I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes - vibration!

Mightytharg

Mightytharg

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Chaps

I'm getting a little fed up with vibes on my 2010 GSA and looking for advice on those who've spent cash on upgrades on the latest boxers - wheres the most bang for the buck?

This is my 9th BM and my 4th boxer and (excepting the K100RS) it's definitely the worst for vibes when cruising.

The chaps at BVM and Cotswold have improved matters slightly but its still very much there.

Of all the bikes I've owned this one reminds me most of my R1100S where in standard form the motor just didnt feel happy, that got remedied very quickly with a Vanderlinde pipe and chip and it (and me) were much happier indeed.

So my thoughts have turned to ditching the whole exhaust (including cat and flap) and replacing with secondhand from ebay for the pre 2010 GS.

And also to remapping or plugging in something to richen the mixture a bit.

I don't need more power from the GSA and don't need (or want) more noise but I want to get this bike running smoother.

So those of you that've done similar on a 2010 where do you feel you got the best gains?
 
I find this strange. I can ride 3 hours non-stop on my 2010 GSA with no trouble, whereas the 2005 GS I had was shocking. It seems as though the characteristics vary a great deal from bike to bike :nenau
With any twin you will get a cetain amount of vibes though, and not sure how you'll correct it. Some say rubber footpeg inserts help with vibes through the feet on the GSA.
 
On my 2010 GS there is a lot of vibration in a small range between ~4200-4500 rpm, which of course is at normal motorway speed :blast No problems other than that.
 
Mightytharg said:
Chaps

I'm getting a little fed up with vibes on my 2010 GSA and looking for advice on those who've spent cash on upgrades on the latest boxers - wheres the most bang for the buck?

This is my 9th BM and my 4th boxer and (excepting the K100RS) it's definitely the worst for vibes when cruising.

The chaps at BVM and Cotswold have improved matters slightly but its still very much there.

Of all the bikes I've owned this one reminds me most of my R1100S where in standard form the motor just didnt feel happy, that got remedied very quickly with a Vanderlinde pipe and chip and it (and me) were much happier indeed.

So my thoughts have turned to ditching the whole exhaust (including cat and flap) and replacing with secondhand from ebay for the pre 2010 GS.

And also to remapping or plugging in something to richen the mixture a bit.

I don't need more power from the GSA and don't need (or want) more noise but I want to get this bike running smoother.

So those of you that've done similar on a 2010 where do you feel you got the best gains?
Click to expand...

How many miles on your bike ?

It will get smoother the more miles you put on it.

In addition i put on some rubber footpeg mounts and some grip puppies, both have helped my 60 plate GSA, 3k on it and its very smooth :thumb2

you should not need to remap or do anything, having said that i have a Bos end can on mine and have unplugged the cables on the link pipe little black box.
 
I did about 250 miles yesterday, A roads and Bs. No intrusive vibration at all, no numbness, nothing. Only affliction I suffered was a bit of a numb bum, but that was down to being a bit lardy, and sitting in the saddle for the best part of 7 hours.

This was on a 2010 standard GS (not adventure). It would have been a quite different story if I'd have been on my old R1200S, which had a lot more vibration, especially when accelerating. For me, the DOHC Boxer is very smooth (without being bland).
 
Just a thought, as per LBL's comments, I've used rubber inserts on the footrests @£24 ish dependent on dealer, and Grip Puppies. They reduced tingles and vibes a bit however, I took Puppies off as they made the handle bar grips feel like dustbins in size. and caused my hands to ache!!

One last thought, I have a 2009 model, vibration does seem to be affected by set up. BMW dealers as a whole go to the book in terms of tolerance, (ie if its 5-20mm they will be happy at 20), this makes a difference on pre 2010 on things such as cam end float. Getting it at tightest allowed tolerance reduces vibes significantly. Also throttle balancing makes huge difference,so maybe you need it set up by a good indy?
 
Grip puppies :thumb
I have a set of HG brake and clutch lever foam thingys also. they help only £2 from you local HG dealer

the only down side to the grip puppies is the level of heating from the heated grips....you will find that the 1st setting doesnt feel like its switched on and the 2nd setting seemslike the 1st without the puppies.

but they do help to reduce the vibs you feel through the bars.

going to try the rubber foot peg inserts that others have mentioned on here for the 600 and 450 and see if they improve things...£24 from your BuMW dealer apparantly?
 
Mightytharg said:
Chaps

I'm getting a little fed up with vibes on my 2010 GSA and looking for advice on those who've spent cash on upgrades on the latest boxers - wheres the most bang for the buck?

This is my 9th BM and my 4th boxer and (excepting the K100RS) it's definitely the worst for vibes when cruising.

The chaps at BVM and Cotswold have improved matters slightly but its still very much there.

