TOPIC:

Whats that all about then? Can anyone enlighten me? What is the purpose/point of these things? Do they affect handling? Are they just a styling feature?

Reduce vibration in bars

I injected silicon in my bars and stuffed balance weights in the ends. Cut down on the vibration and my mirrors are better. My hands don't go to sleep as easy but my cruse control lets me give my right hand a break on long rides.
Well worth it.
Steve

When properly weighted, they can reduce vibration in the bars, but there is a potential downside. If your bike is prone to tank-slapper, the bar-end weights can increase the likelihood of it happening. Most Kz's are pretty stable, but the early standard 550's seem to like to oscillate more than others, and they can go into a bad tank-slapper at high speeds, especially the 81 Gpz550. (Kawasaki redesigned the geometry for 1982.) One way to avoid it is to reduce the steering inertia by taking weight off. This increases the resonance frequency to a speed you hopefully can't attain with the bike. Adding weights at the ends of the bars would be counter to that strategy.

loudhvx wrote: When properly weighted, they can reduce vibration in the bars, but there is a potential downside. If your bike is prone to tank-slapper, the bar-end weights can increase the likelihood of it happening. Most Kz's are pretty stable, but the early standard 550's seem to like to oscillate more than others, and they can go into a bad tank-slapper at high speeds, especially the 81 Gpz550. (Kawasaki redesigned the geometry for 1982.) One way to avoid it is to reduce the steering inertia by taking weight off. This increases the resonance frequency to a speed you hopefully can't attain with the bike. Adding weights at the ends of the bars would be counter to that strategy.

The best way to reduce vibration is to get a Honda CB900F like mine below. Less vibration and faster than most KZs. *chuckle*

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loudhvx wrote: When properly weighted, they can reduce vibration in the bars, but there is a potential downside. If your bike is prone to tank-slapper, the bar-end weights can increase the likelihood of it happening. Most Kz's are pretty stable, but the early standard 550's seem to like to oscillate more than others, and they can go into a bad tank-slapper at high speeds, especially the 81 Gpz550. (Kawasaki redesigned the geometry for 1982.) One way to avoid it is to reduce the steering inertia by taking weight off. This increases the resonance frequency to a speed you hopefully can't attain with the bike. Adding weights at the ends of the bars would be counter to that strategy.

I didn't think about the tank slapper hazard. Haven't noticed a problem.
Steve

To eleminate mirror vibrations you can put mirror rubber adsorber adapters into to your handle bar mounts.

www.louis-moto.co.uk/artikel/mirror-vibr...799231024.1487980295

Scirocco wrote: To eleminate mirror vibrations you can put mirror rubber adsorber adapters into to your handle bar mounts.

www.louis-moto.co.uk/artikel/mirror-vibr...799231024.1487980295

Those are real neat. Never seen them before

Street Fighter LTD wrote:
Those are real neat. Never seen them before

These adsorbers are common solution in the early 90th here in Europa, nothing special here in Germany

Common in the 70's. Couldn't find them now.
Steve