Bar end weights

I have a '55 ES2 and the vibration only becomes annoying over 60 mph so I just live with it as I rarely ride over that speed for very long. Up to 60mph the vibration is negligible. I have heard of people putting lead inside handlebars to help with vibration problems though not specifically on ES2's.

Ian

My Inter handlebars start vibrating at about 60 and become hard to hold onto by 70, not that it does 70 very often but it's quite nice other than the vibration at 60-65. Last summer I put a bar end mirror on the right hand side and it improved it dramatically. I don't really want two bar end mirrors on it so I plan to make a bung to go in the other side as you describe to try and improve that side.

My ES2 is pretty good throughout the rev range, engine is balanced at 70%, same as the Inter, and that also has a bar end mirror in one side only.

Have a look

A tip which I heard is effective is to squirt quick setting foam; the type that builders or window fitters use; into one end of the bars, blocking off the other end until the bars fill up. I have never used it myself, but I will try it, as it can't really do much harm, and may well reduce the effect of the 'harmonic resonate (sic) frequencies'......etc

another product

http://www.barbuzzkill.com/default.asp?sec_id=180003901

Vague memory tells of Velocette making some very expensive handlebars for GP racing. The bar vibrated horribly. Rider complained bitterly about bar shakes, is told that it is expensive weight saving, so put up with it. Rider surreptitiously filled it with molten lead. Shakes gone, rider happy.

The Barsnake blurbstates that it fills the bars with a materialwith a coefficient of restitution of close to zero. A cheap substitute is plasticine - a well known material with a coefficient of restitution close to zero, i.e. does not bounce when dropped. Worth a try? Meanwhile, overlanders stuff their handlebars with a length of fuel line - a useful siphon in an emergency.

All the above fixes assume the vibration is being amplified by the handlebar, however I would have assumed the fundamental resonance of the bars is quite high..at least 500Hz or 30,000 vibes per min ...just try tapping the end of them and listen to the tone....any harmonics would be even higher. This frequency won't feel like a vibrating harshness...if it did you would need heavy gloves to be able to hold a trumpet to play it. Incidentally, by slugging the handlebars with heavy weights you will lower their resonance making it more likely to match the low frequencyof the engines vibrations and resonate with even moreenergy and movementleaving only your hands and armsto damp it out by absorption.

The discomfortyou are feeling is the direct transmission of the engine/frame vibrationspassing through the bars into your hands so what is needed is to mount the bars inrubber bushes to stop the transmission getting into the bars. One would have to make up a rubber mount for the bars that is then clamped in the original handlebar fixings.

Les

wonder if some type of head steady would help with vibration.

On a featherbed, the head steady increases handlebar vibration. I know a Domiracer which was acceptably smooth when the head steady was removed, but unpleasant vibration in the bars with it fitted. The solution was a tube from top of steering head to cross tube at the back of the tank. No engine head steady.

No idea what effect a head steady will have on an iron lug frame. Try it out and tell

Had the opposite when I first got my 99 - no head steady and horrific vibration, so bad it shook the plates off the battery. Fitted a head steady and all was well.

Different bars will have different resonant frequencies. Thick wall aluminium bars (as on most trials bikes) will have a different frequency to thin wall steel bars. Harmonics can be fractions of the natural resonant frequency as well as multiples.

I would suggest an empirical approach. Try bar weights. It will either make things worse or it won't.

Norvil supply their own bar end weights which they make great claims for.

You could check their website John.

Ahh vibrations at 60 and 70 MPH. I don't have this problem. My 1939 ES2 would love to reach such giddy heights.

I did hear of filling the handlebars with silicon sealant. Just like the stuff used in window fitting and kitchen fitting. It comes as standard fit in the Armstrong MT 500.

The Domiracer I mentioned has a lightened flywheel, and may have a different balance factor. It's been hotted up a lot.... As you say, the combination of flywheel mass, balance factor, handlebar length and stiffness will all affect the results. Trial and error