Hands falling asleep engine vib above 5k rpm

[Mike M]

Has anyone found a solution to Hwy speed engine vibrations above 5k RPM. I like the bike but if I can’t find a solution riding up to Alaska just not gonna work in this thing….my hand falls asleep. Weighted bar ends ? Rubber mounted bar absorbers?

 

 

[Wintersdark]

$5 throttle lock and just take your hands off the bars from time to time?   

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[Canzvt]

Yep. This is normal. Not right, but normal. The 2 solutions I have found to work are foam grips (hate them for anything other than highway), and a throttle lock so you can switch off hands. When I rode up there from Edmonton in 2015 on my Super Tenere, I found the same problem, although not as bad. The throttle lock saved my hands.

[Hibobb]

2 hours ago, Mike M said:

Has anyone found a solution to Hwy speed engine vibrations above 5k RPM. I like the bike but if I can’t find a solution riding up to Alaska just not gonna work in this thing….my hand falls asleep. Weighted bar ends ? Rubber mounted bar absorbers?

 

 

A one tooth larger countershaft sprocket will drop your highway rev by about 500 rpm.

The MT-07 (same engine but on a street bike) has the larger countershaft sprocket and a three tooth smaller rear sprocket. This combo would be fine for the Alaska trip unless you plan on riding Mt. Mckinley!! Ya, it takes a little of the fun factor out of the bike but it sounds like your trip is mostly on the road. Best of luck to you... keep us posted.

 

 

[Mike M]

Well I haven’t actually bought the bike yet. I went to a destination Yamaha and rented it twice now have about four or five hours on it. I was really thinking this was gonna be the bike and I do like the bike but I just don’t think I can put up with this little side effect on long rides….I might have to keep looking

[Wintersdark]

1 minute ago, Mike M said:

Well I haven’t actually bought the bike yet. I went to a destination Yamaha and rented it twice now have about four or five hours on it. I was really thinking this was gonna be the bike and I do like the bike but I just don’t think I can put up with this little side effect on long rides….I might have to keep looking

Are there any comparable bikes that don't do this?   I honestly don't think so, but could be wrong.  I've never ridden one that doesn't, which is why I'm all about cruise control or those throttle locks.

[WookinPaNub]

The hand position / bend of the bars on my Super10 seems to be much better in regards to reducing the vibration through my wrists than the T7. I added foam grips to the T7 which helped (I have larger hands, so less squeezing), but the rest is learning to try to relax my grip even further and watch the bending in my elbows. I've not found a better solution unfortunately....

[qInvention]

I think I have read somewhere around here that you can buy some sort of a rubber snake that goes into the handlebar and someone replied that he was just filling his handlebar with sand, which would also result in far less vibrations.

 

Has anyone first hand experiences with these rubber things or sand ? Does it really improve vibrations?

[jdub53]

Carpal tunnel syndrome in your wrist maybe? 

 

Several years ago, out of the blue my right hand and fingers started going numb 30 minutes into every ride on my R1200GS which is one of the smoothest bikes I've ever owned. Got downright dangerous as I couldn't tell how hard I was squeezing the brake lever. Funny thing was, no such issues when I rode my DR650 back-to-back with the GS, and the DR was definitely not as smooth as the GS.

 

Went to the doctor and was diagnosed with medium carpal tunnel in both wrists. Had surgery on the right hand, and no more numbness issues. Surgeon said no reason to operate on the left as it never bothered me.

[TexasT700]

I agree, grip puppies and throttle lock is great solution. I have carpal tunnel syndrome and constant holding throttle open brings on numb hands. I also went up one tooth on drive sprocket. Very acceptable with these fixes! Hang in there.

[TimeMachine]

7 hours ago, jdub53 said:

Carpal tunnel syndrome in your wrist maybe? 

 

Several years ago, out of the blue my right hand and fingers started going numb 30 minutes into every ride on my R1200GS which is one of the smoothest bikes I've ever owned. Got downright dangerous as I couldn't tell how hard I was squeezing the brake lever. Funny thing was, no such issues when I rode my DR650 back-to-back with the GS, and the DR was definitely not as smooth as the GS.

