Author Topic: Handlebar tightening  (Read 587 times)

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Beeza

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on: May 06, 2023, 04:46:48 pm
A few months ago, I took my handlebar assembly apart to drive out a seriously stuck bar end damper and discovered that the bar was pretty loose in the clamp fitting. The bar measured 22mm and the sleeve 22.5mm . So when the bolt is done up it was just hanging off of that and not really otherwise supported. True, it couldn’t move far, but I was curious as to whether tightening up the joint would have any affect on vibration.

I decided to see if filling the space with cyanoacrylate, aka superglue, would work and, if it made things worse, it could be heated and removed. Rather than removing the bar, I put a shim under one side of the stand and rotated the bars so one end at a time was up. I had the bolt just loose enough to allow movement and poured the glue in while rocking the bar around. After a minute or so of this the bar started to tighten so I tightened the bolt and left the bike overnight.

No, it’s not night and day, but the bars feel more vibrationally stable and linear with less high frequency buzz. The stock dampers now seem more effective. The downside would be removal, but how often do we do that? My bike is amazingly smooth below 4500 and when the seat starts to buzz a bit I know it’s hit 5000 and time to tuck or shift up.

I suppose I should have done one bar first so I could A and B, but the bar end mirrors got clearer and I preferred the feel. The right bar had vibrated more than the left and now they were even. I can’t see a real downside.

Speaking of mirrors, I finally gave up on the bar ends that were on it when I got it and tried the Mickey Mouse ones that the PO had kept. Much as I think bar ends are cool and all that, there is no way that they are as good in traffic as mirrors up in your peripheral vision. The stockers have a resonance at about 2800 rpm that is almost comical (the bars ends were clear at that speed) but smooth out and are pretty clear above or below that. A bag of shot tied at the ‘elbow’ might fix that, or move it somewhere worse. A weight on a stick will have a frequency.



Guaire

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Reply #1 on: June 06, 2023, 12:08:23 am
 A bag of shot tied at the ‘elbow’ might fix that,

That's right.

Instead of superglue, you might try Vibra-Tite. I've used it. Good results.

https://www.amazon.com/Vibra-TITE-Threadmate-Bottle-Brush-Applicator/dp/B0088YEGXM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FH5YKMUQG2EJ&keywords=vibra%2Btite&qid=1686006449&sprefix=vibra%2Btite%2Caps%2C79&sr=8-1&th=1

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