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Aloha guys.

Haven't worked on my bike for a while, but summer is coming and I have a feel I'm gonna spend lot more time working on the bike now.

Anyway, the other day, I was brainstorming because I couldn't sleep and thought just came to me. Handlebar end weights.  I have them on my ZX-7, but not on the KZ, and because my ZX-7 is still apart, I have no way to take it off and check or compare with and without. So my question is, just how much or rather, is it worth getting one and install it at the end of the bar? I don't remember any vibration coming from the bike when I was riding, but hey, since I'm working on it, why not? I mean they are not that hard to install, but I'm working on the bike. Why not get it while I'm still working on them.

Anyone know how effective they are? BTW, I did some search on this forum but I couldn't find the topic about this. Maybe I didn't look hard enough.

I've never had a bike that bar end weights, real ones & not the cheap aluminum dress-up versions, didn't help cut back on the vibes.  

The OEM's wouldn't use them if they didn't work.  The question is how much?  

wrote:

The OEM's wouldn't use them if they didn't work.  The question is how much?  

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Exactly my thought. My ZX-7 has it, but not KZ. So I was just wondering how smooth it will be. I have never own one, but it seems as all the Zephyr series came with bar end cap. Could those be weighted ones? Any Zephyr owner, can you confirm this?
 

My 1100 unitrak has them. big heavy things so they must do something.

I know a guy who used to pretty much live on a motorbike throughout the 70's. He says that the first thing he'd do when he got a new bike (in the 70s) is take off the handlebars, stuff a ball of tin foil a few inches down the handlebar, and pour molten lead into the bar. Adds far more weight than any bolt-on bar end weight will and you can choose how much weight you want by how much lead you add or how far you stuff the foil ball down.

I fitted weights and fatter grips to my Z1R a few years ago to cut the vibes on long distance trips.
It worked..






 

I used to run a pair of renthals on my old bandit 1250 along with pussy grips.
With standard bars it was quite vibey - the pussy grips made it more bearable.

Added some hefty stainless Suzuki bar end weights to stiff Renthal drag bars. 
Used a bolt and rubber tube + nut to grip the inner bore of the handlebars.
I recall that I machined the diameter to match the stock grips. 
Works well, less vibration and improved steering.

I injected silicon with a caulking gun and installed tire weights in the ends of the bars. Cut down on the vibration but not sure of the wobble issue.   
Steve 

Thanks for all the input guys. Guess those DOES work. Every bit helps, so I'm getting one. Now, problem is, which one.

As for the wobble, I'm not trying to improve steering effort of any sort, so as long as it cuts down the vibration, which I don't remember having any when I was riding but memories are very foggy at this point, I'm OK with it. But the bike did have sponge grip back then which PO put it on but I kinda hate it, Maybe that helped in some way.

Since most handlebar mirrors give me an excellent view of my elbow, I switched to bar end mirrors. The Napoleon style. They are larger and extend farther out than most handlebar and bar end mounted ones. They do weigh a bit so some dampening is happening and a better view of what's behind me.