Fast Eddie
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- Joined
- Oct 4, 2013
- Messages
- 21,401
Let me start by saying that personally, I didn’t find that mine vibrated that badly, in fact it was part of the charm for me.
But nevertheless, they do vibrate, it’s something that all reviewers comment on, some quite negatively.
Why is this?
Some context to my pondering:
I had an 1800cc Harley Dyna, which means it had a rubber mounted engine with no balance shafts (like an old Commando), although it shook a bit at idle, it didn’t vibrate badly in use at all. I’ve replaced it with an 1800cc softail. This has the engine solidly mounted, but it has balance shafts (like a modern Commando). The solidly mounted balance shaft engine is much SMOOTHER than the rubber mounted one, in fact it is really very smooth (rather than just smooth for a Harley) in use.
So, balance shafts DO WORK.
Meanwhile, the 961 has a balance shaft AND a 270 crank layout, this is well known to be the smoothest configuration for a parallel twin, effectively making it a 90 degree v twin.
So, the 961 has the smoothest possible crank configuration AND it has a balance shaft.
So… why does it still vibrate so much ??
But nevertheless, they do vibrate, it’s something that all reviewers comment on, some quite negatively.
Why is this?
Some context to my pondering:
I had an 1800cc Harley Dyna, which means it had a rubber mounted engine with no balance shafts (like an old Commando), although it shook a bit at idle, it didn’t vibrate badly in use at all. I’ve replaced it with an 1800cc softail. This has the engine solidly mounted, but it has balance shafts (like a modern Commando). The solidly mounted balance shaft engine is much SMOOTHER than the rubber mounted one, in fact it is really very smooth (rather than just smooth for a Harley) in use.
So, balance shafts DO WORK.
Meanwhile, the 961 has a balance shaft AND a 270 crank layout, this is well known to be the smoothest configuration for a parallel twin, effectively making it a 90 degree v twin.
So, the 961 has the smoothest possible crank configuration AND it has a balance shaft.
So… why does it still vibrate so much ??
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