Of all the bikes I've owned this one reminds me most of my R1100S where in standard form the motor just didnt feel happy, that got remedied very quickly with a Vanderlinde pipe and chip and it (and me) were much happier indeed.

So my thoughts have turned to ditching the whole exhaust (including cat and flap) and replacing with secondhand from ebay for the pre 2010 GS.

And also to remapping or plugging in something to richen the mixture a bit.

I don't need more power from the GSA and don't need (or want) more noise but I want to get this bike running smoother.

So those of you that've done similar on a 2010 where do you feel you got the best gains?
Click to expand...

Should have got the standard model, they are smoother and faster :D
 
snerkler said:
I assume you're joking about being smoother? :nenau
Click to expand...

Only partly joking - can't say my standard bike vibrates badly at all - some parts of the rev range are really smooth, some not so - a bit more vibration when it is worked hard but it is never bothersome - it is subjective, what bothers one person doesn't another :nenau

The manufacturer must have a specification but I guess some bikes come of the production line better balanced than others (pistons, crakshafts etc) and if you have one that is on the limits of it's specification then no amount of throttle balancing etc is gonna make a big difference. :nenau
 
This might sound a bit daft but a 400 mile ride last week left me with tingling fingers (2010 R1200GS) with very thin summer gloves. I bought a pair of BMW Prosummer gloves and they feel like they have a very thin padding on the palm, 235 miles yesterday with no tingling. Obviously, the standard GS has rubber footpeg inserts and they seem to work.
 
Engineer said:
Only partly joking - can't say my standard bike vibrates badly at all - some parts of the rev range are really smooth, some not so - a bit more vibration when it is worked hard but it is never bothersome - it is subjective, what bothers one person doesn't another :nenau

The manufacturer must have a specification but I guess some bikes come of the production line better balanced than others (pistons, crakshafts etc) and if you have one that is on the limits of it's specification then no amount of throttle balancing etc is gonna make a big difference. :nenau
Click to expand...

As a general rule I don't think a GS would be any smoother than a GSA, but I'm no expert. Obviously some bikes vibrate more than others due to the tolerances you mentioned.
I find my 2010GSA much smoother than my 2005GS. 90 mins of motorway riding on the 2005GS and my hands would literally go numb, so much so that I couldn't use the controls and so had to stop until they 'came back round' :eek:
 
The Nutter said:
This might sound a bit daft but a 400 mile ride last week left me with tingling fingers (2010 R1200GS) with very thin summer gloves. I bought a pair of BMW Prosummer gloves and they feel like they have a very thin padding on the palm, 235 miles yesterday with no tingling. Obviously, the standard GS has rubber footpeg inserts and they seem to work.
Click to expand...

I normally ride with either BMW summer rain gloves or BMW enduro GS Pro gloves, both are pretty then but I have never had tingly fingers either on my previous 2005 1200GS, or my new 2010 model - again perhaps some people are more susceptible to this than others - :nenau
 
You can't cure the vibes, but you can reduce them:

Get valve clearances spot on and throttle bodies well balanced.

Fit footpeg rubbers and grip puppies.

Ride and relax.
 
Pukmeister said:
You can't cure the vibes, but you can reduce them:

Get valve clearances spot on and throttle bodies well balanced.

Fit footpeg rubbers and grip puppies.

Ride and relax.
Click to expand...

:thumb apparently BMW Motorrad (one of th local dealerships in Cape Town) has recently purchased a new machine to assist in balancing the throttle bodies to reduce the vibrations.
Some have had complete success.... others not?

I also spoke to one of the UK dealerships with regard to the vibration issues of the 2010 models and was advised that they were not aware of any vibration issues at their dealership at all.... :augie
 
Mightytharg said:
Chaps

I'm getting a little fed up with vibes on my 2010 GSA and looking for advice on those who've spent cash on upgrades on the latest boxers - wheres the most bang for the buck?

This is my 9th BM and my 4th boxer and (excepting the K100RS) it's definitely the worst for vibes when cruising.
Click to expand...

Was your K100RS really that bad?

Im on my 4th and have never really found them uncomfortably vibey :nenau
 
when i rode a 2009 12gs the vibes thro the bars was very off putting and it also limited what i could clearly see in the mirrors, now my 2010 bike with pc and full exhaust is as smooth as any jap bike not a vibe and the mirrors dont vibrate either. :thumb
 
Vibration 2010 GSA

I went through this whole saga with my bike last year.

It was in and out of the dealers more times than I can care to remember. Everyone agreed it vibrated more than it should but no one knew how to resolve the situation short of giving me a new bike.

Eventually after an email to BMW CEO, von Kuhnheim (I think), we had a flurry of activity from BMW and the problem was tracked down to a faulty lambda sensor. Bike is pretty smooth now though I think my 2007 GSA was smoother.

Interestingly BMW admitted they have seen this problem on a fair few 2010 boxers but all are GSA's. Go figure :nenau
 
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