 

Went to the doctor and was diagnosed with medium carpal tunnel in both wrists. Had surgery on the right hand, and no more numbness issues. Surgeon said no reason to operate on the left as it never bothered me.

Perhaps this relates more to bar angle and rider triangle than to vibration? The DR has more sweep in the bars.

Edited January 31, 2022 by TimeMachine

[Toppie]

On 10/5/2021 at 1:36 AM, Wintersdark said:

Are there any comparable bikes that don't do this?   I honestly don't think so, but could be wrong.  I've never ridden one that doesn't, which is why I'm all about cruise control or those throttle locks.

 

I concur!

I've had more bikes than I can count and I cant think of one that, somewhere in its rev-range, I didn't get a tingle  at the bars.

Perhaps just a weeny one but, it'll be there somewhere.

And, if it's in the 'range' that you cruise in, it'll be a nuisance factor.

I also use the Aliexpress throttle-stops on both my current bikes for exactly this problem.......no problem.

 

 

 

 

 

[jdub53]

11 hours ago, TimeMachine said:

Perhaps this relates more to bar angle and rider triangle than to vibration? The DR has more sweep in the bars.

Possible, but I'll never know now and my DR had aftermarket bars with a different bend than stock. Hand/arm position was very similar between the GS and DR (both were very comfortable for me, but the GS OEM bars were about 1" wider).  

 

My main point was if I'd never gotten tested for carpal tunnel I'd likely have fought this issue for the rest of my life when riding.  

 

[ahamay]

18 hours ago, jdub53 said:

Carpal tunnel syndrome in your wrist maybe? 

 

Several years ago, out of the blue my right hand and fingers started going numb 30 minutes into every ride on my R1200GS which is one of the smoothest bikes I've ever owned. Got downright dangerous as I couldn't tell how hard I was squeezing the brake lever. Funny thing was, no such issues when I rode my DR650 back-to-back with the GS, and the DR was definitely not as smooth as the GS.

 

Went to the doctor and was diagnosed with medium carpal tunnel in both wrists. Had surgery on the right hand, and no more numbness issues. Surgeon said no reason to operate on the left as it never bothered me.

This right here. I experienced this symptom and it was/is related to position and angle of arms and hands. It is nerve impingement. 

 

To me, vibration theory was disproven

[Ray Ride4life]

I have carpal tunnel on both hands but no problem with the T7.

[NWrider]

I'm running a 16T CS sprocket which equates to 5000 rpm and 70 mph.  My T7 is very smooth from 60 - 80.   However, due to arthritis, I installed a MC Cruise electronic cruise control (out of Australia) for longer stretches of highway -- expensive but it's an excellent product and great support.

[Dougie]

Hi Mike, some good tips up above. I haven’t had this effect on my T7 but have on other bikes. The bar sweep can be agony if not right for you. I’ve also had the vibes just in the wrong gloves on several occasions.  Up gearing should definitely be a help on long road journeys, and consider the tyres too. Maybe a more road biased adventure tyre might help. We’ve (lots of us) have also had vibes/ droning from the front tyre, and also, some dealers may not have balanced the wheels as well as others. It’s not really a vibey bike, I’ve found, so I hope a few little changes will sort it for you. ( I’m still thinking problem is more wheels not engine) best of luck mate. 

[Chev.]

Although I have never had any serious problems with handlebar vibrations, I do prefer the bars to be as quiet as possible, particularly on road trips (the bike is my daily commuter, early spring through autumn). On my XT660Z (picking up my T7 in a few days) I opted out of hand-guards altogether. The barkbusters caused some noticeable vibrations, even with the extra outer, eye-tear shaped, weights, whereas without the guards, but with the OEM bar-end weights, the handlebars to me felt simply super smooth. I think perhaps this relates to the busters' braced fixing towards the middle of the bars decreases the bars' ability to, by the means of the end weights, counter the vibrations forwarded from the engine and frame, through the bars.

 

When trying new hand-guards on the T7, I will try some alternative to the barkbusters - but in any case, I expect the hole situation to b different when moving away from the single.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Chev.

[Wintersdark]

On 1/30/2022 at 1:42 PM, qInvention said:

I think I have read somewhere around here that you can buy some sort of a rubber snake that goes into the handlebar and someone replied that he was just filling his handlebar with sand, which would also result in far less vibrations.

