My GS had such bad vibes, I sold it!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Taipan
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Taipan

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Hi All

I got talking with a guy about my bike at the weekend. he asked if I found it vibey and I said yes at around 3k ish it does get quite buzzy, but its never had its valve clearances set and is due to have them done soon and I hoped that would iron out some of the vibes.

He told me that he had a 1150GS and it suffered from really bad vibes at the same revs as mine did. He then told me it went into 2 different BMW dealers, where all kind of supposed fixes were carried out. But no one was ever able to cure it?

He said it was so bad that he would actually get numb fingers from it and reckoned he was getting "white finger" from it too. As no one could cure it, he actually sold the bike! he also reckoned he was not alone in this and had met other riders with the same problem of numbing fingers.

Funny thing was, he loved the bike and missed it. As a tourer he said it was superb, but it was town riding such as his daily commute that kept taking him through the vibey zone. Seems a damn shame to have got rid of a bike you loved because of that. It must have been some other fault than valve clearances and TB balancing surely?

Ok, I'll admit my fingers have got a little buzzy and numb at times, but nothing like as bad as this guy was telling me. I find it very hard to believe that 2 BMW dealers couldn't cure this?

I'm kind of intrigued by this. Has anyone else ever heard of a BMW with such bad vibes? Does your bike get vibey around the 3-3.5k mark? If so did it get like this as it was coming up for a service and did the service cure it?
 
I get the same numb fingers on my 1100GS at certain cruising speeds.
It varies with the thickness of gloves I wear,but is at it's worse with no gloves at all.
I have a spare pair of standard bar-end weights,I want to machine out the insides of these and fill them with lead to see if the additional weight is enough to damp out more of the vibration.
I noticed the numb fingers reduced a bit after I fitted the alloy wheel conversion,probably due to the fact my hands are a bit lower,(about 10mm?), in relation to my body, when riding.
Converting the engine to an inline 4 would probably cure it totally!:D
 
Damn,

reading those vibes and surging issues, i just don't get it!

Mine NEVER surged, never has been. I even don't know what surging is... It just runs consistent power delivery from idle to redline, or at any constant speed.

I've fekked with my valves - last time i experiemented giving intake valves a bit bigger gap, throttle bodyes were out of sinc too i checked afterwards, then there was minor vibes around 4K, but hardly noticable, still no vibes, no surge no nothing, it just plain works any time.

Fek, can anyone tell me what's that all about you discuss here?! Or i'm just lucky bastard riding on ideal 1100? :D

Shit, if i was on the same situation first i'd replace throttle cables which is the most probable reason of those vibes i think, cables are out of sync in assymetrical way - at one rpms you sycn the TBSes and all seems OK, but on another RPMs cables pull it out of sync again, i'm already noticing slight asymmetry on my current cables on syncing various RPMs, and acctually cables already should be replaced by manual, though, i'll suck maximum out of them - i'm poor student afterall :D. If no help from it i'd think about 30£ Motronic tuning chip from eBay, if no help from it, then Techclusion sure will help.

But to sell the bike coz of that minor stuff... Hmm.... Will you do me special price? :spl1f:
 
I think it underlines the importance of doing the throttle bodies under load at around 3000-4000rpm......
 
Done valve clearances,done throttle bodies,cables,etc.
Changing the cams and pistons moved the vibration patch about 5-600rpm higher.
Don't get me wrong,the vibes aren't excessive,but they're there which means you make every effort to reduce them to a minimum,but it is a flat twin.
I think the amount you grip the bars has an effect also because my right hand always has a tendency to become numb first.
 
I get it in my right hand too!

Thank god it's not just me - I thought it was w*****'s cramp....
 
Got me thinking now, perhaps I'll change hands and see if it gets worse on the left!:eek:
 
littleredrooster said:
I think it underlines the importance of doing the throttle bodies under load at around 3000-4000rpm......
Click to expand...

How do you do this?
 
Theres a lot to be said for having valves done and throttles balanced. My R12GS was as rough as hell after my tour of Ireland like a bag of spanners. The 18K service has made it so much smoother and responsive, its a joy to ride now.

Its a shame when things cause you to part with a machine you enjoyed when they can be fixed. Maybe it was combustion related and could have been solved with fresh plugs ??
 
Always my right hand which gets numb.
Used to think it was excess wanking but I realised I was left handed.
Dont think its vibration though. Mine seems quite smoooooooth.
 
Taipan said:
How do you do this?
Click to expand...

Strap the vacuum gauges to the bars and take it out for a ride on VERY quiet, straight roads. Make it pull hard in 4th or 5th gear and watch the gauges. (WARNING: Do not try this at home, death or serious injury may result. Do not take your eyes off the road; do not try to emulate the writers attempt to kill wildlife because of lack of observation; do not take any notice of this suggestion if you have ever tripped over your own shoelaces.)

Once you have done this, and then returned home and then set the brass screws for tickover, it is much easier next time just to tweak the cables for the perfect balance.
 
Pukmeister said:


Its a shame when things cause you to part with a machine you enjoyed when they can be fixed. Maybe it was combustion related and could have been solved with fresh plugs ??
Click to expand...

I didnt know the guy, he just came up to me whne I was getting on my bike and started chatting. I think he sold his bike as no one seemed able to fix it for him.

From what he was saying he genuinely missed the bike and was sorry to see it go. I think he'd like to try another but had spoke to other BMW riders and even I too had admitted mine was vibey at the same revs his was.

I did say that mine was over due a service though and playing with the techlusion could reduce or add to the vibration too. I mentioned getting a bike serviced by Steptoe or any independant, that someone recommended, rather than a BMW dealer. But I still dont think he was convinced due to comments from other riders.:(

To be honest, i thought he was over reacting as even though mine does vibrate, its not that bad. However, I normally only ride 30 miles to work on it an half of that is on motorway and the revs are way over 3k. Today I went to Bristol and back on it. I spent a lot of time in and around the 3-4k mark whilst filtering on the M25 and my hand did go numb!!:eek: :( I aint selling though.
smokin.gif
 
I get the Numb hand syndrome too - but I get it on any bike - the GS is the best bike (least numb hands) for me..

it is strange how some bikes seem sensitive to TB balancing and others aren't.

I've done 1500 miles since I balanced mine, and they are out again. Vibes and surging back. Luckily it's only a 5 min job when you know how. But I am using the light brown (olive) cat code plug, which seems to increase the vibes/surging, but the fuelling and power seem to be spot on.
 
Try bending your elbows whilst riding. I'm serious here, if you do not grip so tightly and allow some "slack" in the elbow this eases any feeling in the hands.
Honest!
 
30K service

I'm interested in this as I have similar vibes at above 3 to 3.5K revs. I am due for a 30K steptoe service soon and am expecting the vibes to reduce...

We'll see...
 
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