well, is that the reason for the weights ? feel and balance ?
and how can you or could you tell your bars felt light ?

 

Weights are added to bars to damp vibration. You would need to ride with the new bars for a while to see if the vibration is a problem.

 

exactly
and every time ive swappped bars ( on every bike ive ever owned ) vibration has never been a problem

 

On a stock Fury the left bar has a resonant vibration that needs more damping (to keep the mirror from vibrating like a beehive). Changing the bars tends to eliminate the issue because a new bar is not in the right location to resonate.

 

I changed my bars and the difference is riding position “feel”. I don’t feel any vibrations above what the stock bars felt

 

I’m kinda new to actually writing to this forum , but have been here a while . If I’m not following the correct format , I apologize but , I would like to ask a “related “ question
I have a 2011 with stock bars and I think the feel is kinda squirrelly at hi way speeds .
Too light feeling .
Back and forth a little bit .
Not a lot . Just kinda wandering - new tires , balanced well by a competent mechanic.
Air pressure is correct
It’s fine driving to work and up to 65 mph on 2 lane / 4 lane blacktop , but on the interstate, it doesn’t feel as “planted”
Maybe I’m nuts . If it were a rv or a pickup, I would add a steering stabilizer .
Do they make such a thing?

 

I’m kinda new to actually writing to this forum , but have been here a while . If I’m not following the correct format , I apologize but , I would like to ask a “related “ question
I have a 2011 with stock bars and I think the feel is kinda squirrelly at hi way speeds .
Too light feeling .
Back and forth a little bit .
Not a lot . Just kinda wandering - new tires , balanced well by a competent mechanic.
Air pressure is correct
It’s fine driving to work and up to 65 mph on 2 lane / 4 lane blacktop , but on the interstate, it doesn’t feel as “planted”
Maybe I’m nuts . If it were a rv or a pickup, I would add a steering stabilizer .
Do they make such a thing?

What you are experiencing is pretty much the opposite of what a Fury does. If the interstate is grooved that will upset any motorcycle. Check the obvious things like neck bearings, fork oil, fork alignment and tyre age. It may be the front tyre is really old and hard, which of course will have less grip. There is a lot of debate around the maximum tyre age and aging is related to UV exposure which makes it difficult to put a hard and fast use by date. So if you still have the original tyres, they would be 12 years old and I would be looking at them closely for any cracks or signs of rot.

 

The tires are new , the pressure is correct .
Thanks for your input .

 

You might like to check the tyre pressure with another pressure gauge. I had a tyre inflator for years that turned out to be reading 4 PSI high. I only found out by accident when I checked my tyres with my father's tyre inlflator. Lesson learned. Now I cross check all my tyre inflators against a known accurate gauge.

 

That’s a very good suggestion.
it feels like there is too much pressure , but I always use the same gauge . I’m not a mechanic, and just have the one .
This is interesting
Hhhhmmmm
Thank you in advance .

 

Too high a pressure can cause what @macxpert is mentioning.

Also, what tires are you running? Some (generally ribbed) will follow the traction grooves/waves in freeway pavement but not on blacktop.

 

Ribbed ... for his passengers pleasure

 

I agree with @macxpert.
Was using a guage that read 5lb under checked against 2 different vehicles with TPM systems. Picked up this BikeMaster gauge from Amazon and its dead on and the current price is a few dollars more then what I paid a year ago on sale.

 

I think gauges reading the incorrect pressure is more common than we realise. They might start off within spec but they do drift as the years go by, then add in a few drops and before you know it they are out by 4 or 5 PSI. They are cheap enough these days and if you are happy with the inflator you can just buy a new gauge from Harbor Freight, Ali Express, Amazon or Ebay for a reasonable price.

 

I am running the Metzler ultra tires.
Bought them off Amazon .
I don’t drive hard enough to tell if they are lacking in any way.
I suspect the tire pressure.

