What have you done for your T7 today?

[DonaNobisPacem]

That's exactly what I did, but it was still an inch too long. Just to be clear, this is the stock bar end. The length marked by red is more or less how big the insert that came with the hand guards and replaced it is. Putting it outside the backbone isn't a feasible option as well, the threads are simply too thick to go through, and expanding the hole on the backbone would leave it with too little material left.

Edited December 3, 2021 by DonaNobisPacem

[DonaNobisPacem]

1 minute ago, DuncMan said:

@DonaNobisPacemMight be worth a call to the guard manufacturer and see what they say. Are you using the stock handlebars or aftermarket. I seem to remember a previous post mentioning you changed them?

I'm running stock handlebars.

[AZJW]

@DonaNobisPacem Here's another idea.  I've not needed one of these before, but have read about positive results, besides the reviews on their website.   I have no experience with this product,  but sounds much easier to use than silicone.

 

Home

---

The Worlds Finest Handlebar Vibration Control System. Carter Powel Barsnake Inventor.

 

[Burnsey]

8 minutes ago, DuncMan said:

Might work fine but I wouldn’t personally accept a part that screwed something else up that required me to purchase further parts to remedy. If the bars were aftermarket I’d understand but not if they’re stock. 

 

Tough one to maintain that mate.

 

Levers don't fit with cetan handguards etc. Not everyone has the vibration issue.

 

In fairness, if Yamaha were doing it 'right', they'd not sell any Tenere 700's to anyone under 5'10"

[Burnsey]

32 minutes ago, DuncMan said:

Levers are one thing mate but making the bike unridable is not acceptable.

 

I don't think handguard manufacturers can be blamed for a crap OEM design though - my XT was terrible out of the box and sold it at 180 miles.

 

I bought some handguards and levers from the same retailer and they weren't compatible, but I'd fitted them, so had to buy new. 

 

It's all part of changing a stock bike - the risk you take...

[Wintersdark]

 

Last night, had a nice snowy ride home from work with the new studs and front.  Not super deep; 7:30pm in Calgary saw half an inch on the roads, some loose, some packed, some ice.  Upwards of an inch between the lanes where cars had pushed the snow.  Had a guy turn left in front of me, panic, and stop blocking my lane and the next over - close enough to be alarming in daylight without snow, terrifying as it was in the dark, in snow.  Rode ABS, but fortunately he had the good sense to start moving again rather than stare at me like a startled deer.  Dunno if I'd have hit him or not, but it wouldn't have been too bad if I did - was prepared for someone to do something stupid, and was already slowing before he pulled out.

 

Regardless, it was trivial to keep the bike upright and inline, and that I'm happy for.  It felt confident at speed, tracked well.  Cornering at low speed and hard lean feels really weird with the studs, though - the bars want to wiggle with each stud.  Tracks fine, doesn't slip, but feels very weird.

 

The stock Pirelli on the rear actually worked pretty well accelerating in the snow.  It's studded as well, with two studs in every other block (alternating with the studs in the side blocks), and had no problem hooking up and pushing the bike forwards.  I was really wondering if I'd miss the Tracer's TCS in the snow, but nope.   Good enough grab that being reasonable on the throttle (though still faster than all the cars) it always just lept forwards with no "rear tire wants to pass the front" shenanigans going on. 

 

Even doing 100kph, not a bit of slip at all.  Pretty encouraging.  I'm intrigued at what the maximum snow depth will be, particularly with the Motoz front having such a ridiculously deep tread.  That was always a problem with the Tracer's winters.  The Anlas Wintergrip Plus tires are surprisingly sticky in ice and snow, but can't handle much of anything more than what  we had last night before they fill up, become snowy, smooth donuts, and lose it.  

 

 

[UtahJack]

@DonaNobisPacem

I have what looks like, to be the same ones on my bike, I also added the Heed rear crash bars that run along the bottom of the plastic. The two of them work nicely to hold my Enduristan Blizard XL saddle bags of the plastic.

[UtahJack]

@Wintersdark

Add more studs to the front tire and that will help with "bars want to wiggle"

[Wintersdark]

57 minutes ago, UtahJack said:

@Wintersdark

Add more studs to the front tire and that will help with "bars want to wiggle"

Yeah, was starting light (50% of blocks got studs) because A: the studs are stupidly expensive, and B: I didn't want them skating on bare pavement, as any winter ride is going to involve bare pavement as well as other stuff.  I've got more coming, however. 

[Wintersdark]

1 hour ago, UtahJack said:

@DonaNobisPacem

I have what looks like, to be the same ones on my bike, I also added the Heed rear crash bars that run along the bottom of the plastic. The two of them work nicely to hold my Enduristan Blizard XL saddle bags of the plastic.

I'm eyeballing a rear rack that includes those grab bars, and does NOT wrap under the tail as my whole under tail area is really busy now between the Heed rear bars and Hazar exhaust.  Hadn't even thought about them keeping the bags off the plastic, but that's great.  Trapped dirt won't eat into the paint/plastics that way.

