handlebar vibrations

[Blazinjr]

I have tried everything to try and get the vibes out of my bars.  The stock ones had a little vibration in them at around 5000 rpm with the stock bar ends on, and with the blue ones I bought a little more vibe was felt.

Now I put a set of MSR Dominator CR low bend dirt bike bars on it and the vibration was terrible. 4000-6000 after 20 minutes of riding I had the tingling in my hands.  I went and bought the bar ends for the alloy bar and installed them with no difference.  Well then I went to work and cut 7 inch peices of round stock steel and pushed them up into the bars and then put the bar ends back in.  Well it now only vibes around idle then quits and comes back around 4000 to 5000 rpm then I do not notice it in the higher rpms.

In the last week I have rode a few different bikes.  04 HD 1200c, 02 650 V-star, DRZ400s, 04 HD 883 and a older FZR 600.   None of these gave me the vibration and tingle my hands the way the GS does.  The onlt time it does not bother me is riding with just my right hand on the bars and setting up.  I have put 2400 miles on this bike and did not notice this when I got it because of wearing the thicker cold weather gloves and i'm not riding around during the summer with my winter gloves on.  The gloves I have now are the thin leather with the padded palm and a pair of fingerless gloves for my mountain bike that has the extra padding and gel.

Does anyone else have this problem?

[Roadstergal]

I'm too lazy to look up the post, but I remember Srinath posting something about having to optimize the angle of his bars to avoid vibration; your current bars might just be at the unsweet spot.

I've had no vibration problems with the stock bars on my '00 or '04.  *shrug*

[Blazinjr]

I have a set ordered.  Just waiting on them.  I hope the vibes go away or the GS will go away.

[knowlsey]

you are definately not the first to have that problem, and you will not be the last, i am now experimenting with silicone on the bars, not much differance, so i have another set of bars that i will get round to filling with sand to try and dampen the vibes, thats why they made the stock bar ends so heavy, to try and cut the vibes a bit. If that doesnt work i will be changing to a set of renthals and give that a go, and if all else fail, bugger it, i'm going for a 4 potter again

[DWMAC]

I had the same prob, at the same rpm after I put on my drag bars.  After I epoxyed in the stock bar-end inserts and installed the bar-ends, I noticed a big dif, but it still made my fingers tingle after a while.  Soooo, with the advice I got off the board here, I removed one insert, filled the bars with #7 1/2 lead shot, welded in the inserts, and my vibe probs all went away.   If you like the bars you've got now, I'd try that.  (not trying to cost srinath a bar sell or anything .  Good Luck!

[gs2sv]

fill your bar with "skillet glue sticks" which are basically small pieces of glue sticks. You can find them at any craft store for less than $5 for about a 1lb bag of them. just remove the bar ends and cram as many as you can into the bars, works really well at cutting most of the annoying vibe.

[Blazinjr]

I installed solid steel round stock( 7 inches long) that had to be tapped into place into the bars. then put the Moose brand bar ends into place.  I weighed both peices and they did weigh more than the stock GS bar ends.   ?

[DWMAC]

It's not neccesarily the weight of the steel that absorbs the vibes, but the material's ability to accept the vibes and not transfer them to your bars.  Loose lead shot will accept the vibes but doesn't transfer it at the same rate to the bars.  If you take the washers out of the center of your barends, you'll find the material that's inside is softer than steel, not quite as soft as lead, but soft.  So.... it's not the weight that's the end-all to vibes, it's material, too.  Trust me, try the lead shot.  It'll help enough to make you happy with your bars again.