Just a long shot to see if anyone on here can help me! So far im drawing a blank and running out of ideas!

The bikes a 99 R1, now done 11,500miles. I run it from 5000miles upto 11,000 miles with just a carbon race can, then fitted ivans carb kit at 11,000 miles.

The bikes always run like a dream, no problems at all, but its now suddenly developed a strange vibration. The vibration is definately mechanical and most apparent at about 4500rpm in 6th. Although its noticable in any gear from 3000rpm upwards. Its best described as deep vibration which i can feel through the bars, the pegs and the tank. Its not a rattle such as a cam chain rattle.

I initlaly suspected a wheel bearing, or a lost wheel weight, but the problem isnt from the chasis, its coming from the engine. If i pull the clutch in at 5000 the vibration vanishes, then when i let the clutch out, or rev the engine to 5000rpm the vibration is there!

Ive stripped the carbs off last night to check that i didnt disturb or forget to replace a pipe when i fitted Ivans kit 500miles back, but everything is fine. The needles are fine, the pilot jets, the mixture screws, all the fuel pipes are connected, the vaccum pipes, the plugs are okay & correct gap, plug leads are okay, coils are connected properly. The carbs are sitting on the port rubbers properly & the airbox is sitting on the carbs properly. I even lubed & adjusted the chain & checked the sprockets. And ive just balanced the carbs & that didnt solve the problem.

The bikes performance doesnt seem to be affected much, it brings the front wheel up in 2nd under hard acceleration which it wasnt doing prior to fitting ivans kit, although it doesnt feel as responsive as it did 500miles ago when i first fitted the kit.

Anyone got any ideas?!

Did i forget to do something when i fitted the jet kit, or disturb something? Although if i did, its strange how it was fine for 500miles before the problem developed.

HELP!!!!

Did You check all the motor mounts ? Make sure thay are all tight.

how many revs you pulling when it starts to shake????
what does it feel like to you? is it more like THUD THUD THUD or BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

Is it coming from the back, front, up high down low.......

The vibration is more noticeable from 4500rpm to 6000 rpm. I feel it through the bars, the seat & if i touch the front sprocket cover with my boot i can feel it through that too. I try touching the airbox under the tank and can feel it there too. So, its impossible to try and pinpoint where its coming from. I guess since the engine is a stressed member, any vibrations are instantaly transfered around the bike.

Its best described as a deep vibration... like when a wheel bearing on your car goes. Its definately not a high end rattle, or a knock knock. I can pull a steady 6000rpm and it"ll be vibrating. It doesnt matter if im on the throttle, or just letting off the throttle, it still vibrates when it passes 7000rpm->5000rpm.

Its as if something is off balance inside the engine.

yes, most likely the internals in that engine is scraped down and not balanced anymore.

Is there an X-Ray for bikes? There should be you don't have to open up the engine to see if anything is wrong inside the engine.

Check your cam belt(s) your clearences could be shot to the shithouse..

Lift the bike and spin the wheels.... You might have a warped disc.......

You say its a constant so you might have a CAM problem......

I had a similar problem in summer 94/95 ended up a CAM tension issue. - notice my lack of technical knowledge.

the bike was going brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr a real fine constant viberation that kept the mirrors shaking.....

Took it to the shop and the mechanic replaced some engine bits and problem gone.

$250 Aus dollars later....
$80 US

Well, had the bike serviced last week and the mechanics basically did everything i had already done to the bike to try and find the vibration. No luck there. On the rolling road, the bike only had 127bhp and thats with a race can & ivans needles. There was also a slight dip in power at 5300rpm where it dropped by about 5bhp for 200rpm. Appart from that the power was smooth.

On the road the bike still has this vibration and feels sluggish compared to how it was when i first fitted ivans kit.

Its as if something in the engine is out of balance, and i can feel it worse if i touch the frame near my left foot.

Im going to stick the original end can back on this week and see if that makes any difference. I may also try some different spark plugs & even removing ivans needles to see if that chances anything.

Ive also noticed the gear changes seem to be more clunky now, with or without clutch. I dont know if thats related.

Its really really frustrating.! argghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!:machinegu

The only thing the mechanic said is that there was a slight buzzing which may be a cam chain tentionsor or valve adjustment. I thought valves would make a more top end tingling rattle rather than a deep vibration. And when a camchain tensioner last went on me, the rattle was so loud at all rpm that it sounded like a tractor, rather than a deep vibration at a certain rpm.

Change the mechanic !!!!!!!!!!:yesnod

Your mechanic cant help you , so try to find a R1 guru:rock

Originally posted by turbonutter

The bikes performance doesnt seem to be affected much, it brings the front wheel up in 2nd under hard acceleration which it wasnt doing prior to fitting ivans kit, although it doesnt feel as responsive as it did 500miles ago when i first fitted the kit.


Hey Turbonutter, sorry 2 hear about ur bike. These problems r frustrating 4 sure, but B positive. In regards 2 Ivan's Jet Kit, can u elaborate a little bit more. 4 ex., did ur front wheel come up in 2nd b4 u installed(just whacking the throttle). R U happy with the Kit, would u do it all over again? U also mentioned ur bike bein less responsive, did that happen as soon as u installed the kit? Just curious 2 c ur opinions, still a little reluctant 2 jet mine, but don't wanna deal with any problems afterwards. Good luck on finding a New Mechanic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:thumbup

I guess the mechanic couldnt spot anything wrong with it, since he wasnt as used to the bike as i am. I seem to notice every little thing with anything mechanical, so as soon as something feels different i notice it.

