hey all.

I think I tossed this up once before and didn't really get a solid response, and my bike's still doing it so I thought I would give it a second go-round.

my 97 GS (10k miles) has botten REALLY buzzy lately when I cross past about 5500rpm.  It gets loud as hell, and my feet start tingling from the pegs vibrating.  It sounds mean as hell, and I might even be happy with the sound if it werent for the bike vibrating so severely.  The bike sounds just like always below 5k, and the performance is not affected.  I checked the header bolts and couldn't find any immediately apparent exhaust leaks.  It just started doing this one day out of the blue.  I feel the vibration most in the foot-pegs... not so much in the handlebars or the seat... if that helps.

any idea what this could be?

Check the engine mount bolts and other associated mounting bolts for the pegs and such.  

If no smoking gun there, you might be having a problem with the bearings in the engine  (this is worst case, so don't fret).  

Bling!

I've done the quick once-over on engine-mount bolts and they seem tight enough.  I'm thinking about trucking the bike over to have the valves checked (i'm not adept at engine work).  Should I have anything particular looked at while the valve-cover is already comin' off?

Have you touched the carbs?  Mine had a bit of vibration in the higher RPM region after I had touched the carbs- after balancing the carbs (easy job) the vibration went away.

Cheers
Conrad

i haven't messed with the carbs at all.  I thought that un-synched carbs would cause vibration across the entire range of RPM.  This is a punctuated change.

I do have a carb-synching tool that I picked up from a guy that bought another bike from recently...maybe I'll give synching a try...

the vibration on mine wasn't very noticable in the lower RPM range - but once they got up the left footpeg could have kept a lady very happy

Cheers
Conrad

cool.  I've got a synch tool and I'm working on getting the know-how.  I'll let you know how it goes.  its probably time for some TLC.  I've put 3000 miles on 'er without any real attention.

one more question, conradvr.  Did you notice the bike getting alot louder during this phenomenon?  I'm not kidding, the thing sounds like a monster when it gets to vibratin'.

peace

mine vibrated pretty annoyingly from about 5500 to 7000 and i synched the carbs and *poof*...smooth as butter.  I suppose i also fixed some valve clearances soon thereafter, but the carbs had a big affect.