R3 Reverberations

pjl52

.040 Over
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
77
Location
Queensland Australia
I was reading a thread on the .com site regarding reverberations a guy was experiencing and it got ne thinking that may be the harshness that I experience isn't the norm for these bikes; below is a question that I asked in that thread.

"Quote. My bike (08 standard 2000 miles)has always done this, I thought that it was normal, previous rides have all been UJM's that were always very smooth; this reverberation/harshness is something that I believed was normal for the R3.

What are your impressions of the R3 wrt the smoothness or otherwise of the bike, unfortunately living in a rural town does not enable me to compare what it should be like; interested to find out the impressions of others on this site?

Also, in it's standard form my opinion is that most of my previous rides (ZZR1200. CB1300 and GSX1400) would have had no trouble with leaving the R3 in their wake, do others believe that would be the case or am I just dreaming? Unquote"

What do the readers here think, is there something wrong with my bike or is just the way they are?

Regards

Peter
 
07 classic

Hi Peter. I have an 07 classic with a few bolt ons. tors and no cat box, k&n under the seat, remaped and had the standard 10k service done . I have had the standard fare of bikes before this .honda valk,st1300,kz1000,hd evo and and hd 88"std Injected, boss hoss small block trike. my rocket is the smothest thing I have ever had the pleasure to ride.

I ride with about 10 to 12 friends that have a wide range of bikes. M 109 suk,yam stratoliner,couple of harleys,bmws, and at one time or another they have all tried and all failed to beat me. or should I say beat my Rocket. it rules.dont know if this will help you or not. take care and ride safe. Limey4life
 
I wouldn't say my bike is the smoothest thing around. The stock T-Bird is a lot smoother as is the Bonnie. My clutch is a bit chattery starting out in 1st but it's been like this for 5 years. It vibrates a bit at idle but not cruising. If I put a stock tune back into it, I think it runs smoother but then it backfires on decel.
 
Are you refferring to vibrations? Or sound reverb from the exhaust?

No, definately vibrations, my bike is stock no mods other than comfort issues. It is very harsh under hard acceleration particularly above 3500 rpm, there is no way that I could ride the bike at high speed for any length of time particularly above 120 kmh (metric).

Yesterday I went for a ride and decided to see what it was like wrt to achieving 160 kmh, took what I thought was a very long time and was also very harsh, noticeable through the bars footpegs and the mirrors were unreadable.

I am wondering if this is normal, everything I have read on the various forums paints the R3 as a smooth high performance bike. I don't believe this to be the case with mine, I am starting to become a little concerned.

Peter
 
Can't say as I've noticed anything like that other than the slight vibration from the flywheel. As for speed cruising, I did a run a few months back where I held 150+ km/h for over 2 hours without any drama. Acceleration had to be reeled in as I was riding in back behind a GL1800 and a VN900, but had no issue getting up to speed or passing.
That being said, nobody would deny that the rear suspension is fairly firm, how rough are the roads where you are? I could see that causing a bit of a hum.
 
Have you had your initial service done? And if so, did they balance the throttle bodies? Probably not since I don't think that's called for at the first service. I do know that my R3T ran much smoother after the 10K service. That would be the first thing I'd check. Since you're pushing pistons the size of coffee cans up and down a throttle body imbalance will likely cause a noticeable vibration.
 
No, definately vibrations, my bike is stock no mods other than comfort issues. It is very harsh under hard acceleration particularly above 3500 rpm, there is no way that I could ride the bike at high speed for any length of time particularly above 120 kmh (metric).

Yesterday I went for a ride and decided to see what it was like wrt to achieving 160 kmh, took what I thought was a very long time and was also very harsh, noticeable through the bars footpegs and the mirrors were unreadable.

I am wondering if this is normal, everything I have read on the various forums paints the R3 as a smooth high performance bike. I don't believe this to be the case with mine, I am starting to become a little concerned.

Peter

No that is not normal. 120 kph is only about 75 mph and I wouldn't even call that fast. Mine will run over 100mph (160 kph) all day with no problems. I have been well over 100 mph several times with plenty of power left. IMHO There is something wrong with your bike take it to a good dealer before you have a catastrophic failure.
 
1st thing I noticed was the bike was a bit harsh, mirrors unusable over 3200 rpm, bit rough on the hands and was having to force myself into nearing redline. I had mostly Yamaha and a few Honda's in the past, they were smooth up to and past redline (some blew up because of it). I'll bet it has alot to do with what you were used to in the past, remember this thing uses the engine as the frame. There aren't rubber isolation mounts between it and the rest of the bike, the vibe's are transmitted right to your butt. Give it a chance, go ahead and try to blow it up a couple times ... it'll gain your respect.
I can't say I ever read a reveiw saying it was "smooth", it's a brute and will eat your lunch if you let it.
Honestly, I don't typically go past 3500 unless I'm really gettin after it. The torque lets you shift so early and still accelerate quickly, I tend to lug it up to speed. The harsh feel came from me shifting late like you do on a sport bike that has a 16,000 rpm redline.
If it bothers you, get it checked. Better safe than sorry.
 
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Also, in it's standard form my opinion is that most of my previous rides (ZZR1200. CB1300 and GSX1400) would have had no trouble with leaving the R3 in their wake, do others believe that would be the case or am I just dreaming?
Peter

I had mine at the track last week, it's not totally stock, but there's no supercharger nor is it stripped down. The best I could do was 10.9 and the big sport bikes were easily running 9's. HOWEVER, they weren't gettting away from me until after half track or further (1000ft), after that there's no contest. Those bikes were geared for top end acceleration and the rocket aint.
 
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