Personally im wondering if there is anythign up with the gearbox, or clutch on the bike. Is there any known problems in those areas for the r1?

Ivans kit... well, i found fitting just a race can made the bike feel a bit duller. Not as responsive. This is common as the can makes the bike a bit leaner. Once i fitted the kit, the difference was amazing. The bike felt as responsive as a standard bike, if not better! I was well impressed with it. Felt like id added an extra 20bhp!

I covered about 500miles before the vibration problem started, so i suspect that isnt anything to do with the jet kit, unless running it has caused something to screw up.

Because i live in the uk, ivans kit ended up costing me about £140ukp... which is over twice what a dynojet kit costs over here. Personally thinking back, i may have just shimmed the needles instead, as that would have only cost hardly anything, and that would have probably been just as good. But, at least i now know, i have a set of 132.5 main jets sitting in a box at home ready for when i put a full exhaust system on the bike.

Originally posted by turbonutter

Ivans kit... well, i found fitting just a race can made the bike feel a bit duller. Not as responsive. This is common as the can makes the bike a bit leaner. Once i fitted the kit, the difference was amazing. The bike felt as responsive as a standard bike, if not better! I was well impressed with it. Felt like id added an extra 20bhp!


OK, thats what I was hoping 2 hear, I think my bike is running lean aswell. I have a MIg high slip, and it does sound a little lean. PS, I'm the same way wit my bike, I hear everything, and anything and I end up just sitting there listening 2 it 4 a few minutes, just wanna hear the engine, and thats it.....keep try'n

I also experiance some kind of strange vibrating sensation, especially when I turn away from my girlfriend in bed at night, thats when it starts. Any suggestions?

hehehe... i hope you dont feel the strange vibration near your ar$e mate! ;)

i stuck the orginal end can back on the bike last night & took it for a spin. The vibration isnt as strong. I suspect it may just be a tuning issue. The rolling road i took it to said it was slightly rich in the midrange, but clears at 6000rpm and is fine above that. Maybe thats my answer, maybe thats whats causing the vibration at about 5000rpm.

Ive got ivans kit set up as recommended, 3 1/2 turns out. Would changing the mixture screw change the midrange richness? or would this cause problems elsewhere?

DUDE....IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE A CLUTCH,.OR TRANS PROBLEM..I;\'D CHECK THE CLUTCH BASKET AND ITS HARDWARE..PLATES, SPRINGS ETC...:machinegu

Hi, I had the same sort of symptoms once I started playing around with the jets and needles. (I have a Micron carbon can, but orginal headers and EXUP)

I went back to the original jets, airscrews extra half turn out and balanced the carbs, made sure the carbs were properly seated in the intake rubbers ...... the vibration is gone.

Since then, I've used this almost as a health-check when I'm trying new carb settings (I don't have access to a dyno) and my roadtests match the vibration / no vibration - best top speed and most grunt no vibration.

I can feel it best under decelleration through the knees against the frame.

I would suggest you get hold of Rick007 - he's in the UK, works at a dynoshop and might / will be able to help.

Hey, Sandman, sounds like you have the same problem mate. Ive got a few things to try at the weekend now to see if i can solve the problem. If i can i really want to keep ivans needles in the carbs. Ive spoken to him and he suggests checking the air pilot jets arent blocked and the air filter etc...

What settings did you settle on in the end? You using original needles? How many turns out are your mixture screws?


Cheers for your help.

Hi, I'm riding at about 620 meters above sea level so that makes my setting worth little to many people. I'm using a Dynojet kit, but I'm ordering an Ivan's kit. Because I don't have access to a dyno or gas meter, I'm very concerned with running too lean and so I'm current using 134 with the screws out 3 turns. No vibration ! Slightly better top end than the standard with the same bottom and mid range.

I'm using a K&N filter, purely because I can clean and refit - I know Ivan says no power gain. But this way I can be sure I get the same flow all the time. I clean and re-oil everytime I lift the tank.

(I was very surprised to see that the standard needles in the 2001 had grooves and could be shimmed! ) I've tried shimms on the Dynpjet kit, but it didn't work for my setup, so I'm on groove 3 - standard.

I did remove the vavle that feeds air into the outlet manifold (forget the proper name now.)

It's a pain, but I balance the carbs everytime I take the tops off. If you lift the tops to get to the needles and refit, you can never be sure that the rubber diaphrams fit back exactly the same as before - there's always one carb that is out and this can cause/aggrevaite vibration also.

I've replaced the sh...tty screws on the carbs with Allen-key heads and now I can take the bowls off and change the jets without taking the carbs off. Still a bit tricky, but I prefer this over having to lift the bank of carbs off everytime.

Good luck.

Sandman, I didn't realize Saudia Arabia has places so far above sea level. Is that elevation unusual?

The Air Injection System (AIS) is what feeds air into the exhaust.

The allen head bolts on the carbs is a great idea! :thumbup

Try synchronizing the carbs... one way to know if it comes from that is taking of the airbox and look into the carbs troath and check if the slides are vibrating (going up and down very fast) as opposed to staying still (at constant RPM), try at different RPMs. If that's what happens then u need to synch your carbs.

Well, i suspect the prob is the airfilter being a bit dirty, making the fuel mixture rich, causing the vibrations. Anyway, ive just nipped up the shop to buy a new air filter & walked away with not only just the air filter but a full akroprovic race system. :)

Will be fitting it at the weekend. I have already just upped the main jets to 132.5. Will be interesting to see if this solves the problem!!!!!!