[Ray Ride4life]

Just made him dirty.
Had a low sun on my daily commute and i only could see the track by the shining of the puddles and not what was beside.
Had to hit them all to make a safe pass.

[Wintersdark]

A dirty bike is a happy bike!

[DonaNobisPacem]

7 hours ago, DuncMan said:

Levers are one thing mate but making the bike unridable is not acceptable.

I never went as far as saying it made the bike unrideable. The ride is still smooth until I hit around the 5k RPM mark, and then the vibrations start. If I had to say, the vibrations are comparable to what I get from my thumper when I wring the throttle. Sure, it would start to numb your hand after a while, but it's still very manageable. My issue is that a vast majority seems to be of the opinion that the T7 should be a very smooth ride, so I'm trying to see if I can make things a just little bit better.

[WRXer]

10 hours ago, DuncMan said:

Might work fine but I wouldn’t personally accept a part that screwed something else up that required me to purchase further parts to remedy. If the bars were aftermarket I’d understand but not if they’re stock. 

Sounds like you are describing the Bark busters to me!  Those Zetas look like a hellofva better solution out of the box than the Bark Busters.  If you want to buy more pieces to get hand guards to work with the stock weights & / or factory heated grips, please get the Bark busters.  I bet the Zetas can at least accommodate things like---I dunno---the clutch cable.

[DonaNobisPacem]

Update: Just got back from another ride, and somehow the problem fixed itself. There are still vibrations present, as can be expected since I'm not running weights, but it's way less than before. Maybe it's because I fiddled with the hand guards and controls and re-tightened everything. Maybe it's because I changed the positioning of the hand guards to be more symmetric since the dealer installed them unaligned with each other. I honestly have no clue.

Edited December 4, 2021 by DonaNobisPacem

[Chris1974]

Today I removed the ECU from my bike. Shipped it to 2wheel Dynoworks for a reflash.

Cant wait for it to return and try it out.

[Wintersdark]

On 12/3/2021 at 6:42 AM, DonaNobisPacem said:

 

I've read about filling up the entire bar with silicone sealant as a solution, but I'm afraid that it will be a giant pain to clean up if it doesn't work out. Another alternative I'm looking at is filling it up with something like steel ball bearings, and hope it doesn't make a giant racket with all of them rattling inside instead.

How about a good middle ground: Fill the bars completely with sand.

 

Sand has a fair amount of mass, but can shift around a tiny bit.  This will completely deaden vibrations.  If you don't like it, it just pours back out again.

[williestreet]

Steering stem off for  greasing and was happy to see it still had a decent amount of grease from the factory.  Cleaned it up, greased it again and reinstalled.  Should be good till next winter. 

 

 

[DonaNobisPacem]

Installed CamelAdv's 1-finger clutch kit today. It was pretty simple, but putting the snap ring back took me way too long. So long in fact, that the snap ring Camel provided with the kit wouldn't close anymore, so I just used the original one instead. There's a noticeable difference for the clutch pull even on just the middle setting, but testing it out on a ride will have to be on another day.

[Burnsey]

Fannied about 

 

The side by side bracket for OEM display and nav arrived and after seeing another buyer install, decided to return it. Whether or not it ever gets there is yet to be seen (Italian postal service is notorious for disappearing parcels). So, back to basics and going with mounting the Zumo on the crossbar, using an excellent mount from MotoPumps USA.

 

The phone and Quadlock works well, but would rather have the phone as a phone and safely tucked away in my pocket, so that set up was sold and playing with the Zumo, it works navigation, phone and music really well, so no need to have your phone on the bike.

 

Bought a discounted Scottoiler at the bike show, so popping up to my mates to fir that, wire in the nav and Oxford grips later. 

 

Plus, one of the BarkBusters bolts has rounded off, so need to extract that and replace.

[RobR]

On 12/4/2021 at 1:32 PM, Wintersdark said:

How about a good middle ground: Fill the bars completely with sand.

 

Sand has a fair amount of mass, but can shift around a tiny bit.  This will completely deaden vibrations.  If you don't like it, it just pours back out again.

I've had good luck with mixing BB's with silicon on dirty bikes in the past.

[electric_monk]

After 16k kms I finally changed the front tyre. Heidenau K60 scout to match the rear. As badly worn as the OEM scorpion was, it still handled well. Looking forward to seeing how the K60s work as a pair

[Redneckj]

1 hour ago, electric_monk said:

After 16k kms I finally changed the front tyre. Heidenau K60 scout to match the rear. As badly worn as the OEM scorpion was, it still handled well. Looking forward to seeing how the K60s work as a pair

Be careful in the wet with that tire.  Those tires last forever,  just are less than desirable in the wet cold months.   

[electric_monk]

23 minutes ago, Redneckj said:

Be careful in the wet with that tire.  Those tires last forever,  just are less than desirable in the wet cold months.   

I ran them on an R100GS years ago and had no issues in the wet

[Wintersdark]

You can get the K60 Scout in a high silica formulation that's specifically designed for wet/cold situations, too.  Generally have to have it ordered in though, few shops seem to carry them.