Vibration

[Aroguy]

I get very significant vibration, particularly under load, in 6th gear. The vibrations aren’t nearly as bad - there’s hardly anything there - in the lower gears.

I have a Gen1 bike, so I’m thinking this is the clutch basket. I just want to get a second opinion before I commit to the change.

Any thoughts?

 

[OldRider]

From my experience the clutch basket vibration was right at 3K rpm. What speed are you running in 6th when you get the vibration?

 

[Aroguy]

It’s pretty obvious whenever I switch into 6th gear, so around 55mph or so. Put another way, yes, around 3000rpm. When I’m at 3000 rpm in the other gears, however, the vibes aren’t nearly as bad. Has this been your experience?

 

[hogmolly]

It’s pretty obvious whenever I switch into 6th gear, so around 55mph or so. Put another way, yes, around 3000rpm. When I’m at 3000 rpm in the other gears, however, the vibes aren’t nearly as bad. Has this been your experience?

I never use 6th at 55 mph or any speed with a 5 in front. That is really lugging the motor IMHO. My rule of thumb

3rd for the 3's
4th for the 4's
5th for the 5's
6th for the 6's and above

Or to put another way, 4k rpm give or take is the sweet spot at least for my ST. The reason 3k doesn't feel like it is lugging in other gears is throttle position. You don't need as much throttle to run 3k in 4th or 5th as you do 3k in 6th. The load on the engine is not the same.

 

[VRODE]

I never use 6th at 55 mph or any speed with a 5 in front. That is really lugging the motor IMHO. My rule of thumb

3rd for the 3's
4th for the 4's
5th for the 5's
6th for the 6's and above

Or to put another way, 4k rpm give or take is the sweet spot at least for my ST. The reason 3k doesn't feel like it is lugging in other gears is throttle position. You don't need as much throttle to run 3k in 4th or 5th as you do 3k in 6th. The load on the engine is not the same.

My rule of thumb exactly. 6th only gets used above 60 mph.

 

[Don in Lodi]

Is your maintenance up to date? How many miles on the bike? Have the plugs been done? Have the throttle bodys been balanced? We get two kinds of vibe, a steady speed vibe and a load vibe. A steady speed, no load vibe can be atributed to the clutch basket in a lot of cases. Under load, maybe lugging it a bit, is something different, combustion is likely out of balance, the throttles need to be pulling as even as we can get, and the plugs need to be igniting things evenly. ::26::

 

[Nikolajsen]

I never use 6th at 55 mph or any speed with a 5 in front. That is really lugging the motor IMHO. My rule of thumb

3rd for the 3's
4th for the 4's
5th for the 5's
6th for the 6's and above

???
I would have no problem going 50 mph in 6th, and would'nt even gear down for easy accelration..
No vibration what so ever... (2gen)

 

[Dogdaze]

???
I would have no problem going 50 mph in 6th, and would'nt even gear down for easy accelration..
No vibration what so ever... (2gen)

::026:: I think that is because most EU roads out of cities are 80km/h. Bike runs nice and smooth at 80 in 6th.

 

[markjenn]

Putting this engine under heavy load at 3K RPM is lugging in my book. Vibes are telling you this. Downshift.

- Mark

 

[ace50]

Putting this engine under heavy load at 3K RPM is lugging in my book. Vibes are telling you this. Downshift.

- Mark

::026::

 

[Nikolajsen]

::026:: I think that is because most EU roads out of cities are 80km/h. Bike runs nice and smooth at 80 in 6th.

Yes, could be
But still, in 5th below 50 mph (80 kmt), absolutly no reason in my opinion. But of course, under heavy accelration, I probably would go down in 4th.

Speed limits in Denmark:
Town mostly 50 kmt (31 mph) sometimes by school or other special building 40 kmt (25mph)
road out of town 80 kmt (50 mph). Her can be all other speed limits, 60 kmt 70 kmt. (37 and 44 mph)
freeway 110 kmt (69 mph) in some area 130 kmt (81 mph)

And as dogdaze pointet out, more or less the same in all of Europe. (execpt maybe the freeway in Germany, but not many parts of the freeway left, where speed is free.)

(all mph rounded up or down)

 

[Nikolajsen]

UPS
Back to vibrations..
I have no vibration...that being said, me previus bike was the Honda Transalp, which was a V2, so I'm used to some vibration .
But the S10 is far better ::008::

 

[Don in Lodi]

UPS
Back to vibrations..
I have no vibration...that being said, me previus bike was the Honda Transalp, which was a V2, so I'm used to some vibration .
But the S10 is far better ::008::

Ahhh, I wanted a Trans Alp so bad way back when...

 

[RonH]

I'm sure you've read the clutch threads, but just in case you haven't tried, all you have to do is wait til the vibration happens, then slightly pull in the clutch lever, not enough to cause the clutch to slip. If the clutch basket is the issue then vibration will be noticably less.

 

[Aroguy]

I hadn’t seen that trick. Thanks very much, I’ll give it a try tomorrow.