not quite right with your bike.
    Where do you find the vibration the worst ?
    Stock mounts usually smooth out at highway speeds, but vibe bad around town.
    I hate to suggest it, but there maybe a crankshaft issue.
    Has it always been like this ?
  • Steve L
    Steve L
    4 years ago
    Quoting speedzter on 12 Jul 2020 09:04 AM

    It sounds like you have something not quite right with your bike.
    Where do you find the vibration the worst ?
    Stock mounts usually smooth out at highway speeds, but vibe bad around town.
    I hate to suggest it, but there maybe a crankshaft issue.
    Has it always been like this ?

    I haven't had it too long but it did vibrate when I bought it. From everything I've read Dyna's are well known for vibrating. The Predator mounts are very smooth low in the rev range but over about 1700 rpm it starts to vibrate. At highway speeds it's pretty constant and makes my hand go numb. Could be that the motor was never very balanced from new and with the k's on it now (about 44k) it is probably worse than when it was new. I think I just need to keep experimenting with different set ups until I either get it better or trade it lol.
  • STEAMER
    STEAMER
    4 years ago
    My 2011 fxst, does same. Had mounts checked, steering head bearings checked. I changed bars to 1.5inch fatboy low bars & risers. Made slightly better.  But still get numb hands , just takes longer ride now. 
  • Smokey61
    Smokey61
    4 years ago
    Quoting speedzter on 12 Jul 2020 09:04 AM

    It sounds like you have something not quite right with your bike.
    Where do you find the vibration the worst ?
    Stock mounts usually smooth out at highway speeds, but vibe bad around town.
    I hate to suggest it, but there maybe a crankshaft issue.
    Has it always been like this ?

    Quoting Steve L on 12 Jul 2020 09:13 AM

    I haven't had it too long but it did vibrate when I bought it. From everything I've read Dyna's are well known for vibrating. The Predator mounts are very smooth low in the rev range but over about 1700 rpm it starts to vibrate. At highway speeds it's pretty constant and makes my hand go numb. Could be that the motor was never very balanced from new and with the k's on it now (about 44k) it is probably worse than when it was new. I think I just need to keep experimenting with different set ups until I either get it better or trade it lol.

    My '12 Widey has a Predator front mount and I have no vibration issues at idle, town or highway speeds.

    Sounds like it could be the balance factor in your engine.
  • wello
    wello
    4 years ago
    my old ultra was shocking until i had it put on the dyno .. whole different bike afterwards .
  • Steve L
    Steve L
    4 years ago
    Quoting wello on 12 Jul 2020 12:59 PM

    my old ultra was shocking until i had it put on the dyno .. whole different bike afterwards .

    It's just had a dyno and didn't make any difference to the vibration but it is running better though. Probably the engine not balanced properly, I'm guessing a rebuild is the only way to fix that.
  • Daffy
    Daffy
    4 years ago
    Quoting Steve L on 12 Jul 2020 02:57 AMedited: 12 Jul 2020 08:48 AM

    My Superglide is bad for bar vibes, it has a Predator front mount which didn't make any difference to the vibes at all. I also replaced the rear mount as well. Ive tried rubber bushes and poly in the risers and neither made any difference. I've noticed that the bars vibrate heaps compared the the triple tree which barely seem to vibrate at all. I've heard of solid bushing for the risers instead of rubber or poly, my brother uses them in his bike and he reckons it barely vibrates thru the bars at all. Has anyone else tried them or found another solution to curb the handlebar vibration blues.

    Just a thought. Check your wheel bearings 
  • Steve L
    Steve L
    4 years ago
    Quoting Steve L on 12 Jul 2020 02:57 AMedited: 12 Jul 2020 08:48 AM

    My Superglide is bad for bar vibes, it has a Predator front mount which didn't make any difference to the vibes at all. I also replaced the rear mount as well. Ive tried rubber bushes and poly in the risers and neither made any difference. I've noticed that the bars vibrate heaps compared the the triple tree which barely seem to vibrate at all. I've heard of solid bushing for the risers instead of rubber or poly, my brother uses them in his bike and he reckons it barely vibrates thru the bars at all. Has anyone else tried them or found another solution to curb the handlebar vibration blues.

