• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

Most/Least Vibrating bikes?

My 919 is smooth in every way possible except the teeth rattling stock suspension that was obviously not made for all 250lbs of me launching across San Francisco canyons, I mean potholes. There is no real heavy vibration from bottom to top of the revs. The powerband is super even and smooth and the stock exhaust note is calm and quiet. It is a stealth bomber and from all I can tell, the ULTIMATE expression of even, smooth, calm, powerful riding. Like an iron warrior who decimates an army at an even pace and never bothers to blink, speak or sweat, just juggernaut through with an even paced unstoppable force...


I love my 919. :love :teeth

With all my past bikes, I've found that my twins shake more than my 1-4's and that V twins shake more than parallel twins.
 
With twins, the engine configuration makes a huge difference, but I think the displacement matters a lot also.
- Parallel twin (two-fiddy, F800, etc.) seems to be more of a buzz than a paint shaker. The F800 is a much stronger vibration than the 250 - 250 reminds me of an I4
- An opposed twin (BMW R bikes) runs like a sewing machine up until about 4K and then the vibs kick in - and are much worse if you're in a taller gear.
- V-twins feel like "thumper light", but comparing a Duc 1100 to an Aprilia 750 the Aprilia, to me, is much more comfortable (the M1100 used to put my feet to sleep after a few hours). I don't know if this is because of the smaller displacement motor, that the V is mounted very differently between the two bikes, or something else.


Oh, and the '09 R1 crossplane is the smoothest, sweetest I4 I have ever ridden on the street. Period.
 
My first Ninja 250 ('03) had a lot of vibration at the handlebars. I'm not sure if it was because of that or riding every day, every chance I got (during lunches, after work, every weekend day, etc) or a combination of the two, but I eventually lost all strength in my right thumb, and some on my left thumb. I first noticed it when trying to grab a water bottle to drink at stops between riding stints, it would just fall to the ground, which I thought was odd... soon I realized I couldn't pinch anything between my thumb and index finger. D'oh! I had to stop riding for about 2-3 weeks to get my strength back.

After that bike, I bought a DRZ400-SM, which is my fav street bike atm :) It's got a lot of vibration, but mostly underneath the seat, so I'm not complaining :thumbup :laughing
 
My ZX6R has so little extra vibration, I just feel like there's nothing in between me and the engine...and when i'm slowly climbing up the RPM range, right when it gets to 8k the engine note gets extra piercing and buzzy, just as it starts to howl like rrrrrrRRREEEAAAAAAOOOOWW
 
thumpers will always vibe like dildos on steriods. EXCEPT the 2007+ LC4. it's so much smoother than the previous LC4. which is the only bike that ever made my hands and ass numb.

twins have slow and steady vibs. once I got used to it it never bothered me.

I4 had some serious vibs at certain rpm range. it's bad enough I'll make an effort not to stay in that range.
 
Quite a few people here seem to lump all V-twin engines together. The V-angle makes quite a bit of difference to how much vibration you get.

On a 90-degree V-twin like Ducati, Moto Guzzi, and a number of others, the "perfect primary balance" means much less vibration as you rev it up than on a V-twin with a narrower angle. My KTM LC8 engine is 75 degrees and vibrates quite a bit more at speed than any of the Ducatis that I've owned. It's enough of a difference that I found myself riding one gear higher on my favorite twisty roads because the vibration bothered me from the KTM engine. But it has enough more power to make up for that difference.

On the various 45-degree V-twins that I've ridden, they seem to not really "like" to be revved up very high.
 
my old 2007 Ninja 650r, the upper fairing would resonate from the vibration, no matter what i did, nothing worked. i would be still feeling the vibration after a ride, which made my muscles in my hands tingle sometime after riding.
 
Not that it will matter these days, but many years ago I had a ride on a old style BMW 500 (known as the /2 model) and the impression it made on me was that the cylinders were lined with silk and the rings were made of velvet. The smaller 250cc pistons made them smoother than the bigger versions. Now that was after getting off a Yamaha 650. So maybe it's a matter of perspective.
 
