Wilsons Sandbox

Posted: **Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:41 am**

Good Morning, For those of us who have crash bars, you're probably familiar with the sometimes annoying, sometimes pronounced increase in vibration that comes with installing them on our beloved KLRs. I have the Givi bars, which have a pronounced harmonic vibration around 3,500RPM. It's terrible. It makes the whole bike shudder and 3,500RPM is a nice engine speed around town. In my reading I've found many suggestions on how to deal with this vibration, from "live with it" to fixes like filling them with silicone or lead shot. I've had them on there about 2 years and I've tried several things to reduce the vibes, with varying success. I've even attached weights at strategic points on the bars hoping to cancel the harmonics, but all I really succeeded in doing was changing the harmonic point and moving the vibes to a different range of engine speed. However, last night a solution came to me in a flash of inspiration and quite frankly I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of it before. Taking a bit of inspiration from the king of motorcycle vibration, Harley-Davidson, I decided to make a low-tech elastic vibration damper for them. The front of the bars actually replace the front motor mount, so the bars are hard mounted to both the engine case and the frame. This makes them act like a tuning fork driven by our bikes' far-from-buttery-smooth engine. I began looking around my house for something that was reasonably thin, weather resistant and elastic. I settled on a free 3mm thick Motorcycle Superstore Neoprene mouse pad that they had tossed in with one of my orders. I used the motor mounts that came with my Happy Trails skid plate as a template, cutting out two triangles of the mouse pad with scissors then using a hand one-hole paper punch to nibble out the three bolt holes. I then removed the skid plate, loosened up all the bolts on the crash bars and installed them between the bars and the frame/engine. After re-installing the bolts and cranking them back down "Good N Tight" I took the bike for a spin, hoping for at least a little improvement. I was stunned. The vibes were gone. Completely. I had forgotten that the KLR could be that smooth. I assume you could use other materials as well. Some of the other materials I considered were a couple of layers of old inner tube, 2mm rubber matting or even rubber or cork gasket material. If anyone uses a different material I would be interested in hearing about your results. Have a great weekend, and hope this helps. -Jeff Khoury

Posted: **Fri Jun 22, 2012 12:26 pm**

Jeff, Did your fix also reduce the vibration at handlebar level, or just round the engine/guards/road peg area? Randy Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Khoury Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 9:45 AM To: DSN KLR650 dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com> Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Good Morning, For those of us who have crash bars, you're probably familiar with the sometimes annoying, sometimes pronounced increase in vibration that comes with installing them on our beloved KLRs. I have the Givi bars, which have a pronounced harmonic vibration around 3,500RPM. It's terrible. It makes the whole bike shudder and 3,500RPM is a nice engine speed around town. In my reading I've found many suggestions on how to deal with this vibration, from "live with it" to fixes like filling them with silicone or lead shot. I've had them on there about 2 years and I've tried several things to reduce the vibes, with varying success. I've even attached weights at strategic points on the bars hoping to cancel the harmonics, but all I really succeeded in doing was changing the harmonic point and moving the vibes to a different range of engine speed. However, last night a solution came to me in a flash of inspiration and quite frankly I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of it before. Taking a bit of inspiration from the king of motorcycle vibration, Harley-Davidson, I decided to make a low-tech elastic vibration damper for them. The front of the bars actually replace the front motor mount, so the bars are hard mounted to both the engine case and the frame. This makes them act like a tuning fork driven by our bikes' far-from-buttery-smooth engine. I began looking around my house for something that was reasonably thin, weather resistant and elastic. I settled on a free 3mm thick Motorcycle Superstore Neoprene mouse pad that they had tossed in with one of my orders. I used the motor mounts that came with my Happy Trails skid plate as a template, cutting out two triangles of the mouse pad with scissors then using a hand one-hole paper punch to nibble out the three bolt holes. I then removed the skid plate, loosened up all the bolts on the crash bars and installed them between the bars and the frame/engine. After re-installing the bolts and cranking them back down "Good N Tight" I took the bike for a spin, hoping for at least a little improvement. I was stunned. The vibes were gone. Completely. I had forgotten that the KLR could be that smooth. I assume you could use other materials as well. Some of the other materials I considered were a couple of layers of old inner tube, 2mm rubber matting or even rubber or cork gasket material. If anyone uses a different material I would be interested in hearing about your results. Have a great weekend, and hope this helps. -Jeff Khoury TODAY(Beta) = [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Posted: **Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:03 pm**

