04 and Newer Sporty Bar Vibration Cured
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Joined: Jul 2005
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04 and Newer Sporty Bar Vibration Cured
Wife has an 05 XL1200C Sporty (Stage 1). Since new she has always complained of vibration in the bars. Not bad thrashing vibs but sorta like a tuning fork, for lack of a better description at highway speeds. I have searched every cause and checked everything from motor mounts, tuning, etc.. I have chaged grips, bars & even added the bar snake stuff in the bars with little improvement. Still during the longer trips the vibs are enough to make her hands go to sleep and with some atheritis it feels worse. Understanding the "Nature Of The Beast" that sporties do vibrate a little more than a dyna or RK with a TC or even EVO motor. I have would like to announce that I have found the cure for the 04 & later rubber mounted sporties. It seems that Harley in their infinate wisdom, spent so much money designing a rubber mounted motor sporty but then to only shoot their self in the foot by solid mounting the bar risers to the upper triple tree clamp vs the way they used to be with rubber bushings in the triple tree. Too many folks said it couldn't be done, But I did swap out the oem solid upper triple tree clamp with an 03 triple tree. And it works! The difference is like night & day. The wife's bike now feels like a dyna on steroids it is soooo smooth! Just a few parts from your dealer, ebay, and a couple extra washers the mad can be done. Attached is a PDF file I threw together with pics, sketches, & part #s. Thought I would pass this on before Harley starts selling a kit for $800. It cost me $25 for a triple tree from ebay and $20 for bushings & cup washers. Plus I made or had a couple washers laying around.
You can download a PDF file I threw together with how I did it.
http://www.box.net/shared/1rr9217y8s
Gene
You can download a PDF file I threw together with how I did it.
http://www.box.net/shared/1rr9217y8s
Gene
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RE: 04 and Newer Sporty Bar Vibration Cured
Sorry about the download not working. Don't understand why.
But feel free to email me at genepen@msn.com and I would be glad to email it to you. It is pretty descriptive complete with photos, sketches, & part #s.
It took about 1-1/2 hours to do in my garage & that was because I didn't know what I was doing initially. With all the pieces in hand, a bike lift or stand, and a 2nd person to hold the bars for 10 minutes while you do the swap, the whole show shouldn't take anymore than 45 minutes. I loosened risers & clamp 1st, then had the wife come out & hold the bars up for a couple minutes while I did the actual swap. As far as a jack goes, I just used a 4x6 to block the front end up to keep the weight off the front wheel so the bearing stays in place.
But feel free to email me at genepen@msn.com and I would be glad to email it to you. It is pretty descriptive complete with photos, sketches, & part #s.
It took about 1-1/2 hours to do in my garage & that was because I didn't know what I was doing initially. With all the pieces in hand, a bike lift or stand, and a 2nd person to hold the bars for 10 minutes while you do the swap, the whole show shouldn't take anymore than 45 minutes. I loosened risers & clamp 1st, then had the wife come out & hold the bars up for a couple minutes while I did the actual swap. As far as a jack goes, I just used a 4x6 to block the front end up to keep the weight off the front wheel so the bearing stays in place.
Road Captain
Joined: May 2007
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RE: 04 and Newer Sporty Bar Vibration Cured
I don;t notie any vibration really in my 07'. Smaller engine could be why I suppose?
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Road Master
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,019
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From: Chester County, PA
RE: 04 and Newer Sporty Bar Vibration Cured
Vibrations range from pulse to buzz depending on engine and everyone has different sensitivity to it. A lot of I4s put my hands to sleep, where the pulse of a twin is just... nice. One of my riding buddies is the exact opposite. All in what you're used to and in what you're sensitive to.
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Tourer
Joined: Jan 2008
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From: Oswego, IL
RE: 04 and Newer Sporty Bar Vibration Cured
I believe I read something when Harley did the rubber mounting of the 04 sporties that they deliberately did NOT want to eliminate all vibration. The article said something about they didn't want it to feel like you were on a Buell so they kept some of thesportster "feel". Seems the rigid mounting of the bar risers is how they decided to keep some vibration.
Good work GeneP, this looks like a very cool mod.
Kanzig
Good work GeneP, this looks like a very cool mod.
Kanzig
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Joined: Oct 2007
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From: 50 Miles North N.Y.C.
RE: 04 and Newer Sporty Bar Vibration Cured
Is it safe will it hold up? How many miles have you put on the bike since you did the mod? How doe's the bike handle. I like your Idea.