Ironbutt said:
tune engine and retorque your engine mount bolts.
Click to expand...
You have a point there, regarding the ST2. There is a current discussion in the Yahoo group ST2_owners about replacing engine bolts with stronger ones, either from Nichols or some titanium ones that one of the members had made. Both handling and vibration are affected if the two engine bolts are not solid.

And when an ST2 is out of tune, there is definitely more vibration than right after a service.
 
flying_hun said:
This. Most modern bikes barely shake by comparison.

[youtube]unkIVvjZc9Y[/youtube]
Click to expand...

Bloody Right Mate...Vibration? What kinda Cry Baby Crap is that all about?

Back in the day, the sweep truck actually swept up the parts that fell off the self disassembling bikes that vibrated themselves to death.

"it vibrates at a certain RPM" Well shift or twist the throttle, do something.
 
i had a ktm duke that rattled its own subframe apart and made me dizzy to look in the mirror
 
larry kahn said:
Not that it will matter these days, but many years ago I had a ride on a old style BMW 500 (known as the /2 model) and the impression it made on me was that the cylinders were lined with silk and the rings were made of velvet. The smaller 250cc pistons made them smoother than the bigger versions. Now that was after getting off a Yamaha 650. So maybe it's a matter of perspective.
Click to expand...

That BMW (and there must of been earlier one's) is where the image of smooth when the letter's BMW were spoken, came from...and what was the compression ratio on that 500?

A Boxer BMW in the last two Decades...isn't smooth, it's rockin hard power pulses side to side.

But that is smoother than a solid mount Sporty Harley, That is pushed past 60 MPH. (that's when Sporties were solid mount) and one tester said he hadn't been shaken like that since getting his necktie in the paint shaker at the building supply store.
 
My KLX 250 had some vibes, but not very bad (it was a single, so duh). My Ninja 650 ( 180 degree parallel twin) was MUCH smoother, and never bothered me at all. My Bonneville (360 degree parallel twin) is smoother than I would have thought possible. If I still had an unmodified stock exhaust on there, I would SWEAR that the thing wasn't running since I wouldn't be able to feel OR hear it.
 
The Bandit 1250s is smooth as butter. No vibrations at all. The Bandit 600s vibrates from 4-5.5k but then smooths out. The Versys pretty much vibrates and buzzes throughout the rpms, but is fine in high gear at freeway speeds. That's the only time buzzing really gets to me anyhow...
 
ninjanewbie said:
my old 2007 Ninja 650r, the upper fairing would resonate from the vibration, no matter what i did, nothing worked. i would be still feeling the vibration after a ride, which made my muscles in my hands tingle sometime after riding.
Click to expand...
On long rides I would sometimes get numb fingers on my 650r*. I switched to Manic Salamander bar end weights, which made a huge difference, and I added grip puppies as well, which added comfort. As far as I'm concerned the grips aren't buzzy anymore.

The Manic Salamander weights have two advantages over stock:
1. They're heavier and reduce the grip vibration. I tested this: I installed one side first and compared vs stock.
2. They're solid mounted, while the stock weights are rubber mounted. This means the stock weights vibrate a lot more than the grips themselves. When I'd go numb it was always at the outside edge of the hand, which is the part for me that sometimes touches the bar end. If like me, your hands are gonna touch the bar-ends, you don't want them to vibrate too much.

*part of the issue was gloves too. I was more likely to get numb fingers in winter gloves. I have thinner ones now.
 
Last edited:
Ogg said:
With twins, the engine configuration makes a huge difference, but I think the displacement matters a lot also.
- Parallel twin (two-fiddy, F800, etc.) seems to be more of a buzz than a paint shaker. The F800 is a much stronger vibration than the 250
Click to expand...
Sure piston size matters, but the big difference there is that they're different engine configurations. The 250 has a 180-degree crank, and the BMW has a 360-degree crank.

360-degree twins have the balance of a big thumper. BMW added some counterbalancing (essentially an extra rod IIRC), but I don't think it's as effective as the counterbalancing on some similar engines (e.g. modern Triumph). From my perspective (having only sat one one and revved it) they got an engine that shakes a bit, like some of their boxer twins. I've read speculation that they were trying for a similar feel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top