 

Luv the Metz

 

Here is what I use. The first inflator had an analogue gauge that read too high by 4 PSI so I replaced the analogue gauge with a digital one (second pic). I compared the pressure reading to my father's high precision reference gauge and it was within .01 of a PSI. The second inflator I compared to the reference gauge and it was within .02 of a PSI. Both are quite good enough for tyre pressures. Neither of them were super expensive between $30 - 40 at the time. The replacement digital gauge was under $10 shipped.

 

@macxpert : I thought Australia used the metric system. Imposter.

 

Indeed we do. My gauges can be switched between PSI, KPA and Bar. We went metric in the mid 70s. I finished year 10 in high school using British imperial units and then for years 11 & 12 and all through university it was metric. It was a strange time changing over. I learnt to SCUBA dive when I was 14 in 73 so the decompression tables were in feet and the pressure gauges for your air tank were in PSI. I started riding on the road at 16 and the bikes all had speedos in KPH. For probably 10 years between 75 and 85 it was a mix of imperial and metric. For some reason I can't explain I still use imperial for pressure (PSI) but for everything else I use metric most of the time. My house was built in 74 so it is all imperial sizes which makes buying new doors or windows a pain in the ass because the metric sizes always tend to be wider and shorter. Sometimes with home projects it ends up being more practical to work in feet and inches then convert to metric at the end.

 

Usually when you use a set of risers, or a handlebar that has a welded joint, no weights are needed. The vibration usually stops at the riser clamp or stops at the weld joint. Material thickness (anything over .12) doesn't carry vibration out to the grips. If the bars are stepped down to 1 inch with a weld joint, rather than a form step, vibration usually isn't a issue. Hydro forming bars will thin the material and allow a lot more vibration than usual. I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for, just my experience.

 

Furi15, Thanks for that analysis, most helpful as it provides some real insight and understanding on the dynamics, engineering and practical aspects of it all. The FMB bars are pretty beefy with welds at the bottom and the top.

 

All great input... I learned a LONG time ago never to trust the tire inflator built-in/on gauges. Ask me what happens when a drag car wheelies past the 60' mark with one rear tire 2 psi lower that the other..

I always slightly over inflate, and then use my Intercomp (Intercomp Racing | Intercomp - Air Pressure Gauges) tire pressure gauge to check pressure and bleed down to desired levels with it's built in bleeder valve. Tire pressure is one of those things that it's worthwhile to spend some coin for accuracy in measurement tools. Don't cheap out, but also make sure you're buying a quality product. Lots of imposters out there that make look-alikes and charge just slightly less than what they are attempting to clone.

Not as critical with a motorcycle, but I also got in the habit of measuring the surface temp of each tire during inflation. Just another thing to be aware of as tire temps will affect measured pressure.

 

Although I know what happens I’ll bite; what happens after 60’ on a wheelie with 2 different psi’s??

 

It's really a 'friendly experience' overall.. The car with unequal pressure will often get to greet it's opponent, a bit less than 50% of the time... in a few rare occasions it's a 'mating from above - college-style' as it were. I can't speak much to the willingness of the entire coupling, but I can say that it will result in a long term relationship, spanning the gap between "want to murder my divorced ex because:stupid and the world between us will forever be a warzone, and let's have beers because life is crazy and a stupid equipment failure brought brothers together"

 

Yup seen that more than I’d like to say….

 

Yeah, me too. Luckily in my situation I only side-kissed the wall upon 'reentry', so a front fender repair and wheel replacement and I was back out at the track. Needless to say it was an expensive way to learn about the importance of tire pressure, and how fast the most controlled situation can go to hell in a handbasket before you can finish thinking about blinking an eye... Prior to that pass I had used a dual filler line for both rear tires too. The difference in temps of a west-facing evening sun right tire meant by the time I got to the line that I'd put more actual air in the left tire. Good thing I was in the right lane, and not left.