handlebar vibration
 

The handlebar vibration almost makes the bike un-rideable..
hands go numb , can't feel the brake & clutch levers..
the bike has risers & fat bars , seems worse since I put
the bars on....
has anyone found a cure for the vibration ?..
i have read that filling the bars with sand can help ?...

I do.

http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=12164

Just fitted some to my new bike with hand guards.

http://www.ktmsmt.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5414

Have you had this issue with other bikes? (Sorry, but I don't know your history and don't want to insult you.) I had this with my first XTR, and sold it because I couldn't live with what I thought was an unacceptable level of vibration. After as little as 20 minutes' riding, I couldn't operate the front brake, it was that bad. The XTR was my first bike after a bikeless period of 10 years, and I blamed the engine. I sold it for a big multi - same issue with numb hands. Then a V-twin. Same. Then a V-4, then a parallel twin. Then a triple. You get the picture. Turns out it was carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in both hands, mainly the right one, probably caused by excessive mouse use on PCs at home and work. So I didn't need to sell the XTR after all. I haven't had any treatment, and strangely the CTS has improved over the years and now rarely bothers me.

All I am saying is, are you sure it's the bike?

Hi guy's same here i had a 1200 bandit and within 10mins i was shaking my hands to get what i thought was blood flow moving again, holding a newspaper for 15mins was also the same, when your hands go numb just check if it's all your fingers or just just the smaller ones,(mine was just 3 smaller fingers) it turned out i also had bi-lateral carpal tunnel syndrome, 10yrs on after both hand opps all is well and the xtx is fine to ride 2hrs at a time no probs, get off to docs to see, hope all goes well.

Been there done that, had my hands operated on for carpal tunnel & after 3 years the carpal tunnel is back, RSI, so found a way to reduce the vibration through the bars to make the feel a much smoother ride with less irritation.

I think most of us Bikers suffer with some form of muscular skeleton disfunction of some sort and anything to help is a useful addition, the bar end weight is such a device and the modification u have made Kev is a credit to your Engineer's instinct, thanks.

Thanks Kev....
I will be giving that a try for sure...

A couple of ideas from when I was researching it. You can fill the bars with sand, as mentioned above, or silicon sealant. Not sure I would like that job :)

Heavier bar end weights seem to be a popular idea. I got some massively heavy ones that feel as if they weight half a kilo each, but they made no difference. As I said above, the problem wasn't the bike, it was my hands. I kept the weights when I sold the bike, and tried them on the new XTR for a week or so when I got it. No difference. I'd agree with Adioz - get them checked out by a medic.

Another long-term CTS sufferer here, never had the op as my dad and brother both had the the op and it came back again (just like Kev's). I found that raising the bars made it a whole lot worse for me, lower seems better? Gone from a 50mm rise down to 20mm and it made a big difference (sitting down obviously!) Also found that bars with too much sweep don't help either as they twist your wrists outward.

Fat bar, out, normal one, 22mm al, in
bar risers, out
hand guards, in
bar end weights...not so important