It felt smoother overall including the bars, but primarily in the lower frame areas you mentioned. -Jeff Khoury

----- Original Message ----- From: "SniperOne" To: "Jeff Khoury" , "KLR List" dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:26:20 AM Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Jeff, Did your fix also reduce the vibration at handlebar level, or just round the engine/guards/road peg area? Randy Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone From: Jeff Khoury Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 9:45 AM To: DSN KLR650 dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com> Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Good Morning, For those of us who have crash bars, you're probably familiar with the sometimes annoying, sometimes pronounced increase in vibration that comes with installing them on our beloved KLRs. I have the Givi bars, which have a pronounced harmonic vibration around 3,500RPM. It's terrible. It makes the whole bike shudder and 3,500RPM is a nice engine speed around town. In my reading I've found many suggestions on how to deal with this vibration, from "live with it" to fixes like filling them with silicone or lead shot. I've had them on there about 2 years and I've tried several things to reduce the vibes, with varying success. I've even attached weights at strategic points on the bars hoping to cancel the harmonics, but all I really succeeded in doing was changing the harmonic point and moving the vibes to a different range of engine speed. However, last night a solution came to me in a flash of inspiration and quite frankly I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of it before. Taking a bit of inspiration from the king of motorcycle vibration, Harley-Davidson, I decided to make a low-tech elastic vibration damper for them. The front of the bars actually replace the front motor mount, so the bars are hard mounted to both the engine case and the frame. This makes them act like a tuning fork driven by our bikes' far-from-buttery-smooth engine. I began looking around my house for something that was reasonably thin, weather resistant and elastic. I settled on a free 3mm thick Motorcycle Superstore Neoprene mouse pad that they had tossed in with one of my orders. I used the motor mounts that came with my Happy Trails skid plate as a template, cutting out two triangles of the mouse pad with scissors then using a hand one-hole paper punch to nibble out the three bolt holes. I then removed the skid plate, loosened up all the bolts on the crash bars and installed them between the bars and the frame/engine. After re-installing the bolts and cranking them back down "Good N Tight" I took the bike for a spin, hoping for at least a little improvement. I was stunned. The vibes were gone. Completely. I had forgotten that the KLR could be that smooth. I assume you could use other materials as well. Some of the other materials I considered were a couple of layers of old inner tube, 2mm rubber matting or even rubber or cork gasket material. If anyone uses a different material I would be interested in hearing about your results. Have a great weekend, and hope this helps. -Jeff Khoury

Posted: **Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:08 pm**

So are you talking about where these two bolts go thru the frame railhttp://www.twistedthrottle.com/ezimagecatalogue/catalogue/variations/16302-500x600.jpg> ? [image: http://www.twistedthrottle.com/ezimagecatalogue/catalogue/variations/16302-500x600.jpg%5d

