Common scenario with V Twins.

Loosen all four engine bolts. Start the engine and let it run for a few minutes. Re-tighten engine bolts.

Apparently cross tension between the engine bolts is one of the causes for vibration. Got his trick from a motorcycle mechanic friend of mine.

i had real bad vibrations on my raider at one point. ended up being the exhaust! i'd slightly loosen at the heads or all the mounts for that matter and from the heads out reseat everything nice flush and tight..in my case the flange at the head wasnt "flush" and it wasnt enough to mess things up but it was enough to vibrate. also check if its touching the frame anywhere its not supposed to be....

if you let go of the handlebars does the front end wobble? are you tires cupped?

good luck

ive never heard of a modern japanese bike ever vibrating an engine bolt loose. but hey you could be the first!

Don't know if the vibration is at idle and high speed, but if it is at cruising speed maybe your front drive pulley is loose,not hard to check out.Kind of a long shot but worth a look.

Ever since we talked the other day about it RJ, I've been lookin at mine thinking of what could cause that and I'm thinking maybe an engine mount. I know I've seen the exact same vibes on a ton of ford focus's because the engine mounts deteriorate over time and the center steel rod ends up making contact with the body and that causes every little engine vibe be transferred to the body. Not sure how the roadie engine mounts work, never even paid enough attention to see one, but that's where I would start. I think it has to be something like that transferring engine vibes since you can make it do it at that certain rpm.

Damn...if all your front end bolts are tight ...looks like a broken weld in the mounting somewhere. I dont know how all the drivetrain suggestions could have anything to do with it as its parked and reved.

The steering head and tire inflation will affect it going down the road or at idle.

I get a pretty good "buzz" at around 3,000 rpm. I have heard that if the jetting is off and I believe to the rich side, It will cause vibration.

I had mine on a dyno recently and it showed being slightly rich, which I couldn't understand with my jetting. I found my enrichener cable a little tight and will get another dyno pull done in the next week or so.

I kind of expect a certain ammount of vibration from the style engine we have, but I don't really know what "normal" is since I have only ridden mine at the speeds and rpm's that it vibrates

Has anybody ever had one of these engines balanced I don't even know if it's possible with this type of v-twin

I had a Moto-Guzzi and it was as smooth as silk, but that was a 90* v-twin which is like a v-8 engine

haha never watched the vid... i'm guessing NOT the tires...haha

I know you're not running the stock exhaust... when I went to an aftermarket exhaust on one of R*s, the vibes were bad. I learned here on the Clinic to "re-install" the exhaust starting with everything loose first, and then wiggling, setting and tightening as I went.

That worked to get rid of the bad vibes.

It seems that improper mounting of an exhaust can take engine vibes, run them right through the pipes and mufflers, and directly into the frame mount, and shake the whole bike.

Mine were!

Thanks for the replies so far guys! Some good info already (I hope.) Just to clarify, the brackets are fine, bought them from a member of the RSR forum and have had them in my hands several times since the fairing was installed.


coalstoves wrote:
Ready to Learn something here

That's funny, me too!


jd750ace wrote:
Also, check your steering head bearings and make sure they are good and snug (no flop condition). What pressure are you runnning in your front tire, and what brand is it? Is your idle speed correct (900 RPM)?

Good advice about the steering head bearings, but I think it's ok. Just did the forks this spring and thought I snugged everything up, but I'll double check that.

Running a Metzler, could use a new one in about a couple thousand miles probably. Can let go of the handlebars on the highway without a problem. Pressure's good, thought it was a tire issue until I realized I could make this happen standing still, and every time I ran up through the gears.


Scrap wrote:
Loosen all four engine bolts. Start the engine and let it run for a few minutes. Re-tighten engine bolts.

Apparently cross tension between the engine bolts is one of the causes for vibration. Got his trick from a motorcycle mechanic friend of mine.

Going to give this a try. No harm right? Never really knew the best way to go about checking them, since they're already tight.


coot53 wrote:
I get a pretty good "buzz" at around 3,000 rpm. I have heard that if the jetting is off and I believe to the rich side, It will cause vibration.

Thanks, probably need to check into this too.