Handle bar vibrations hands numb

Ok. Bought my first Kawasaki, 81 750 LTD. Drove it home approx. 600 KM, the farthest I have ever rode a bike by the way (just getting started with the bikes again). The handle bars have a vibration in them. I can feel it at low speeds but it can really be felt right around 4200rpm and up. It doesn't feel like the bike is falling apart but enough to make my hands all numb, right to the bone. It's two full days later and my fingers and hands still don't work right. I own a Suzuki and don't have this problem. Is this a thing with Kawasaki's? I checked the bike over and all the motor mounts are tight (of course found some small nuts loose or missing) but everything seems to be fine. The bikes running pretty good. Carbs could do with a clean and synch but she's running fairly well. The vibration will completely disappear when I'm on the highway and pull the clutch and drop the throttle. Any time the engine throttles up the vibration starts. I looked at the handle bar inserts to minimize vibration but it seems odd that I have to buy something to fix something that really shouldn't be there. Again I'm new to biking again, maybe this is normal??? maybe my hands will toughen up???? any insight will be greatly appreciated.

Put some weights in the end of the handlebars. Lead, anything susstntial should help to dampen the vibrations.

All bikes do this to some degree since the motor is bolted to the frame. Some bikes do it worse, the basic harley shakes so bad it will loosen your back teeth. Some harleys have the rubber isolation motor mounts to reduce it. The kawi twins have internal balancers to minimize vibration, but the balancer chain stretches with age and it starts to get worse. Mine definitely vibrates a lot more than it used to.


The best thing I have used is the thick handgrips made out of soft foam rubber. You can get them most places that sell bike parts.

origin.jcwhitney.com/ALL-FOAM-SOFT-GRIPS...+600014737_10111.jcw

It is the natural harmonics of the motor. My Z1 and my Susuki GS both both do it, both are inline fours. It can make a nice ride suck to say the least. Come to think of it my KZ650 does it also. I wear the gloves with the fingers cut off for long rides. there is a little padding in the palm area to help. The foam grips help but get loose in the rain from my expierence. I have heard you can fill the bars with silicone and it helps a little but have never tried it.

OK here's what I came up with over a couple of years dealing with this phenomenon: Thick foam rubber grips help, but stopping vibration for me started with getting carbs rebuilt and synchronized, it makes a difference, but also I took .50 calibre round lead bullets and gently tapped them to make thick discs that fit in to the handlebars, then installing bar end mirrors tapped in to the lead with a rubber mallet. Sound crazy? Maybe, but I can read a license plate on a car following me in the mirror and can ride more than an hour or two without my hands turning numb. I have a bike closing in on 80,000 miles by the end of this riding season and I'm sure there are reasons for the vibration I haven't detected but this worked. The added weight of the lead filled bars makes no difference. I have superbike bars and there's a big opening on the bottom of the middle part where they clamp on and I just stuck some rubber fuel line in there so the lead is on both sides of the bars but not the middle.

Hi AZR,

All this advice is good stuff but since you really don't have anything to compare to I think it'd be a good thing if you would put you home town in your signature line and ask another KZR member to show up and swap bikes with you for a mile or two.

While it's true that all bikes vibrate to some extent, your description doesn't sound usual for a Kaw four. Is your bike a four or a twin?

KZCSI

My boss had this problem on his Honda CX500. He bought a "Bar Snake". It's a solid rubber rod that goes inside the handle bar tube. It took both of us and lots of soap to get it through the bar. He says it works great and reduces the vibration a lot.

I have found weights do work to a degree but also the handlebars themselves. Some are thin walled. You get what you pay for. It's not to get rid of the vibes but to change the frequency. Also the higher bars seems to complicate it more. Bar Snake is interesting but can't say, never used one. Makes sense tho. Good grips are a must and padded gloves help.

Wow, 600km. Quite the ride. Hope you had good weather. I'm wondering if I would trust mine that far.

Anyway, A carb sysnch should help. I have a small amount of vibration in my bars and the right hand mirror gets a bit fuzzy at 100+km/h. The left hand mirror is pretty good. Not perfectly stable, just pretty good.

I found these grips from Z1E to work well
www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=428
I also get numbhand if I grip to tightly which I tended to do when I got the bike first.

I have a KZ900, it has a vibration similar to yours that goes away when you clutch it and let the engine idle. I believe my bike is due for a valve lash adjustment, and then probably will require synchronizing the carbs afterward. Anything to make all the cylinders run equally should help with overall engine vibration.

The handgrips I have have a gel inside a rubber cover. I'm not sure if they're still made, as these were installed by my father some 20 years ago, but they seem to make it comfortable. I can bare-hand it on my 50 mile commute and not have much hand fatigue. Hope this helps.

The stock bars on my KZ made my wrists bend at a funny angle, which always put my throttle hand to sleep within 20 minutes. After I switched to superbike bars, even though the vibration is still there, it doesn't happen any more. The new seating position did wonders for my back too. Next up is a new set of rearsets to move my feet back a little and I think I will be able to ride all day.
That is if it ever stops raining around here!!!

Put some buckshot in the bars, get bar end mirrors that have the rubber mounts, grab on foam grips and good gloves.