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7/26/2021
Location
Victoria, TX
US
First off, I know 2 strokes vibrate a lot and I'm not complaining about that. I have some nerve damage in my right hand that really flares up when riding my YZ250. It's not the amount of vibration but the sharpness/tone (if that makes sense) of it.
I've been looking at getting some new luxon bar mounts with the rubber dampeners or just finding a set of triple clamps (22-23.5 offset) with rubber mounts to try out. Just looking to see if anyone has noticed much of a difference with them.
Also I know about proper engine torque, crank balancing, the whole 9 that would also help. It doesn't vibrate much but whatever it does just kills my right hand.
Thanks!
Soft grips also help, stay away from half waffle.
I've been running the 1/3 waffle pro taper grips that are very soft but I may have to try some thicker ones. I barely get to ride these days so I may try this for the next ride.
What throttle tube are you running? Aluminum tubes will really make sure you get the full buzz to your hand.
Not sure why I didn't think of this. I have the pro taper aluminum bearing tube. It's never caused issues in the years past but my hand might just be getting worse and I bet this isn't helping. Thanks!
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When you say vibration, do you mean purely engine vibration, vibration from the track (small chop, etc.), or both?
Bar mounts can help a bit for engine vibration, but it won't be a dramatic change. But bar mounts can be a massive help for track vibration, chop, hard hits, etc. (bigger, lower frequency inputs), particularly for the YZ two strokes as they have solid mounted bars to begin with.
As others mentioned, get rid of the aluminum throttle tube, and use glue-on grips with a plastic throttle tube from Motion Pro or similar. You can also push/pull a foam cylinder through the bars that will help (like one of these: https://www.mcmaster.com/products/foam/foam-2~/multipurpose-neoprene-foam-cords/). Finally, I know you mentioned this already, but make sure your engine is properly held. Remove all the mounts and mounting bolts, clean it all up, grease the long bolt and swingarm shafts, use Loctite on the bolt threads, and torque to spec. Those are the cheapest improvements.
Beyond that, bar mounts (our Nexus mount is especially comfortable) and our rubber isolated engine mounts will help.
The bumps aren't too bad but I definitely start having impact issues when the actual vibrations send my hand into overdrive. I'll try that stuff from mcmaster and all the other stuff and go from there. I'll likely end up grabbing your bar mounts after that....any relief would be worth it. Thank you!
I rode a YZ250 at one of the Yamaha demo days and made it 2 laps before my feet and hands were numb from the vibration of that thing. You really see how much of a difference the KTM counter balancer makes when you get to ride it back to back.
You could try adding the Fasst brass bar inserts.
I picked up a 2026 YZ250 last year. I was very concerned about vibration being a problem because I had a couple KTM 2-strokes with counter balancers previously. So, I preemptively installed Luxon 4 post bar mounts and Luxon rubber engine mounts along with some Pro Taper EVOs that were filled with silicone. I don't really notice any more or less vibration from my YZ250 than any other bike. It may vibrate less than my 2025 KTM 350.
Awesome, good to hear it helped. I'm hoping to work on it this week and try it out this weekend. I won't have any luxon stuff on it yet but that will be the next step.
I would always get numb hands on our fast desert tracks where the bike is mostly WOT. Try shifting up a gear if riding MX.
Also, check your pipe mounts, springs and orings. The front pipe mount has a tendency to completely pull apart. I would replace the springs and orings with piston and rings or sometimes more often if I bent the pipe. Best of luck, that feeling sucks!
I have the BRP 4 post top clamp with rubber mounts and feel it cuts down on the buzz.
https://shopbrp.com/dirt-bike-parts-shop/stabilizer-misc/top-mount/yz-1…
Big, fat grips. I used to run cloth tape under my grips, too - not for engine vibration, but to make the grips a little larger in diameter. I noticed a deader feel, though.
Also, triple check that nothing is loose: your shock bolts, triple clamp, pipe, fuel tank bolts, radiators, etc.
Just wanted to post a little update. I swapped out my pro taper throttle tube with the bearing for a motion pro plastic one and threw some pro taper grips I had laying around. They're the 1/3 waffle mix grips and they feel super soft so I figured it would be better than the full waffle I had on before. Also found some M12 rubber washers that were fairly dense on Amazon and put them under the bar mounts (both sides of the upper clamp) and torqued it down to spec. Man what a difference! I'm not exactly sure how much the rubber washers made but I'll take it, especially since 20 of them were like 6 bucks. It still vibrates for sure but the harshness is almost completely gone and no weird vague feeling due to the rubber on the handlebar mount. I was able to ride a fair amount longer because of it actually working. Now just getting my moto fitness back will be another thing.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions!
Be careful doing that with the bar mounts; that is not how a proper rubber mounted setup works. Rubber washers in-line with the fastener stack will not allow the mount bolt/shaft to achieve the proper tension and clamping load to the triple clamp. This will cause the fastener to fail in fatigue and/or cause the nut to come loose. It will work fine initially, and it will continue working fine, right up till it doesn't... I'd highly recommend going back to the stock bar mount setup with your other changes and see if the positive is still there (I bet it is).
If you want rubber mounted bars, get a proper aftermarket setup that does it right. I know we just happen to sell those, so there's a conflict of interest with my information, but ask any mechanical engineer worth a shit about it and they'll 100% agree. The rubber needs to surround the fastener, isolating it from the triple clamp, not be in-line with it through the fastener tension path.
Yeah thank you for the advice. It's more of a temporary setup just to try something different out. I witness marked the nuts and checked torque a few times throughout the ride. I know it's not the best long term solution but it was a cheap way to maybe get close to the results of the product you guys have (I bet yours is still better). I'll take them off for the next ride and do a comparison before messing with it further. In the least, I'll probably get your bar mounts or just go full send and get new clamps with rubber mounts and different offset. I miss the handling of my RM250.
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