I am doing all of the initial baseline maintenance on the 2014 ES (54k miles) that I just purchased, and I noticed that there is crazy play in the bar risers. My assumption is there are rubber bushings where the bolts pass through the triple clamp, but check out this video, is this normal? If not, do you have any suggestions on what part I need to order from Mr Yamaha to fix?
Excessive play/movement in bar riser?
- Thread starter Mad_Matt
- Start date
I am putting a lot of force through the handlebars in that video but I have never had a bike with that much play. Does anyone have experience replacing the dampers (#11 in the below picture)? How much of a PITA is the job?
RCinNC
Well-Known Member
It's surprising that you couldn't tighten them at all; it leads me to believe that the previous owner noticed the problem and rather than figuring out what was wrong, just kept reefing on those nuts until he maxed them out.
Mine don't move that much. They barely move at all. With as much play as yours have, the things that pop to mind are worn out bushings, an out of round hole in the upper clamp that allows too much play, or cross threaded nuts that won't permit the nut to be tightened properly. Out of all of those, my first guess would be bad bushings, though I've never heard of anyone reporting that on this forum.
It's not hard to remove the upper clamp. It's really just held in place by the pinch bolts on the shocks and the cap nut on the steering stem. I have a guide I created to follow when I do steering head maintenance. It shows how to take the steering head apart. If you want I can send you a copy and you can get an idea of what's involved.
Like Holligl said, I'd take the top clamp off and disassemble the risers and see if anything looked weird.
Mine don't move that much. They barely move at all. With as much play as yours have, the things that pop to mind are worn out bushings, an out of round hole in the upper clamp that allows too much play, or cross threaded nuts that won't permit the nut to be tightened properly. Out of all of those, my first guess would be bad bushings, though I've never heard of anyone reporting that on this forum.
It's not hard to remove the upper clamp. It's really just held in place by the pinch bolts on the shocks and the cap nut on the steering stem. I have a guide I created to follow when I do steering head maintenance. It shows how to take the steering head apart. If you want I can send you a copy and you can get an idea of what's involved.
Like Holligl said, I'd take the top clamp off and disassemble the risers and see if anything looked weird.
After looking at the bottom bolts, I noticed there is definitely space between the bolt and the triple clamp. I would love your steering head maintenance guide.
SkunkWorks
Well-Known Member
Yeah, this is a known issue with the second-gen OEM Bar-Risers.
Some people say this is normal. Other's it seems are not affected.
There are those that do not ride their machine aggressively enough for it to worry them, but for me it just felt sketchy as hell!
It bothered me every time I accelerated or used the brakes........... Mine were as bad as yours. It just felt unsafe to me.
You could try a replacement set of #11, but you would have to rig up some sort of "Press" with some threaded-rod and the correct size sockets or spacers to get them out of the top-clamp.
I went the way of eliminating them entirely, by way of installing very large and thick fender-washers in between the Risers (# 17) and the top-clamp.
This effectively "Locks them out" of the equation, and took care of the flexing entirely.
I bought the correct sized washers at ACE-Hardware. You need ones that have the hole large enough to fit over the center-sleeve of #11 when you assemble everything back together.
Others have done this very same thing to take care of this issue on theirs.
Some have said that you may feel added vibration in the Bars after doing this with the washers, but I've never noticed a difference from before or after. I DO have aftermarket ProTaper Bars on mine.
When I get home from work today, I can post some pictures, and try to see if I can find the size of the washers I used. There are some older posts in the forum about this as well.
Tightening #20 does nothing to fix this, as that is just attaching the riser-post to the INNER-sleeve of the OEM rubber bushing. If you look closely, you'll notice that the inner sleeve is longer than the outer one, and longer than the top-clamp thickness.
All of the flex is taking place between the inner sleeve and outer sleeve of those bushings.
On these Gen-2 bikes, if anyone has ever hauled their bike on a trailer or in the back of a truck, and used the handlebars to strap-down the bike, this puts too much stress on those bushings and will cause them to have too much flex.
I don't ever haul bikes using the handlebars (for a number of reasons) to strap them down, but I know a lot of people who do.
I would suspect this might have been the case with a previous owner of my bike at some point early in its life?
Some people say this is normal. Other's it seems are not affected.
There are those that do not ride their machine aggressively enough for it to worry them, but for me it just felt sketchy as hell!
It bothered me every time I accelerated or used the brakes........... Mine were as bad as yours. It just felt unsafe to me.
You could try a replacement set of #11, but you would have to rig up some sort of "Press" with some threaded-rod and the correct size sockets or spacers to get them out of the top-clamp.
I went the way of eliminating them entirely, by way of installing very large and thick fender-washers in between the Risers (# 17) and the top-clamp.
This effectively "Locks them out" of the equation, and took care of the flexing entirely.
I bought the correct sized washers at ACE-Hardware. You need ones that have the hole large enough to fit over the center-sleeve of #11 when you assemble everything back together.
