Bandit Alley
GENERAL MOTORCYCLE FORUMS => GENERAL MECHANICAL & TECHNICAL => Topic started by: Jacknife on April 24, 2005, 04:10:09 AM
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Im having so small amount of vibration on the handle bars, and some one has said to me "you need more bar end weights" is this right and what is the scale for the weights.
Any idea's? :banana:
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Heavier weights will help. Don't know that there's a "scale" - just get the heaviest ones you can find. The heaviest ones I know of are from Manic Salamander (http://www.manicsalamander.com/bar_end_weight.htm) - though you can get even heavier ones if you want a throttle lock ("cruise control") as part of the deal too from Throttlemeister. (http://www.throttlemeister.com/)
What may work as well, or better, is to fill your handlebar with something. Popular choices are lead shot, fishing weights, molten lead, BB's or a commercial product like Bar Snake. (http://www.barsnake.com/)
Some find that replacing the steel handlebar with an aluminum one does the trick.
Some choose to use gloves with a gel palm.
Also popular is to replace the stock grips with gel or foam grips.
Still others opt for some combination of the above, while some will just choose to live with it the way it is.
As for me, I have a Throttlemeister (purchased for the throttle lock - the vibe damping was a bonus) & gel grips.
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if you switch to aluminum bars, they are less prone to vibration than steel. also, dirt werks sells weights that sit inside the bars and ride on o-rings. these can be added to your stock bar end weights for a very effective solution.BTW i recommend renthal superbike bars. not as wide as true mx bars, and very comfortable.
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B6, stock bars, with Manic Salamander = very good results, less vibration, noticeably.
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I have bars similar to stock filled with #8 lead shot with Lockhart Phillips stainless steel end weights. This works well for me. I tried a Bar Snake before adding the lead. The Bar Snake helped but didn't seem to work as well as the lead for me.
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how did you attach the lead or does it just roll around? I will also look at new Handle bars, still running the stock.
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The idea is to fill the bar with the substance. :grin:
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So work with hot lead and pour it in? Sound like hard work. :banana:
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I leaned the bike over against my leg, held a funnel in the thottle side end of the handle bars and poured the lead shot out of the bag in to the bars until it was full. then I replaced the bar end weight.
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I went from the stock foams to ProGrip's Rally Grip. Cut back on the vibration.
This winter I installed a Zero Gravity windscreen to find that the deek-hole who last worked on my bike failed to match up the plastics. If you have an S model take the time to fit all fairing plastics perfectly. Cut back on the buzz!
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Don't waste your money on a bar snake I recently made the mistake of installing one on my 02 1200S only to find no change in vibration or numbness in my right hand! :boohoo:
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I got a package from Manic Salamander Friday. My wife and I are going to ride up to Boone and Blowing Rock Saturday morning. That should be a good test.
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The Manic Salamander bar end weights worked great. I rode a long way today with the tach staying in the 5000-6000rpm range. Before today, my right hand would have been asleep in 10 minutes. It tingled some but never did go numb. Surprisingly, I did get that numb feeling when I got in some heavy traffic on wet roads going down off of Blowing Rock. Traffic was going slow and I was kind of just coasting , taching between 3000-4000 rpm. I didn't notice much vibes there, I just went numb at an rpm that it never happened at before. I can live with that trade off. I doubt I really need to travel for several minutes at 3000-4000rpms.
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Flip,
The message you posted in April said you filled your bars with lead shot; did you remove the shot and then put on the new bar ends? I was going to try to pull the bar snake out of my bars this week and try filling them with shot.
What seems to be the major difference with the Manic Salamander bar end weights over the stock ones? I had to remove the stock ones from mine when I installed the bar snake and replaced them with a smaller set from moto boss. The stock ones seemed to be pretty heavy! :thanks:
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I spoke with the guys from bar snake and was willing to work on little science fair projects to see if I can resolve the issue. They were very willing to work with me or refund my money.
I'll keep you posted on the out come!
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I tried both the MS bar ends and the Bar Snake. The weights actually seemed to make it worse and while the Bar Snake has reduced the vibrations it has only extended my "comfortable" riding time to about 30 minutes!!
Clearer instructions would also help for those of us will low IQ's! I did figure out that I should measure and cut the Bar Snake to allow for the stock bar end weights to be reinstalled, however the whole process of feeding the snake through and removing the pull wire seemed easy enough until I tried to push the Bar Snake back into the bar......yeah I know rubber contracts when pulled and EXPANDS when pushed!! I finally had to take a drill to the rubber until I worked it down far enough to get the Manic Salamander weights on - they are shorter than the stock. :duh:
Next time I'll start drinking first!
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:lol: Kisby, your story is EXACTLY like my experience last month! It took a litle bit of time to think of the drill, but like you, I ate enought away to get those long weight in place.
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I ended up taking a 3/8" drill bit and running it between the bars and the bar snake, I then reversed the drill and was able to get bar snake out of the bars far enough to lock onto them with a pair of vice grips and pull it back out.
After it was removed I did a best guess on the length and reinstalled it leaving a loop of wire long enough that I could cut one side of the loop and pull the wire out of the snake while it was still in the bars. I ended up jamming a 3/8" drive extension down the bars to hold the bar snake in position while pulled the wire out the rubber. I was the able to install my stock bar ends. This seemed to help a little but did not solve all of my problems my hand still goes numb after a good cruz.
Like you said it would help if the instructions gave a little more detail.
:duh:
I hope this helps the next guy that trys to install one of these. :crybaby:
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I had a Bar Snake in a set of handlebars I had taken off. I decided to remove it and try it in my K&N handlebars I'm now using so I removed the stainless steel Lockhart Phillips bar ends and dumped the lead shot and installed the Bar Snake and put the LP bar ends back on. Between those combinations, the lead shot seemed to work better for me. I then put the Manic Salamander bar ends on with the Bar Snake still in the bars. That combination worked well for me on my b6. I went up a tooth on the front sprocket and I got in a rear sprocket with 2 less teeth I'm going to put on soon. If that doesn't turn my little Bandit in to a decent traveling bike, I don't know what else to try.
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Of course, the Bar Snake was too long in the handlebars when I went to put the Manic Salamander bar ends on so I just slowly ran a large drill bit in the ends of the handlebars and it chewed up and pulled out pieces of the Bar Snake. I kept checking the bar ends and when they would go in without hitting anything I was done. That sure beat trying to remove and re-install a Bar Snake.
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I tried chunking the bar snake out at first but quickly lost my patience it was by accident that I discovered the rubber would spin up the bit, after a few tries I got it out far enough I could pull it back out.
Putting the stock bar ends weights back on seemed to help a little as far as fatigue goes but I think I will start looking into a new set of bars perhaps aluminum and a little wider. I find myself riding with my hands partially out on the bar ends.
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A carb sync. and heavy Throttlemeister was the trick for me! :grin: Very smooth. If you have to be riding on the highway at all, the Throttlemeister is the way to go on the Bandit. It will take care of the vibes and allow comfortable highway cruising. "Two birds with one stone."