Handlebar Vibration Solutions?

My XT225 handlebar vibrates. I attribute most of the vibration to the thumper motor, but some is also due to the knobby tires. I'm mostly interested in dampening the motor vibration because I plan to use street tires once the knobbies wear out. It doesn't seem too bad at first, but after about an hour my hands are beginning to go numb.

What are the good options for curing this problem?

I'm on a budget, so a 90% solution that is 50% of the cost is fine with me.

Note: I looked on the XT225 forum and ADVrider, but there is a lot of conflicting advice and I haven't been on either enough to sort through the various posters.

Do you have bar end weights? Lots of guys remove them, so you should be able to find someone giving a pair away.

Also, I wonder if filling the bar with Great Stuff would make a difference.

The bike still has the OEM grips on it, so unless Yamaha put bar end weights in there at the factory it doesn't have any. I guess it would be worth trying for free

I have heard 3rd hand about the great stuff method, but I'd like to hear from someone who actually did it. It definitely scores high on the GRM factor, and logically it makes sense to try to change the bars from hollow to semi-solid. Oh, and it would be light.

Bar end weights and/or a bar snake should help.

My DRZ 400S came with bar end vibration dampers. Mine are still in place, but I know that a lot of guys ditch them when adding hand guards, so you might want to look for some DRZ pieces.

Fill with buck shot (ss or lead) use rubber plug inside last 1/2 inch on throttle side so theres no fouling ect. Or a bar snake.

Wrap a piece of steel or lead in rubber, or find a bushing that's made like that, and fit it in the pipe.

You're looking for a tuned-mass damper, and you just have to get the tuning close for it to make an improvement.

chaparral wrote: Wrap a piece of steel or lead in rubber, or find a bushing that's made like that, and fit it in the pipe. You're looking for a tuned-mass damper, and you just have to get the tuning close for it to make an improvement.

I'm not sure I follow...

Everything out there has a harmonic frequency. The motor generates a frequency which causes the bars to vibrate in the same way that a vibrating tuning fork makes another nearby vibrate without them actually touching.

The easiest way to get the bars to quit vibrating is to change their harmonic frequency by adding mass, otherwise known as weight. That doesn't actually get rid of its harmonic vibration, it just moves it to another frequency range which the motor doesn't generate.

To bolster what Curmudgeon said a little, not only will the weight change the resonant frequency, but it will move it down lower from the high buzzy range. More mass vibrates at a lower frequency, and vibrates less for the same amount of energy.

Think of bells. Little bells make high pitch notes, large bells make low pitched notes. And big bells have big clappers to make them ring. Little bells don't need big clappers to make them ring.

Chainsaws use a vibration dampening rubber grip. Not sure exactly what it is made of, but operators used to get something called white finger disease where the nerves in the hand pretty much die. So among other things, they developed a new grip material.

Way back when, Roadmaster and Caprice wagons had this weird problem where the rear frame rails would make a droning or buzzing noise under certain conditions. They discovered that the ring and pinion would generate a vibration which under the right conditions matched the resonance of the frame rails, making them buzz. The fix was either a different R&P (which killed gas mileage) or add a trailer hitch to change the frame's resonant frequency. Some bikes have clamp on handlebar braces ('crossbars') for the same reason.

There was a similar problem with Century wagons where the steering wheel would bounce. I drove one that did that, man it was WEIRD. The fix was a combination of a ~5 pound weight which bolted to the underside of the column and going to softer compound tires.

Curmudgeon wrote: Way back when, Roadmaster and Caprice wagons had this weird problem where the rear frame rails would make a droning or buzzing noise under certain conditions. They discovered that the ring and pinion would generate a vibration which under the right conditions matched the resonance of the frame rails, making them buzz. The fix was either a different R&P (which killed gas mileage) or add a trailer hitch to change the frame's resonant frequency. Some bikes have clamp on handlebar braces ('crossbars') for the same reason. There was a similar problem with Century wagons where the steering wheel would bounce. I drove one that did that, man it was WEIRD. The fix was a combination of a ~5 pound weight which bolted to the underside of the column and going to softer compound tires.

That is awesome, I learned to drive in a '91 Roadmaster Estate Wagon. I think it had a hitch though...

I think I'm going to try some cheap bar ends and some stainless steel shot. If that doesn't work I might try this: http://www.vibranator.com/

These things might be cheaper and are supposed to work quite well: http://www.barsnake.com/order/secure.html

I'm still wondering if I should fit one to the Kawasaki.

BoxheadTim wrote: These things might be cheaper and are supposed to work quite well: http://www.barsnake.com/order/secure.html I'm still wondering if I should fit one to the Kawasaki.

Yeah, I read that, but honestly I can't see how it would work any better than the SS shot or the great stuff. In fact if might work worse if it doesn't fit tightly. Basically these are all just different ways to make the bar solid instead of hollow.

The Vibranator, on the other hand, is a whole different concept. Hopefully the problem will be solved for less money than that though!

Some guys swear to using lead shot and silicone caulking. I'm going to give that a try when I replace my bars.

Not mine...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Suzuki-Bar-Ends-DRZ400-2001-2002-2003-2004-2005-2006-2007-2008-2009-/400273874862?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d322e9fae&vxp=mtr

Ooh, I was just looking for those!

But... I'm not sure how I'd install them without welding.

Not sure what they're called, but you can get a rubber slug with a threaded insert that expands when it's tightened. Try McMaster Carr or Grainger.

We used to mount Bark Busters by using a piece of rubber fuel line and an Allen bolt with a nut. Tighten the bolt, the nut would squish the rubber line and force it against the inside of the bar. No reason that couldn't be used as a budget vibe buster, just use a long bolt (maybe 6" or so) and a long piece of fuel line.

Woody wrote: Not sure what they're called, but you can get a rubber slug with a threaded insert that expands when it's tightened. Try McMaster Carr or Grainger.

Ah crap. An expansion plug. Of course. Thanks!