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:07 AM, Jeff Khoury wrote: > ** > > > It felt smoother overall including the bars, but primarily in the lower > frame areas you mentioned. > > -Jeff Khoury > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "SniperOne" > To: "Jeff Khoury" , "KLR List" dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com> > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:26:20 AM > Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. > > Jeff, > Did your fix also reduce the vibration at handlebar level, or just round > the engine/guards/road peg area? > Randy > > Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone > > From: Jeff Khoury > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 9:45 AM > To: DSN KLR650 dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com> > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. > > Good Morning, > > For those of us who have crash bars, you're probably familiar with the > sometimes annoying, sometimes pronounced increase in vibration that comes > with installing them on our beloved KLRs. I have the Givi bars, which have > a pronounced harmonic vibration around 3,500RPM. It's terrible. It makes > the whole bike shudder and 3,500RPM is a nice engine speed around town. > > In my reading I've found many suggestions on how to deal with this > vibration, from "live with it" to fixes like filling them with silicone or > lead shot. I've had them on there about 2 years and I've tried several > things to reduce the vibes, with varying success. I've even attached > weights at strategic points on the bars hoping to cancel the harmonics, but > all I really succeeded in doing was changing the harmonic point and moving > the vibes to a different range of engine speed. > > However, last night a solution came to me in a flash of inspiration and > quite frankly I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of it before. > > Taking a bit of inspiration from the king of motorcycle vibration, > Harley-Davidson, I decided to make a low-tech elastic vibration damper for > them. The front of the bars actually replace the front motor mount, so the > bars are hard mounted to both the engine case and the frame. This makes > them act like a tuning fork driven by our bikes' far-from-buttery-smooth > engine. > > I began looking around my house for something that was reasonably thin, > weather resistant and elastic. I settled on a free 3mm thick Motorcycle > Superstore Neoprene mouse pad that they had tossed in with one of my > orders. I used the motor mounts that came with my Happy Trails skid plate > as a template, cutting out two triangles of the mouse pad with scissors > then using a hand one-hole paper punch to nibble out the three bolt holes. > I then removed the skid plate, loosened up all the bolts on the crash bars > and installed them between the bars and the frame/engine. After > re-installing the bolts and cranking them back down "Good N Tight" I took > the bike for a spin, hoping for at least a little improvement. > > I was stunned. The vibes were gone. Completely. I had forgotten that the > KLR could be that smooth. > > I assume you could use other materials as well. Some of the other > materials I considered were a couple of layers of old inner tube, 2mm > rubber matting or even rubber or cork gasket material. If anyone uses a > different material I would be interested in hearing about your results. > > Have a great weekend, and hope this helps. > > -Jeff Khoury > > > -- -- Bill - bill@... http://airjunky.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Posted: **Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:13 pm**

Exactly, but it looks like those have rubber isolators already. I'm not sure how much benefit you would receive from it. However, if you have the Givi as I do, they hard mount as can be seen in this picture... with no isolation whatsoever. http://www.motorbikesandparts.co.uk/images/givi_tn421.jpg -Jeff Khoury

----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Kinnison" To: "Jeff Khoury" Cc: "KLR List" dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 11:08:53 AM Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. So are you talking about where these two bolts go thru the frame rail ? http://www.twistedthrottle.com/ezimagecatalogue/catalogue/variations/16302-500x600.jpg On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:07 AM, Jeff Khoury < jeff@... > wrote: It felt smoother overall including the bars, but primarily in the lower frame areas you mentioned. -Jeff Khoury ----- Original Message ----- From: "SniperOne" < sniperone308@... > To: "Jeff Khoury" < jeff@... >, "KLR List" < dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:26:20 AM Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Jeff, Did your fix also reduce the vibration at handlebar level, or just round the engine/guards/road peg area? Randy Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone From: Jeff Khoury < jeff@... > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 9:45 AM To: DSN KLR650 < dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Good Morning, For those of us who have crash bars, you're probably familiar with the sometimes annoying, sometimes pronounced increase in vibration that comes with installing them on our beloved KLRs. I have the Givi bars, which have a pronounced harmonic vibration around 3,500RPM. It's terrible. It makes the whole bike shudder and 3,500RPM is a nice engine speed around town. In my reading I've found many suggestions on how to deal with this vibration, from "live with it" to fixes like filling them with silicone or lead shot. I've had them on there about 2 years and I've tried several things to reduce the vibes, with varying success. I've even attached weights at strategic points on the bars hoping to cancel the harmonics, but all I really succeeded in doing was changing the harmonic point and moving the vibes to a different range of engine speed. However, last night a solution came to me in a flash of inspiration and quite frankly I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of it before. Taking a bit of inspiration from the king of motorcycle vibration, Harley-Davidson, I decided to make a low-tech elastic vibration damper for them. The front of the bars actually replace the front motor mount, so the bars are hard mounted to both the engine case and the frame. This makes them act like a tuning fork driven by our bikes' far-from-buttery-smooth engine. I began looking around my house for something that was reasonably thin, weather resistant and elastic. I settled on a free 3mm thick Motorcycle Superstore Neoprene mouse pad that they had tossed in with one of my orders. I used the motor mounts that came with my Happy Trails skid plate as a template, cutting out two triangles of the mouse pad with scissors then using a hand one-hole paper punch to nibble out the three bolt holes. I then removed the skid plate, loosened up all the bolts on the crash bars and installed them between the bars and the frame/engine. After re-installing the bolts and cranking them back down "Good N Tight" I took the bike for a spin, hoping for at least a little improvement. I was stunned. The vibes were gone. Completely. I had forgotten that the KLR could be that smooth. I assume you could use other materials as well. Some of the other materials I considered were a couple of layers of old inner tube, 2mm rubber matting or even rubber or cork gasket material. If anyone uses a different material I would be interested in hearing about your results. Have a great weekend, and hope this helps. -Jeff Khoury -- -- Bill - bill@... http://airjunky.com

