[beagle]

I'm going to be fitting a carberry vibration plate and upping the drive sprocket one tooth on  21 classic 500.  The bike is reasonably smooth as it is,  however this plate is for longevity of the crank.  A larger portion of my riding is in the 80 to 100 kph range, before I can get onto the back roads and plod along. Could I ask anybody whose fitted a plate if they really noticed any difference in vibes.

[MannP]

I fitted Carberry plate to my 2018 C5 and fitted a 1 tooth bigger sprocket. I noticed marginal improvements on vibrations. The biggest help to quell vibrations was fitting a double heavy duty heady steady.

[Bilgemaster]

It's good to see the old Carberry Plate for UCEs being discussed once again. All our old models seem to have fallen somewhat into the silent shadows of the loud new kids on the block, the 650 twins, 350 Meteors and their ilk. 

A few years back our esteemed member 'Brad the Maddman' did a lovely YouTube look at that Carberry plate from unboxing and close examination through step-by-step installation and a verdict on its effectiveness in reduction of vibration here: https://youtu.be/SLnhYPl3_Cs. If you're unfamiliar with his channel, it's worth a good rummaging and binge through his back catalog. The Maddman did a lot of great product reviews of stuff, both of particular interest to UCE owners and other models besides. You can also watch him gamboling through the woods like some lethal Pilgrim with his homemade blunderbuss. A man after my own heart, he also coordinated that "Royal Ramble" Enfield gathering in Galax, Virginia so cursed by the weather gods and monsoon-swept that ALL of the attendees to brave the trek arrived without exception in green "Military" trim Bullets, the owners of all other hues presumably being either too sensible or pantywaisted to brave the elements. Like I said then in a fresh take on the Marines slogan, "The few, the brave, the stupid." But the weather wasn't Brad's fault.

Regarding vibration reduction, there's also the "folksy" but often effective technique I recently described here: https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/index.php?topic=32894.msg407887#msg407887

[beagle]

Thanks for the comments...

[Carl Fenn]

This is something l toyed with but the reality is my bike hardly vibrates so l decided to shelve the idea l was lucky l seemed to have got a good one that doesn’t shake.

[Ove]

Onle a few seem to be unlucky and have bad problems. Some vibes are to be expected.

[Bilgemaster]

This is something l toyed with but the reality is my bike hardly vibrates so l decided to shelve the idea l was lucky l seemed to have got a good one that doesn’t shake.

Yeah, my hunch is that by now any REALLY unpleasantly rattly Bullets as a result of slapdash engine mounting have likely either vibed themselves into some sort of equilibrium or out of service. But with his mentioning of that Carberry doodad, I thought that relatively simple and quick technique bore a mention anyhow. Of course, there were other common enough causes for excessive vibration, such as poorly-balanced cranks, I'm told. But better centering those engine mounts were an easy fix. Still, if you're happy, there's likely no problem there to fix.

[danketchpel]

I fitted Carberry plate to my 2018 C5 and fitted a 1 tooth bigger sprocket. I noticed marginal improvements on vibrations. The biggest help to quell vibrations was fitting a double heavy duty heady steady.

where do I find info on the "double heavy duty heady steady"?

[Carl Fenn]

Well l think Hitchcocks sell it.

[Richard230]

I just installed the Hitcock's adjustable head steady yesterday and went out for a ride this morning. For some reason the vibration of my 2011 Bullet has increased substantially, with a lot more vibration through the left handle bar grips and the left foot peg. It was so bad that my left mirror vibrated loose and spun around in the wind. I tightened the mirror when I returned home, but I sure didn't expect that result considering how many people have tried the head steady and found that it reduced vibration on their bikes. It isn't like you can make a mistake installing the part. I don't get why my RE has reacted differently.    Prior to installing the head steady, my bike was pretty smooth with very little shaking, not even in the mirrors. 

[Carl Fenn]

Well this is precisely why l took the decision to leave mine well alone, once you disturb mounting points it can cause problems, l think unless mine starts vibrating l will do nothing apart from check the nuts for tightness occasionally.

[Ove]

I just installed the Hitcock's adjustable head steady yesterday and went out for a ride this morning. For some reason the vibration of my 2011 Bullet has increased substantially, with a lot more vibration through the left handle bar grips and the left foot peg. It was so bad that my left mirror vibrated loose and spun around in the wind. I tightened the mirror when I returned home, but I sure didn't expect that result considering how many people have tried the head steady and found that it reduced vibration on their bikes. It isn't like you can make a mistake installing the part. I don't get why my RE has reacted differently.    Prior to installing the head steady, my bike was pretty smooth with very little shaking, not even in the mirrors.

Have you tried the fix mentioned by @Bilgemaster? If fitting the new steady could have disturbed the engine mountings and affected the equilibrium your motor and frame had previously reached, this might be the solution to restoring calm? All seems a bit meditation/yoga-like, but wasn't that invented in India also?

[Richard230]

I haven't tried loosening any of the engine mounting bolts as they are all really tight and have never been loosened since the bike was built in early 2011. I wouldn't think that just removing the old stamped steady and installing the new much heavier one would have made the difference that I am feeling. Perhaps I should loosen and retighten the steady again, along with checking the tightness of the adjusting nut and see if that helps any. 

[Carl Fenn]

You could try losing the mountings and then torque them down again just experiment that could work. It’s difficult to judge that situation especially being on one side. The head steady is adjustable try and increase the tension it should stop any movement it could be moving from side to side horizontally.just a thought but have you checked the bolts holding the steady are the exact same size as the mounting holes there could be movement l think it’s fixable with patients and a bit of time.

[Richard230]

I fixed my vibration problem. What I did was to loosen both head steady mounting bolts and the adjusting nut. Then I tightened just the engine bolt first, followed by tightening the adjusting nut, followed by tightening the bolt that holds the head steady to the frame. That seems to have mostly eliminated the vibration that I was experiencing. I now get less vibration through my grips than before installing the Hitchcock adjustable head steady and about the same amount of vibration through the foot pegs as before. So while nothing amazing, it is still worth buying the new head steady as it gave me something new to install on my Bullet.