Tall Risers and Vibration

[garystaven88]

I swapped out Biltwell Chumps for drag bars and tall risers. I am absolutely loving the arm position with this setup but the vibration is awful. Above 3000 rpm is bananas! I double checked my engine mounting bolts for tightness. Also the head stem bearings/races are new.

I tried brand new poly mounts but the risers will twist quite easily. I solid mounted them to eliminate that but I can't live with the vibrations.

Should I opt for shorter risers/poly mounts? Any luck with Bar Snake or similar products? I get it's a Shovelhead but geeze my Ironhead doesn't vibrate nearly as bad with Biltwell Lanesplitters (poly mounted).

[farmall]

What's not obvious is tall thick risers plus short rigid drag bars transmit more vibration than ape hangers which produce the same hand grip position.

If bushing flex doesn't bother you poly should help. I run solid bushings or thick washers because I dislike flex but poly is better than rubber.

I beat lead fishing sinkers into my bar ends (I run apes on my Shovel low Riders and Evo FXR) which is a very old trick. I never run wiring inside bars (for maintenance convenience) and would fill the remainder with lead shot (same theory as a dead blow hammer) if I had severe vibration problems. That's another old trick. You can order bird shot online from reloading suppliers.

The weight and shot plus poly bushings should make a considerable difference.

Apes act like a tuning fork so they're easier to dampen it if you like the bar position but can't deal with the vibes. I prefer stainless apes with welded risers or using short Biltwell stainless risers tack welded at the inside bottom to ensure the bars never shift (except in a crash which would likely shear the tacks). My standard is being able to pick up or push the bike with no bar shift.

[garystaven88]

Thanks Farmall.

As noted, I did try poly mounts but I was able to easily shift the bar just lifting the bike off the jiffy stand and moving it around the shop. Certainly not suited from the road. They were $7 Drag Specialties mounts so maybe they are not of the best quality.

I went ahead and ordered some Alloy Art Gooden Tite mounts. Expensive but I heard some great things about them. I will also try the lead shot.

[garystaven88]

Installed the Alloy Art mounts. Good quality mounts (they better be for the price!).

Zero twisting now when just lifting the bike off the stand or moving the bars side-side.

The real test will be when I ride it. But first need to fix a broken coil mount.

[garystaven88]

These Alloy Art mounts did the trick. No further work needed to tame the vibes. Great product!