I saw a post today.. not sure whether was on here any more or a different forum... where someone was claiming,

"Lots of vibes in handlebars? Fill em with ballbearings to absorb it some".

Was that a joke, or serious?

Nah doesn't work you need to fill em with milk. Not powdered either has to be cows fresh milk, 2% works best

Ha! I was waiting for that........

It's true - ball bearings, lead shot, silicon, etc will all lessen vibration in bars to some extent. But so will the stock bar end weights that come on most bikes.

Actually, a well tuned machine is a great place to start.........

I use old banana peels in mine......

Snake oil does it for me.

Seriously, make sure you have bar end weights and a well tuned engine as mentioned above.

I have had good luck with using BB's. For real.

Quote from: Big Rich on September 13, 2012, 12:20:08 AM
Ha! I was waiting for that........

It's true - ball bearings, lead shot, silicon, etc will all lessen vibration in bars to some extent. But so will the stock bar end weights that come on most bikes.

Actually, a well tuned machine is a great place to start.........

Silicon? In what form?
Like, bathtub sealer? lol


Nathan:  don't BBs end up rattling ?

For something in the bar, lead shot is best, or lead shot + something rubbery/plasticy (such as silicone or urethane casting material - ideally something pretty runny that then sets up somewhat, but not absurdly, firm). Someone had a good write-up of filling the outer ends of the bars with lead shot and sealing it in place with rubbery goo some years back.

The brave who are confident of getting a good seal can go for oils, the rest of us find that it leaks, eventually. With an aftermarket bar or possibly a later GS bar that does not have welded-in bar-end nuts you can slide in a bar snake, which is pretty much lead shot in a rubbery matrix precast into a tube that will slide into the bar. Perhaps a bit spendy, especially considering that the middle part of it does squat.

Bar end weights (as opposed to bar-end do-dads that don't weigh much) help in a simple, bolt-on, the way it came from the factory manner.

Syncing your carbs, adjusting your valves and other tune-iup-ish stuff certainly can help if it's something that changed and got worse.

Edit- add: Lead shot is better than ball bearings because lead is denser than steel, BTW - so more weight in the same volume. Tungsten might be spiffy if you have way too much money (platinum would also work nicely for the way, wayyyy too much money set, as it's nearly twice as dense as lead, and 9% or so more than tungsten.)

Bar end weights work better than weight in the bar since they are located further out, but you can have both, which is better than either alone.

Quote from: DoD#i on September 13, 2012, 09:26:32 AM
Edit- add: Lead shot is better than ball bearings because lead is denser than steel, BTW - so more weight in the same volume. Tungsten might be spiffy if you have way too much money (platinum would also work nicely for the way, wayyyy too much money set, as it's nearly twice as dense as lead, and 9% or so more than tungsten.)

Wouldn't depleted uranium be heavier - if you could afford it and get it? 

How about Mercury?

Quote from: bombsquad83 on September 13, 2012, 01:17:41 PM
How about Mercury?

It would leak out of the pilot holes for the controls. Sloshing around might make the ride kind of squirly - like 6" of loose pea gravel (and please do not ask me anymore how I know).

The freezing point of mercury is -38F, so if you were riding in that weather I suppose it would be OK as long as you didn't have heated grips.

Quote from: adidasguy on September 13, 2012, 01:22:19 PM

Quote from: bombsquad83 on September 13, 2012, 01:17:41 PM
How about Mercury?

Sloshing around might make the ride kind of squirly - like 6" of loose pea gravel (and please do not ask me anymore how I know).

LOL 

I hope you are funning the group since Uranium and Mercury are highly toxic.   

Quote from: jestercinti on September 13, 2012, 01:27:21 PM
I hope you are funning the group since Uranium and Mercury are highly toxic.   

Definitely funning. 

Although...did anyone see the Gold Rush Guyana episode where they had some poor local workers using mercury by hand to help collect the gold?

Quote from: Phil B on September 13, 2012, 08:00:57 AM

Quote from: Big Rich on September 13, 2012, 12:20:08 AM
Ha! I was waiting for that........

It's true - ball bearings, lead shot, silicon, etc will all lessen vibration in bars to some extent. But so will the stock bar end weights that come on most bikes.

Actually, a well tuned machine is a great place to start.........

Silicon? In what form?
Like, bathtub sealer? lol


Nathan:  don't BBs end up rattling ?

Never had a problem with rattling. Though I did have them packed in kinda tight.
I had an issue with vibs, running aluminum clip-ons, with bar end mirrors.
BB's worked great.

Anyone ever use the http://www.barsnake.com/?

I've heard that AA's are not enough and CC's are overkill so BB's probably are the optimal choice.

Quote from: adidasguy on September 13, 2012, 01:09:37 PM

Quote from: DoD#i on September 13, 2012, 09:26:32 AM
Edit- add: Lead shot is better than ball bearings because lead is denser than steel, BTW - so more weight in the same volume. Tungsten might be spiffy if you have way too much money (platinum would also work nicely for the way, wayyyy too much money set, as it's nearly twice as dense as lead, and 9% or so more than tungsten.)

Wouldn't depleted uranium be heavier - if you could afford it and get it? 

Nope. Tungsten and platinum are both denser. Even gold is a bit denser. Go the right part of the planet and you can pick up all the DU you want for free - of course, you might get perforated by either the folks that threw it out there or the folks they threw it at...

One of a bunch of references (not all of which agree at all decimal places, big surprise that isn't) handy for this sort of BS-ing:

http://www.reade.com/Particle_Briefings/spec_gra.html

Old bits of tungsten carbide are better than lead, but not as good as pure tungsten. Easier to find as sizable scrap, though.