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ProTaper bar installed

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af240z

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I couldn't get rid of the vibes in the Daytona bar, so I bought a protaper 7/8 SE bar in honda mini bend (flat wrist, almost no sweep, and it is close to the OEM height).

The bar has very thick aluminum (5mm) sidewall, so the OEM suzuki bar ends won't work without modification. I am not a fan of removing material that's difficult to replace, so I opted to make my own bar end adapters. I got some ideas from other forums, and I wound up using 5/16 fuel line to replace the OEM rubber on the bar ends. I had to drill out the fuel line on the inside to slide the oem steel tube into it, then placed a washer at the end, and installed another piece of fuel line to act as compression fitting. The nut has a grip washer on it, so it can stay on the rubber without spinning free, much like OEM.

I had to add a thin layer of electrical tape to fill in the gap on the non-compressed fuel line, and once these were in, they weren't going anywhere.

Excuse the protaper foam and crossbar: I am leaving them on until I make sure I don't need to return or exchange the bar. Now, pics:

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Also, any tips for removing the warning stickers that have been on the bike for 4 years? (I bought it used)
 
Took the bandit out for a spin. It is far more responsive in turns with the new bar, and the hand position is comfortable. However, vibrations are there, but they're different. It feels like fast oscillation, and after a trial 20 mile run at 5000rpm in 5th or 6th, my right hand got tingly and started going somewhat numb.

I'm wondering if it's a loose motormount, so I will check those next. I also took off the cross bar
 
af240z said:
Took the bandit out for a spin. It is far more responsive in turns with the new bar, and the hand position is comfortable. However, vibrations are there, but they're different. It feels like fast oscillation, and after a trial 20 mile run at 5000rpm in 5th or 6th, my right hand got tingly and started going somewhat numb.

I'm wondering if it's a loose motormount, so I will check those next. I also took off the cross bar
Click to expand...

No offense but it sounds as if the problem you were trying to fix has gotten worse, but hey who I my to pass judgment, and meanwhile my solid mount Daytona bars just keep on working mile after mile with no numbness or vibration.
 
Thank you for your informative input. I've applied your advice to my Bandit, and miraculously, the problem fixed itself! Please, tell me your secrets!
 
af240z said:
Thank you for your informative input. I've applied your advice to my Bandit, and miraculously, the problem fixed itself! Please, tell me your secrets!
Click to expand...

Besides using my solid mount handle bar mounts, I took the same weight of the stock steel bar ends and turned steel inserts the same weight and installed them inside each end of the bars with some silicone, leaving distance from the end of them to the end of the bars for the expanders for my custom billet bar ends. ;-)
 
Well, not all of us have access to lathes, CAD, and CNC machines. Some of us have to seek commercial solutions or make our own with non-industrial tools.
 
af240z said:
Took the bandit out for a spin. It is far more responsive in turns with the new bar, and the hand position is comfortable. However, vibrations are there, but they're different. It feels like fast oscillation, and after a trial 20 mile run at 5000rpm in 5th or 6th, my right hand got tingly and started going somewhat numb.

I'm wondering if it's a loose motormount, so I will check those next. I also took off the cross bar
Click to expand...

When trying to diagnose a problem, and since you have only changed one thing, the handle bars, I have to say that just changing your handle bars is not going to cause you your motor mounts to all of a sudden become loose, and that your problem with the vibration still exists with you're handle bars, but it is quite possible that your make shift bar end attachment is what is causing the difference in the vibration. So a simple test would be to remove the bar ends and do a test ride and see how that effects the vibration. ;-)
 
Daytona bars were originally fitted with OEM bandit bar ends. CUrrent bar ends are very snugly fit, and there's no movement. I will double check tomorrow

Alternatively, I can swap the OEM bar into place, and see if the vibrations exist. If they do, that means something else went wrong
 
af240z said:
Daytona bars were originally fitted with OEM bandit bar ends. CUrrent bar ends are very snugly fit, and there's no movement. I will double check tomorrow

Alternatively, I can swap the OEM bar into place, and see if the vibrations exist. If they do, that means something else went wrong
Click to expand...

Again, as with any type of trouble shooting, only change one thing at a time and then perform another test using the same procedure, for if you change more than one thing and you do happen to notice a change you won't know which of the changes you made was the one the caused the change.

You may also want to check other areas on your bike to make sure that thery are not in some way adding to any vibration your feeling in the bars, like your tire pressure, tire balance and throttle body sync. ;-)
 
I've thought about those. Tires were put on about 1000 miles ago, no weights missing. Pilot Road 3. I will ask the shop to rebalance the front for a test.

Tire pressure is checked before every ride (36/42)

Bike has 3900 miles on it, shouldn't need a TB sync.
 
So no clearance problem with those bars at full steering lock?

On Mt Bikes,aluminum bars are the stiff ones,carbon fiber or thin high quality steel are the bars that give a little over sharp bumps/washboard.

I notice the right bar vibration on my 1250 for about the first 25 miles of a ride,then I forget about it somehow, not sure how that works.
 
This is hte Honda Mini bend. I angled the brake/clutch downward slightly, so the levers just barely touch the screen when i go full lock to either side.

I suppose a raptor bend would be better, but has a bit more sweep. Probably close to the daytona
 
I had some problems with hand going numb while riding also. I did 2 things that have eliminated from happening again. I added foam cushion grips over the stock grips. I made a effort to use proper posture while riding and use my core to support myself instead of leaning my weight onto my hands and wrists. Hope this helps.
 
No, I did not shorten it. It's 730mm, almost same length as stock. I didn't shorten daytona bars either.

General thread update: I just came back from a 3 day long ride to Sierra mountains with the protaper. It's the motor vibrating, not the bar issue. Prior to leaving, I even took the bar ends off, and the vibrations were the same. All vibes go away when I pull clutch in at speed. Also, I got used to it. Hands were numb after 30 minutes at first, now I just did 90 miles without stopping and no cramping or numbness.

The protaper does make the bike feel like it wants to be thrown into corners. it does sit at almost stock bar height, so it will not make you sit upright like a daytona will. If you want that and a protaper, get the raptor or atv high, whichever one has a higher rise than the honda mini bend. I opted for that because it had the straightest sweep and rise of the options.
 
If its the motor creating the vibrations more then expected then its time to balance the throttle bodies! Mine vibrates more then it used to as well but I'm at 27k and still haven't bought the balancing tool so I can only blame myself! :rofl:
 
That's what's really weird: I just hit 4500 miles coming from this trip. It shouldn't be time to sync the TBs, but hey, weird things happen. I guess I'll finish up that stage 2 after all but drilling out the secondary butterfly bolts and do a TB sync
 
I recall reading about bikes being all screwy at even 600 miles so really it matters IF it was set right at 0 miles and how much it changed over initial break in, etc.
 
I'm going to borrow the carbsync tool from a friend and do a tb sync when I go to remove the secondary throttlebodies
 
I never did update this thread. Short version: TBs were out of sync and I synced them. Vibrations were greatly quelled.
 
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