    Quoting Daffy on 12 Jul 2020 11:37 PM

    Just a thought. Check your wheel bearings 

    I changed wheels since buying the bike and it didn't change the vibration at all.
  • leachy
    leachy
    4 years ago
    Are vibrations there through the whole rev range. I know my Low Rider is dead smooth 2400 rpm comes back a bit above that and smooths out again as the revs increase. What exhaust are you running?
    Regards
    Leachy
  • Steve L
    Steve L
    4 years ago
    Quoting leachy on 13 Jul 2020 03:01 AM

    Are vibrations there through the whole rev range. I know my Low Rider is dead smooth 2400 rpm comes back a bit above that and smooths out again as the revs increase. What exhaust are you running?

    Regards
    Leachy

    No low down vibes, it starts around 1700 rpm. It is annoying from around 80 to 110 in top gear. The handlebars visually shake when the vibration is at it worst. I was thinking of trying a handlebar brace like used on dirt bikes. 
  • leachy
    leachy
    4 years ago
    Hi Steve,
    Does it go away if your higher up in the rev range, I know that around 1700rpm on my Low Rider its at peak vibration around then but it will smooth out to almost nothing around the low 2000's and then come back a little as the revs build. 

    It could be just those bars and the frequency of the vibration make them work like a tuning fork.

    Regards
    leachy 
  • Steve L
    Steve L
    4 years ago
    Quoting leachy on 14 Jul 2020 02:00 AM

    Hi Steve,

    Does it go away if your higher up in the rev range, I know that around 1700rpm on my Low Rider its at peak vibration around then but it will smooth out to almost nothing around the low 2000's and then come back a little as the revs build. 

    It could be just those bars and the frequency of the vibration make them work like a tuning fork.

    Regards
    leachy 

    It comes and goes depending if under load or not. The lower the revs in top gear the better, at 70 k's in top its great but as the revs build so does the vibration. It could well be the bars are accentuating it, that's why I thought maybe a cross piece ike on dirt bikes would settle it down. I've added and extra rubber washer under the top bush but haven't tested it yet. The poly bushes make the alloy inner piece sit out a bit on the bottom but up top the alloy inner piece was down futher, possibly touching the triple tree under certain revs. In the garage and in neutral it did seem better at around 2000 rpms, just need to ride it to see. I've had 3 other sets of bars before I settled on factory Streetbob 10" bars. They are only 1" and they really vibrate hard at the grips when it's bad. 
  • Daffy
    Daffy
    4 years ago
    Quoting wello on 12 Jul 2020 12:59 PM

    my old ultra was shocking until i had it put on the dyno .. whole different bike afterwards .

    Quoting Steve L on 12 Jul 2020 10:41 PM

    It's just had a dyno and didn't make any difference to the vibration but it is running better though. Probably the engine not balanced properly, I'm guessing a rebuild is the only way to fix that.

    Buy the Thundermax for sale on here if it will fit
  • Steve L
    Steve L
    4 years ago
    Quoting wello on 12 Jul 2020 12:59 PM

    my old ultra was shocking until i had it put on the dyno .. whole different bike afterwards .

    Quoting Steve L on 12 Jul 2020 10:41 PM

    It's just had a dyno and didn't make any difference to the vibration but it is running better though. Probably the engine not balanced properly, I'm guessing a rebuild is the only way to fix that.

    Quoting Daffy on 14 Jul 2020 11:54 PM

    Buy the Thundermax for sale on here if it will fit

    I don't want to make it worse lol. I had one once and had nothing but trouble and got rid of it and got it dynoed 
  • leachy
    leachy
    4 years ago
    If its that bad there must be an underlying issue, maybe a blocked injector or something like that maybe, at around 2200rpm +/- a couple of hundred I think most 103 dyna motors are very smooth. the other two bikes I have ridden have been.
      
  • Steve L
    Steve L
    4 years ago
    Quoting leachy on 15 Jul 2020 12:55 AM

    If its that bad there must be an underlying issue, maybe a blocked injector or something like that maybe, at around 2200rpm +/- a couple of hundred I think most 103 dyna motors are very smooth. the other two bikes I have ridden have been.

      

    It's a 12 and a 96 and the vibes are only bad in the bars. The seat and pegs don't bother me, it's just a head fuck that I will hopefully solve by trial and error.
  • leachy
    leachy
    4 years ago
    Hi Steve,
    Its really frustrating when that stuff happens, maybe it is just the shape of those bars.

    Good luck.
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