 

Has anyone first hand experiences with these rubber things or sand ? Does it really improve vibrations?

Sand definitely works, and works extremely well.  And is easy to undo and silent, which a lot of other "stuff in your bars" solutions fail at.  It's super easy to do and try out, and simply to just pour the sand out again if it doesn't work for you.  

 

On 1/31/2022 at 12:33 AM, Toppie said:

 

I concur!

I've had more bikes than I can count and I cant think of one that, somewhere in its rev-range, I didn't get a tingle  at the bars.

Perhaps just a weeny one but, it'll be there somewhere.

And, if it's in the 'range' that you cruise in, it'll be a nuisance factor.

I also use the Aliexpress throttle-stops on both my current bikes for exactly this problem.......no problem.

Hah I've got exactly the same one - finally down to just one, too, as these are super cheap I like to buy half a dozen or so when they're $2-3 each and just keep a spare on my bike all the time.  It's a killer gift on a long group ride when someone's got a sore wrist/hand, numbness or whatever.   It's worked out damn well, I've had people buy me dinner or beers all night after giving them one on a big trip.  It's amazing the goodwill a cheap throttle lock can buy you

 

On 1/31/2022 at 8:33 AM, ahamay said:

This right here. I experienced this symptom and it was/is related to position and angle of arms and hands. It is nerve impingement. 

 

To me, vibration theory was disproven

Arm and hand angle can definitely do it.  Sometimes just physiology too - my right hand goes numb with small diameter grips while my left never does, regardless of vibration and with my hands at the same angle.  They do it with basically *any* angle.  But vibration can be the culprit as well though I feel that's more commonly vibration plus something else (be it positioning, deathgrip, wierd physiology, and/or whatever else).   

[one wheel drive]

On 1/30/2022 at 5:57 PM, TimeMachine said:

Perhaps this relates more to bar angle and rider triangle than to vibration? The DR has more sweep in the bars.

 

 

As much as I find to like about my T7, the ergos of the rider triangle aren't quite right for me.  High as the seat is, I still feel my knees are too bent.  I want to try dropping the pegs a bit.

 

Anyone tried that?

 

Also the bars are a  reach from the comfortable seating position, which is back. If you slide forward to reach the bars, your knees are even more bent. If you slide back to straighten your legs, you have to bend at the waist and lean on the bars. Which makes the wrists tired.

 

That's probably where the numbness comes in.

 

I have considered a riser that would move the bars back, but the standing position is pretty comfortable stock. So I wonder if bars moved back a little would mess that up.

 

Anyone tried moving the bars back?

 

 

:

[Toppie]

5 hours ago, one wheel drive said:

 

As much as I find to like about my T7, the ergos of the rider triangle aren't quite right for me.  High as the seat is, I still feel my knees are too bent.  I want to try dropping the pegs a bit.

 

 

I'm hoping to take delivery of my own T7 very soon. I'll let you know how I find it  @one wheel drive

 

On a tangent..... Your user name seemed ever-so-familiar to me when I first saw it.

Knew I's seen it somewhere then, it dawned on me................

 

 

A couple of years back, when I swapped out my MT-09 Tracer's drive chain, I made the old one into a clock for my wee workshop.

[Texerman]

I found one item on my bike that made a difference in vibration.  When the handlebars were installed at the shop they tightened the top side of the handlebar clamp down so that it was touching the the bottom side of the clamp.  I loosened the clamp tightened it back down alternating front and back so they aren't touching any more.  Could be in my head but way better now. 

[BADDANDY]

I was surprised that on my 3,000 mile IDBDR trip that I had zero vibe issues and can't even remember if I even removed my hand to shake it out once.  I do have a 16T front sprocket, kept the stock bar end weights with my barkbusters, TKC80s, but only ride backroads if I have to ride pavement, no highway.

[Redneckj]

On 11/10/2021 at 9:27 AM, WookinPaNub said:

The hand position / bend of the bars on my Super10 seems to be much better in regards to reducing the vibration through my wrists than the T7. I added foam grips to the T7 which helped (I have larger hands, so less squeezing), but the rest is learning to try to relax my grip even further and watch the bending in my elbows. I've not found a better solution unfortunately....

Best screen name!!!!