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Bar ends / vibration dampeners

5K views 29 replies 8 participants last post by  Duncan893 
#1 ·
hey guys, first time poster here.

I have an 02 954rr that I've been riding for one season now. I just decided to replace the grips and in doing so realized that I am missing my vibration dampener insert on my throttle side handlebar. I am talking about the factory weight that is about 6" long that slides inside the handlebar tube (along with the bushings, clip etc -- all missing). The plastic slider on the end was just held in with the original allen bolt, and then a nut and some rubber and metal washers, with no weight inside the bar.

On the clutch side, the whole assembly was intact, and i did manage to remove it, but boogered up some of the pieces in the process.

My question is I see a wide array of bar end weights all over amazon and ebay but I'm unclear if these are designed to absorb vibration - and if so is there a model that can be used without the factory weight inserted into the bar. It does look like i can rebuild my factory vibration dampeners through the OEM catalog or can I use one of these aftermarket bar end weights with similar results?

This is kind of ironic because I have recently noticed a fair amount of vibration in my arms while riding. So I'm looking for some exeperienced advice on what you guys would do because I want it to work. Ditch the factory weights for some aftermarket weighted bar ends, or rebuild the factory weights, or something else?
 
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#2 ·
Hello rOob. :welcome:

We need a proper m/c chassis engineer for the full facts and data behind this, however .......

In theory, if you want to keep vibration & therefore tingles down (to the levels of the original design) you need to maintain the same Bar End Mass and the same (effective) Isolation Rubber Stiffness & Damping.

So, by example, replacing steel bar ends, with aluminium bar ends of the same size and therefore 1/3rd of the mass, would not give the same vibration damping effect ......

I'm not keen on losing the blood flow &/or feeling in my fingers, but I have changed my Bar Ends for entirely cosmetic reasons. The ones that I use are Stainless Steel (with plastic outer end), roughly the same mass as OE, and bolt straight into the original inserts, using the OE rubbers.

Not sure how long it would take the rubber isolation to degrade changing stiffness/damping, but they are not expensive.
 

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#13 ·
I sit corrected, until proven innocent, Gunk. :wink

I’m going to check the OE bar ends that I have up in the loft.

When I say OE, I mean originally on my bikes - none of which I have owned from new. :angel

P.S. Aluminium bar ends don’t feel like they have enough mass to work the rubbers and damp out the tingles. :nerd Just saying.
 
#18 ·
Maybe just me.... but I don't mind a little (and to me it is a little) extra vibration in exchange for weight... I'll take my lack of "vibration dampening" for shaving a pound or so of weight1
 
#27 ·
Already commented here.. but I ripped mine out completely (using "sealed end" grips only) and can't say the vibration bothers me. No bar weights (heavy for a pair of vibration absorbers...) and no caps. Did this probably 3 (maybe 4) years ago and still am yet to be bothered with any additional fatigue or numbing from vibration. A riding mower is at least 25x worse on my rear-end than I have ever noticed through my clip-ons (even on multi-hour 100+ miles rides). FWIW, why keep additional extra "excess" weight stuffed in teh bars?
 
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#28 ·
(heavy for a pair of vibration absorbers...)
i don't understand this statement.

vibration is dampened by oscillating a weight out of phase. without putting the money into finding cushioning material which will transmit the motion at a 1/2 hz phase difference and then matching the weight to the amplitude of the waveform at the most common vibration, more weight is an easy way to accomplish the same feat (a momentum thing) at a lower cost. a heavier bar end is going to do a better job dampening vibration than a lighter bar end.

the stock bar ends on my cbr and vfr are 8620 steel.
 
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