Posted: **Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:36 pm**

Gotta wonder if I could make a pair of gloves outta those mouse pads you found...hee-hee. Randy Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Khoury Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 12:07 PM To: SniperOne Cc: KLR List dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com> Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. It felt smoother overall including the bars, but primarily in the lower frame areas you mentioned. -Jeff Khoury

----- Original Message ----- From: "SniperOne" To: "Jeff Khoury" , "KLR List" dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:26:20 AM Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Jeff, Did your fix also reduce the vibration at handlebar level, or just round the engine/guards/road peg area? Randy Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone From: Jeff Khoury Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 9:45 AM To: DSN KLR650 dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com> Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Good Morning, For those of us who have crash bars, you're probably familiar with the sometimes annoying, sometimes pronounced increase in vibration that comes with installing them on our beloved KLRs. I have the Givi bars, which have a pronounced harmonic vibration around 3,500RPM. It's terrible. It makes the whole bike shudder and 3,500RPM is a nice engine speed around town. In my reading I've found many suggestions on how to deal with this vibration, from "live with it" to fixes like filling them with silicone or lead shot. I've had them on there about 2 years and I've tried several things to reduce the vibes, with varying success. I've even attached weights at strategic points on the bars hoping to cancel the harmonics, but all I really succeeded in doing was changing the harmonic point and moving the vibes to a different range of engine speed. However, last night a solution came to me in a flash of inspiration and quite frankly I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of it before. Taking a bit of inspiration from the king of motorcycle vibration, Harley-Davidson, I decided to make a low-tech elastic vibration damper for them. The front of the bars actually replace the front motor mount, so the b [The entire original message is not included]

Posted: **Fri Jun 22, 2012 3:02 pm**

I use these to alleviate handlebar vibes, they only cost ten bucks and make a big difference: http://www.casporttouring.com/cst/motorcycle/GRIPPUP/GPSMALL.html -Jeff Khoury

----- Original Message ----- From: "SniperOne" Cc: "KLR List" dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 12:36:11 PM Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Gotta wonder if I could make a pair of gloves outta those mouse pads you found...hee-hee. Randy Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Khoury < jeff@... > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 12:07 PM To: SniperOne < sniperone308@... > Cc: KLR List < dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. It felt smoother overall including the bars, but primarily in the lower frame areas you mentioned. -Jeff Khoury ----- Original Message ----- From: "SniperOne" < sniperone308@... > To: "Jeff Khoury" < jeff@... >, "KLR List" < dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:26:20 AM Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Jeff, Did your fix also reduce the vibration at handlebar level, or just round the engine/guards/road peg area? Randy Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone From: Jeff Khoury < jeff@... > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 9:45 AM To: DSN KLR650 < dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Good Morning, For those of us who have crash bars, you're probably familiar with the sometimes annoying, sometimes pronounced increase in vibration that comes with installing them on our beloved KLRs. I have the Givi bars, which have a pronounced harmonic vibration around 3,500RPM. It's terrible. It makes the whole bike shudder and 3,500RPM is a nice engine speed around town. In my reading I've found many suggestions on how to deal with this vibration, from "live with it" to fixes like filling them with silicone or lead shot. I've had them on there about 2 years and I've tried several things to reduce the vibes, with varying success. I've even attached weights at strategic points on the bars hoping to cancel the harmonics, but all I really succeeded in doing was changing the harmonic point and moving the vibes to a different range of engine speed. However, last night a solution came to me in a flash of inspiration and quite frankly I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of it before. Taking a bit of inspiration from the king of motorcycle vibration, Harley-Davidson, I decided to make a low-tech elastic vibration damper for them. The front of the bars actually replace the front motor mount, so the b [The entire original message is not included]

