This vibration is killing my hands.

[High-Gain Busa]

This has been brought up before as one of the negatives of the Busa but I remember some saying they don't experience this.

For the second weekend in a row, my wife and I went on long rides, about 2 hours each way and at an Interstate speed that puts the engine right at 4500-4700 RPM. The vibration in the grips is so bad my right hand goes completely to sleep despite how much I try to relax it and not lean on it what so ever. It's a double whammy, as it goes to sleep I cautiously hold it tighter as I can't really feel how well I am hanging on and you can't really drop your hands and relax them or shake them out in 2-4 lane one way traffic without being ran over. At 75 MPH, the air flow keeps me from leaning on the grips. Pretty much the same with the foot pegs, a lot of vibration.

Is it true some of you don't experience this or are you not spending any extended time at 4500-4700 RPM?

 

[christianjax]

Dang, I have been riding with a broken wrist for the past 3 weeks. I feel a SLIGHT buzz at 4500, but ONLY noticed it because it is bitched about so much. Frankly doesn't bother me in the slightest. Never would have even noticed it had it not been such a hot topic. Guess it's not as bad in mine or I don't have any feeling in either hand, but since my broken wrist hurts guess that's not the case.

 

[larra]

My 08 busa vibrates between 4500-6500,when the bike was new the vibration was worse than it is now, (it has done about 4000 miles now) it also used to put my righthand to sleep, but has been getting better and now is still there but not enough to bother me anymore. How many miles has yours done?
Also I put fully synthetic oil in at 4000 service and i think that helped to make it even more smooth.

 

[christianjax]

maybe a set of heavier bar ends would help?

 

[larra]

I remember someone saying that he bought a pair of BMW's grips and that helped

 

[valkyriemc]

I have always noticed some jaz/buzz around 2500 as I'm accerating through. I have 1500+ miles on K8 now. A local rider on a Honda was killed a few days ago on a long left sweeper, after a 1/2 mile straight. I'm going out to check out the crash scene and will pay special attention to the rpm you mentioned and let you know. OUT.

 

[888 HAYABUSA]

The bike have another 10200rpm,live with them

 

[select20]

Thats one thing I really disliked about my Busa. People on here say they don't notice them. Maybe its because they haven't ridden other bikes? I don't know. Other people I let ride my Busa, one of the first things they said it "Damn that vibration, will it go away?". Not always in those words, but was always one of the first things they noticed.

 

[critterdoc]

You blokes need to stop acting like a bunch of poofs!

Try riding my Ducati for a while...anything lower than 4k will shake your fillings out.

There is a slight tingle in the mid 4Ks, but I think it must be more pronounced on some bikes than others.

 

[flybybusa]

My busa starts the hand grip buzz at almost exactly 4500 RPM. I just avoid running at that rpm for any length of time.

 

[Warchild]

I have done four things to help mitigate the 4500+ RPM vibes.... while they are not totally gone, they are MUCH reduced from stock.

1) Installed Top Gun Heavy Bars ends.... fairly heavy at 13.5 oz each
2) BMW Sport Grips - these significantly helped, but sadly, they are not a trivial exercise on the K8 like it is on most bikes.
3) Installed a Vista Cruise throttle lock. I don't use it for cruise control; I have it so I can lock the throttle on straight-aways so I can shake out my throttle hand and give it frequent breaks.
4) For this last item, I would normally blow off as old wives tales if I read it on a bike forum like you are doing now. But since I actually experienced it myself, I'll go ahead and share this with y'all, even though it shouldn't make that much difference: I inadvertently purchased 20W-50 Silkolene Semi-Synthetic recently, instead of the 10-40W I usually use. Since it's fairly hot in the Desert West now, and 20W-50 is one of the approved viscosity ranges for the K8 running in these ambient temps, I knew it would be fine to use.

What I didn't expect is that it has apparently had some amount of positive effect on the 4500-6500 RPM vibe range..... because the first ride after re-filling with the 20-50W Silkolene, I was pleasantly surprised to notice the 450O RPM vibe was noticeably reduced from before. Pretty sure it wasn't the Silkolene brand doing this; I've been running Silkolene in the bike since the first oil change. But always 10-40W, until now. The first use of 20-50W seemed to make a difference, even though the reasonable engineering side of me says it shouldn't make that much of a differnece.

Your Mileage May Very, etc, etc, but the above 4 items have made a rather significant reduction in the 4500+ RPM vibes for me/my riding style/my riding environment.  

Installing Vista Cruise/BMW Sport Grips on the K8

 

[Italian Trev]

I also ride a BMW GS1150 - nuff said

 

[christianjax]

I rode my friends new Buell. Quite yer bitchin. You don't know what vibration IS until you ride one of those.

 

[JusPlaynBob]

4700 rpm.s Certainly have a horribly "Buzzing" vibration.
It stops around 4900-5000.

Unfortunately, my old school riding habits, find me cruising around there all the time.

And yes it'll rattle the teeth.

 

[ambulldog]

riding with good gloves will help somewhat. i get it in the feet more than the hands. that is the one and only down fall of the buell peg mod

 

[WuzzaCBXRider]

Thankfully no vibes at all on my 06 and I have over 25,000 on it. I do have the HD Throttlemeister on the bars though. Maybe a TB synch is called for? I know that my CBXs with six carbs can cause a little vibration if they're not in synch.

 

[High-Gain Busa]

Thanks gents...

I also have the Buell pegs and I am sure that makes the feet worse. They put rubber on there for a reason. I will look for the top gun ends and have them chromed.

 

[Warchild]

 I will look for the top gun ends and have them chromed.

If it helps, they come in polished stainless steel....

Call "Guru Glen", Parts Manager for Desert Vally Powersports (parent company of FJRGoodies.com), and he will hook you up! (509) 786-2383 They were originally designed for the FJR1300, but are an exact, direct fit on the Hayabusa K8.

Web page of Top Gun stuff for the FJR: http://www.fjrgoodies.com/topgun.cfm

Here's a shot of how the Bar End Weights will look when they arrive... I personally powder-coated mine a 90% Gloss Black, but the polished stainless steel looks pretty good, too....

 

[badgerbusa]

I have read about the engine vibration in the 4500 to 5000 rpm range on this website and in magazine articles. Try bar end weights, handlebar grips, synchronizing the throttle bodies.
However, my 2008 Busa is pretty damn/reasonably smooth at these speeds...isn't a concern for me at all.
I also own a 2005 Honda ST1300; that engine is glass smoooooth.

 

[mr8ball]

I noticed mine got worse after i put my two brothers on. I put a set of Heli bars on and it did help a little. I put a rubber O ring on mine to help hold the throttle and it really helps. Its something you might try. Good luck.