Others have done this very same thing to take care of this issue on theirs.
Some have said that you may feel added vibration in the Bars after doing this with the washers, but I've never noticed a difference from before or after. I DO have aftermarket ProTaper Bars on mine.
When I get home from work today, I can post some pictures, and try to see if I can find the size of the washers I used. There are some older posts in the forum about this as well.
Tightening #20 does nothing to fix this, as that is just attaching the riser-post to the INNER-sleeve of the OEM rubber bushing. If you look closely, you'll notice that the inner sleeve is longer than the outer one, and longer than the top-clamp thickness.
All of the flex is taking place between the inner sleeve and outer sleeve of those bushings.
On these Gen-2 bikes, if anyone has ever hauled their bike on a trailer or in the back of a truck, and used the handlebars to strap-down the bike, this puts too much stress on those bushings and will cause them to have too much flex.
I don't ever haul bikes using the handlebars (for a number of reasons) to strap them down, but I know a lot of people who do.
I would suspect this might have been the case with a previous owner of my bike at some point early in its life?
gv550
Well-Known Member
The rubber bushing has metal inner and outer sleeves, the inner is longer. That's why you see that gap. You could add a washer (larger than the inner sleeve) and reduce or eliminate the gap, reducing the movement but this may transfer vibration to the handlebar.
The prior owner hauled this bike cross-country all the time in his toy hauler, and I bet he tied it down via the handlebars. Please share the washer details, I will definitely be taking this offroad and I have gone hard mounts in the past and it never bothered me.
RCinNC
Well-Known Member
Sounds like Skunkworks has personal experience with this, so he's your best guide. I'll PM you to get your email address so I can send the disassembly guide for the steering head; I think whatever fix you end up doing, it'll be easier to do with the top clamp off.
Cycledude
Well-Known Member
So it’s only folks that installed risers experiencing this problem ? No risers installed on my 2018, there is slight flex but I just assumed the rubber mounts was one of the improvements that make it seem a little smoother than my previous 2013.
SkunkWorks
Well-Known Member
No, mine were like that when I bought it with the OEM bars.
Mine were as bad as Matt's
https://youtube.com/shorts/zBjXCJwrHjc
RCinNC
Well-Known Member
Even after almost 10 years, I'm still learning new stuff about this bike.
nd4spdbh
Member
Yup bought my 2015 ES a year ago and noticed the bar flex due to the rubber vibration isolators especially when riding aggressively in the twisties. Didnt like HOW much they flexed but also liked the vibration isolation they provided. I ended up putting a thick rubber washer between the bar riser and top triple clamp (top side) similar as described above with metal washers but they still provide some flex and vibration isolation. The rubber washers had an inner diameter larger than the center sleeve of the bushing so it slid over the bushing itself and closed the gap between the triple and bottom of the bar riser itself. If i feel the need I can do another rubber washer between the nut and bottom side of the triple clamp to stiffen things up more but still provide isolation.
nd4spdbh
Member
Probably a minimum of 1 hr of shop time @ 120+$ 10$ with some all thread, washers and sockets from your tool box and you can press em out and press em back in yourself if you really feel the need to replace the bushings. Or ~ 4$ in some metal fender washers to totally eliminate the bushing play (or rubber washers like mentioned above to stiffen things up)
scott123007
Well-Known Member
Do as others have said, with the washers as spacers.
You will be throwing away your money if you just get new bushings.
I just checked mine, with 1" riser leverage I have probably half the amount of play as your video. Stock except for risers. After one of my first off road dumps, one of mine was a little off kilter and I had to work it to get in lined back up. I think I loosened that side, realigned, and retightened. I like the idea of adding another rubber washer under/on top of the nut to tighten it up but maintain some dampening.
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SkunkWorks
Well-Known Member
Here are some pictures of what I used.
I tried to find any notes I may have written as to what size washers I used, but could not find it anywhere.
I did not write it down.
Remove the nuts underneath.
It is a 14mm wrench. I used a ratcheting one.
Slide the whole handlebar/riser assembly up and out.
Install extra thick, heavy-duty fender-washers over the inner sleeve.
reassemble everything back the way it was, and enjoy the solid feel of confidence!
I originally thought about putting thick washers underneath as well, but I did not. I only put them on top.
Before you run to ACE Hardware, just take a measurement of the inner sleeve diameter to make sure you get washers that will fit over it.
I tried to find any notes I may have written as to what size washers I used, but could not find it anywhere.
I did not write it down.
Remove the nuts underneath.
It is a 14mm wrench. I used a ratcheting one.
Slide the whole handlebar/riser assembly up and out.
Install extra thick, heavy-duty fender-washers over the inner sleeve.
reassemble everything back the way it was, and enjoy the solid feel of confidence!
I originally thought about putting thick washers underneath as well, but I did not. I only put them on top.
Before you run to ACE Hardware, just take a measurement of the inner sleeve diameter to make sure you get washers that will fit over it.