Posted: **Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:45 pm**

Who HAS tried the peg lowering kit? & Thoughts? I wear a 34 inseam, and on long days, I kinda wish I could lower the pegs. (more then the 2inchs the kit does.) I extended My "highway" bar 2.5 (+-?) forward, and about 3inchs out, so I get full legth stretch when using, them. (Mounted 2 PVC pipes, painted black, for tire tools etc. on them, Yes I tested on a HARD front brake stop, I have clearence. ) But under "normal" sitting, would like more leg room. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Posted: **Fri Jun 22, 2012 5:54 pm**

http://www.qwinerveprotector.com/ProfDrivingGloveBuy.html These are like 38 bucks but worth every penny. My right hand got numb after as little as 20 miles now I can ride several with no problems eddie self From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jeff Khoury Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 3:07 PM To: SniperOne Cc: KLR List Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. I use these to alleviate handlebar vibes, they only cost ten bucks and make a big difference: http://www.casporttouring.com/cst/motorcycle/GRIPPUP/GPSMALL.html -Jeff Khoury

----- Original Message ----- From: "SniperOne" > Cc: "KLR List" dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 12:36:11 PM Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Gotta wonder if I could make a pair of gloves outta those mouse pads you found...hee-hee. Randy Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Khoury < jeff@... > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 12:07 PM To: SniperOne < sniperone308@... > Cc: KLR List < dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. It felt smoother overall including the bars, but primarily in the lower frame areas you mentioned. -Jeff Khoury ----- Original Message ----- From: "SniperOne" < sniperone308@... > To: "Jeff Khoury" < jeff@... >, "KLR List" < dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:26:20 AM Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Jeff, Did your fix also reduce the vibration at handlebar level, or just round the engine/guards/road peg area? Randy Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone From: Jeff Khoury < jeff@... > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 9:45 AM To: DSN KLR650 < dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Solving crash bar vibration problems. Good Morning, For those of us who have crash bars, you're probably familiar with the sometimes annoying, sometimes pronounced increase in vibration that comes with installing them on our beloved KLRs. I have the Givi bars, which have a pronounced harmonic vibration around 3,500RPM. It's terrible. It makes the whole bike shudder and 3,500RPM is a nice engine speed around town. In my reading I've found many suggestions on how to deal with this vibration, from "live with it" to fixes like filling them with silicone or lead shot. I've had them on there about 2 years and I've tried several things to reduce the vibes, with varying success. I've even attached weights at strategic points on the bars hoping to cancel the harmonics, but all I really succeeded in doing was changing the harmonic point and moving the vibes to a different range of engine speed. However, last night a solution came to me in a flash of inspiration and quite frankly I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of it before. Taking a bit of inspiration from the king of motorcycle vibration, Harley-Davidson, I decided to make a low-tech elastic vibration damper for them. The front of the bars actually replace the front motor mount, so the b [The entire original message is not included] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Wilsons Sandbox

lower foot pegs?

solving crash bar vibration problems.

solving crash bar vibration problems.

solving crash bar vibration problems.

solving crash bar vibration problems.

solving crash bar vibration problems.

solving crash bar vibration problems.

solving crash bar vibration problems.

lower foot pegs?

solving crash bar vibration problems.