Vibration / shaking at approx 40 mph

Hi guys,

While riding today I noticed that around 40 MPH in 5th or 6th gear the handle bars / triple tree have some horrible shaking. Really noticeable when I use rear brake only. Seems to go away when around the 35 mph mark or over 45ish.

I have a 2012 DCT, and this is in D mode.

Should I be concerned and get it to the honda dealer ASAP? Any clues?

Thanks

Chris

Hi chris,
I ride on the highway and city streets alot, I have no vibration at all.
I own a 2013 dct, no hand guards, but do have luggage (givi top and side boxes) with honda tall windscreen.

You might want to bring it into the dealer so they can inspect it.
should not shake like that.

On a car it would be that the tire is out of balanced. Could also be low air or a nail/screw in the tire throwing it off balanced. You could has lost a weight from the wheel when it was last balanced.

Thanks for the replies.

I have added the OEM centerstand, GIVI trekker rear case and Puig windscreen. No handguards yet.

I just passed 1k miles, and it all been highway mileage commuting to and from school/work. I'll call the service guys and see what they say also.

jfauerba has a good point. See if you have your wheel weights on both tires.
Also check inflation.

what I done to mine: I put ride rite stuff in my tires and left the wheel weights on.
It suppose to balance your tire and just in case you get a nail in it, it will seal on its own.

ken

I've noticed the same thing and I think you should down shift to 5th gear and see it go away, D mode isn't all that great when it wants to be in 6th gear at such a low speed. On the flip side, once I'm on the freeway in the Sport mode, I'd like to see it go into 6th gear a little sooner so if the pavement is flat, I manually shift into 6th gear.

Hojo,

Thanks for the reply. I Tried it today in S mode and manual and it still did the shaking. Thanks for the thoughts though.

Appt made at the dealership for Tuesday.

I also made a video of the shaking for those curious. Sorry for Potato quality.


[video=youtube_share;H1ALrl0XBrA]http://youtu.be/H1ALrl0XBrA[/video]

Sometimes tire wear can cause that. Do you have the stock Metzlers? Mine did that at the exact same speeds on deceleration. As soon as I replaced the tire, it went away.

Change the front tire...............

It could be two possible things. As already discussed front tire is out of balance. The second thing I would check is center nut torque on Triple T.. I had one go loose on me and it did the same thing.

A friend told me he solved some vibration on his CTX using a fuel system cleaner. Another thread on solving by replacing injectors. Apparently dirty or failed injectors can cause the problem.

Tire wear with under 1.5k miles? While I'm not disagreeing with you guys, I'll be shocked if the stock tires won't last at least 3k.

I'll bust out my torque wrench and check triple tree. Any idea what ft lbs the manual says ?

Maybe you just got a bad tire. Mine would do that if I have a lot of weight on the rear end. Such as when packed up for camping. It would do it a little when decelerating. I put new tires on yesterday and have not checked to see if it still does it. May do that today. If it does, I will check the triple tree torques, also.

We have limited info to use to guess what might be going here.........but OP says it happens when he uses the rear brake ????????

Brake application related vibration or shake...........first thought is caliper mounting problems, bent rotor, rear wheel not centered.

You didn't say in the OP it was shaking under deceleration with your hands off the bars. As odd as it sounds that's almost normal. All it takes is a little wear on the tire, sometime a particular brand or model of a tire is more susceptible to doing it, perhaps check the tire pressure, or rarely too much play in the head stock steering bearings. Mono track vehicles are constantly self-correcting a slight weave in order to stay upright when moving. Head shake is a high frequency version of that action. The dealer will just tell you to keep your hands on the bars.

Everybody go out and try it today to see if your bike does it when decelerating from 50 mph to 35.

showkey said:

We have limited info to use to guess what might be going here.........but OP says it happens when he uses the rear brake ????????

Brake application related vibration or shake...........first thought is caliper mounting problems, bent rotor, rear wheel not centered.

Click to expand...

Using the front brake dampens the oscillation.

+ 2 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Very good point on hands off decel shake.

Rereading OP .........."hands off shake".......has real merit.

thanks guys for all the help I really appreciate it. I was doing some work on the bike this morning while on the center stand and I was inspecting the front tire and noticed the front tire does not spin freely it seems like the calipers are tight and pads are hitting the rotors. Should the front tire spin freely or should it possibly get hung up on the brakes.

otherwise yes the vibration does get worse while the hands are off the handle bars but it does still occur which is noticeable with hands on the bars. On my dad's NC 700 it almost has no vibration but I haven't rode it for a couple months.


Edit : Sorry for grammar. Typing on phone sucks.

My NC700x does that with the bags on. I have 33L and 46L trekkers. When I take them off the shake goes away. Add the bags and remove hands and the shake is back. I just felt like it was the extra weight on the back of the bike. The Gold Wing does this too. Honda says there's no problem except for one, don't take your hands off the bars.

I never get any shake however I am loaded and am not sure I would be happy to have it described as normal without being told exactly what was causing it.
And crawf71 sticky callipers are very common on this bike and I have found callipers have to be kept clean and removed for proper cleaning to avoid the rubbing you heard...the wheel should spin freely. On my bike its the front piston that is activated from the rear pedal is the `stiff` piston.