Vibration again.

[Greenman14]

Am I right, does your brother also have a GSA? Do you find his bike as bad as yours? My mates bikes (standard TCs) have a vibration patch at motorway speeds, bad at 70 in top but ok at 85. My Hilltopped TC, with Renthals, is fine at any speed any revs. Seems like there are two possibilities: you are particularly sensitive to vibration, or your bike is particularly bad. In the first case maybe you have to think about changing the bike, in the second there probably aren't any cheap fixes either. ��

 

[Bendy toy]

What map are you using, bendy?
Might be worth looking at using their standard European map. I believe it allows for better burning fuel compared to the U.S. stuff with ethanol. I found it made the bike really smooth and flexible.
You can always save your existing mapping on your pc for uploading again if that doesn't work.

I presume its the EU map but I don't have a PC so not checked. It certain made power delivery much smoother so good in fact the bike feels like it handles better at any speed. No hesitation just immediate power exactly when its needed.

I think there are two issues. My bike vibrates at motorway speeds and I've become hypersensitive to any vibration.

But out today at normal road speeds and some back lanes. Its butter smooth. The heavier end weights have helped but the potential movement of lead shot appears to be a non-event. Next stage is to cast them solid.

Brother's bike has standard map and is rougher in the flat spots. He doesn't get any low speed shake (more than vibration) because his bike wont pull smoothly below 2,500 revs. The shake is fine and never been a problem. Its the >70 stuff thats a pain.

His ticks-over more smoothly than mine but has much less urgency. It feels like the brakes are dragging. My throttles are balanced so it might have a sticky idle stepper motor.

 

[Bendy toy]

I will probably go for some AF-XIEDs but they will have to wait for the cash as I'll need new O2 sensors and the AFs.

 

[Roger 04 RT]

While the XIEDs will probably be a better solution, hopefully you can make some headway to reduce the vibration before then. A power imbalance seems the most likely culprit unless something is mechanically broken or loose.

Fueling imbalance is a possibility, injector spray pattern (one is different from the other leading to some fuel being burned late) or a weak coil (having the effect of altering timing). Techron concentrate Plus could clean the injectors, or you could try borrowing injectors and coils from a friend whose bike has less/no vibration.

 

[Bendy toy]

Coils are about 3 years old stainless case type so should be ok. I'll try my brother's injectors and see if that helps. Most of the time I run posh petrol so they should be clean. But saying that, if there is a pop back its always on the right.

The fuel pump was recently replaced (stuttering at low tank level and running out with fuel in the tank) - no effect on mechanical vibration.

Trying known ok injectors rules that out.

 

[The bigun]

Why not do a throttle body sync and tappets and end float check first and take all the plugs out and see if they all look ok this would be my route first , you mention a sticking stepper motor how do you know this and why if it is faulty are you not replacing it

 

[comberjohn]

When I bought my PCV second hand, it had the standard U.S. map and it was good. Then I decided to install the European standard map and although I didn't expect to feel any difference, it was noticeable straight away.
It became a big pussy cat. Much smoother and even more flexible. As I've said before, probably would have kept my PCV if it hadn't been for keeping water out of the connectors, plus, at that time, I had no idea about the purpose of the O2 sensors.
As your existing map is an unknown, that's where I would start. The P.O. of the PCV might have fancied himself as a tuner and has buggered things up. You can change the fueling across a range of rpm/throttle openings and there might be the problem.
See if you can borrow a laptop for an hour. I'm sure someone had an old one lying about. Doesn't have to be that sophisticated for this. Once you download the PCV software and plug into the PCV, it takes seconds to swap maps.
It would annoy me not knowing what map it's running.

 

[Bendy toy]

Why not do a throttle body sync and tappets and end float check first and take all the plugs out and see if they all look ok this would be my route first , you mention a sticking stepper motor how do you know this and why if it is faulty are you not replacing it

Done all that. Throttles are balanced. tappets were set last autumn.

The idle stepper motor hasn't been confirmed and I don't like changing stuff unless its clearly faulty. Once the engine is above 1500 revs the steppers do nothing to affect the throttle. They wont affect vibration at speed. They kick back in when the revs drop to control the tickover speed.

 

[Bendy toy]

When I bought my PCV second hand, it had the standard U.S. map and it was good. Then I decided to install the European standard map and although I didn't expect to feel any difference, it was noticeable straight away.
It became a big pussy cat. Much smoother and even more flexible. As I've said before, probably would have kept my PCV if it hadn't been for keeping water out of the connectors, plus, at that time, I had no idea about the purpose of the O2 sensors.
As your existing map is an unknown, that's where I would start. The P.O. of the PCV might have fancied himself as a tuner and has buggered things up. You can change the fueling across a range of rpm/throttle openings and there might be the problem.
See if you can borrow a laptop for an hour. I'm sure someone had an old one lying about. Doesn't have to be that sophisticated for this. Once you download the PCV software and plug into the PCV, it takes seconds to swap maps.
It would annoy me not knowing what map it's running.

I'll look into this. Might even be an excuse to Boot Camp the Mac to run Windoze.

 

[GoldTop]

Vibration Again

There is a company in America that has developed handlebars with built in damping. Expensive but may be worth a look at their website, they do specifically mention high frequency vibration. Try www.fasstco.com.
Allan

 

[Bendy toy]

Hi Alan, I seriously looked at Fasstco and these. https://twistedengineering.com/products.php#hb

Cole at Fasstco was really helpful, but his Flexx bars are not suitable for the horizontal vibration generated by the boxer engine. They absorb road vibration on crosser bikes and engine vibes from vertical engines. Their main aim is to reduce road impact loads so they might not be be effective on the high frequency of engine vibes.

Twisted Engineering looks really interesting especially their softest version but the high cost put me off. It's a lot to spend only to find its not doing the job.

However, £300 to avoid having to sell the bike would be a cheap fix so its not a whacky idea.

 

[comberjohn]

£300 is not far off a remap or a pair of AF XiED units...

 

[Bendy toy]

£300 is not far off a remap or a pair of AF XiED units...

I agree and where I will go first. It's also not possible to use "normal" hand guards so that's an additional cost to factor in and an unknown quantity without the chance to ride one.

The PC made a huge difference on top of the OEM map - whack it open at 4K revs in 3rd and its verging on scary how fast the bike picks up. The XIED would be a great deal better as it always gets the best AF ratio.