Why does the 961 vibrate so much ?

Bevelheadmhr · Oct 7, 2024

TonyA said:
I have read that they have stronger belts now , but I suppose it's not worth taking the chance again. Are you running a #530 Xring chain or something bigger ?

530 DID x ring, never had any problems with it. The belts I used had to be only 1 inch, as I was using a 200mm rear tyre, which didn't give much room for a belt. A few years ago, I modded the swing arm to give more ground clearance, and while it was out of the bike, took careful measurements and we made a replica in alloy. Ended up being half the weight of the original steel arm. One day will get round to having it hard anodised and get it fitted.. part of a long term aim to get its weight down below 500 lbs.. still heavy but light for a Evo softail, which weigh approx 650 lbs as standard.

Home made swing arm..

TonyA · Oct 7, 2024

Bevelheadmhr said:
530 DID x ring, never had any problems with it. The belts I used had to be only 1 inch, as I was using a 200mm rear tyre, which didn't give much room for a belt. A few years ago, I modded the swing arm to give more ground clearance, and while it was out of the bike, took careful measurements and we made a replica in alloy. Ended up being half the weight of the original steel arm. One day will get round to having it hard anodised and get it fitted.. part of a long term aim to get its weight down below 500 lbs.. still heavy but light for a Evo softail, which weigh approx 650 lbs as standard.

Home made swing arm..

Very nice !

Fast Eddie · Oct 7, 2024

Bevelheadmhr said:
530 DID x ring, never had any problems with it. The belts I used had to be only 1 inch, as I was using a 200mm rear tyre, which didn't give much room for a belt. A few years ago, I modded the swing arm to give more ground clearance, and while it was out of the bike, took careful measurements and we made a replica in alloy. Ended up being half the weight of the original steel arm. One day will get round to having it hard anodised and get it fitted.. part of a long term aim to get its weight down below 500 lbs.. still heavy but light for a Evo softail, which weigh approx 650 lbs as standard.

Home made swing arm..

Stop messing with that and take 100lbs off your Norton. THAT would make a helluva difference !

Bevelheadmhr · Oct 8, 2024

Fast Eddie said:
Stop messing with that and take 100lbs off your Norton. THAT would make a helluva difference !

Oh I will try, but not until its out of warranty.. Other than pipes and wheels, there's not much on the 961 that will make that much difference. BTW my Norley weighs in at 395lbs dry, that's 115 less than its doner XL1000. But then again, old Harleys are a 'target rich environment when it comes to weight saving.

Heckle fish 961 · Jul 9, 2026

Hey mate
What footpegs did you manage to fit ? I am looking for a set to help reduce the vibrations! Thank you

cliffa · Jul 9, 2026

Heckle fish 961 said:
Hey mate
What footpegs did you manage to fit ? I am looking for a set to help reduce the vibrations! Thank you

I fitted Honda Blackbird pegs to mine, but It didn’t make much difference, (however my bike doesn’t vibrate badly anyway).

Heckle fish 961 · Jul 9, 2026

cliffa said:
I fitted Honda Blackbird pegs to mine, but It didn’t make much difference, (however my bike doesn’t vibrate badly anyway).

Thanks cliffa I will have a look at them

Stephen_Spencer · Jul 9, 2026

Others have weighted the interior of the OEM pegs to try and reduce vibration.

For me and others the vibration all but disappeared over time but particularly, when the centre mounting of the exhaust failed. Worth removing the centre mount to see the difference. The exhaust has proven to be sufficiently secure between header and hanger mounts.

NorTriDuc · Jul 9, 2026

I don’t notice the difference in vibration between my commando or Domi. Other than the exhaust note being louder on the domi

Trifield790 · Saturday at 11:18 PM

TonyA said:
Hello Again , I have done some things to my Norton 961 that have improved the the level of felt vibration . I would like to put all of these things in one place .
Exhaust Mounting at the muffler hangers and at the H pipe below never to be tight and system must be aligned so no bending , flex or stress on it . The hangar bolts must slide through freely. Use all metal lock nuts never nyloc because of heat . My bike came with all metal lock nuts from OEM . The system should be able to expand and contract as it heats up.

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Footpegs for me were the worst offender. I have solved this with different footpegs which mount with minor modification .
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Next are the handgrips , Progrip 717 work verywell with color selections too . If you need more anti-vibe you can layer on foam grip sleeves but I find this too big for optimal road work . And bar end mirrors act as bar end weights .

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And lastly there is gearing if you need less RPM at high speed . You can go all the way down to 47T and no need to alter chain length. I have run a 47T but my advice is to try the 48T if you go this route . I am currently running stock 18T/50T and am very happy with it. I Have good pick up and can run 80 TO 85 all day with ease and comfort .

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Hi Tony , lve fitted the grips u recommended which r a great improvement. Where did you get yr foot pegs as l wld like to fit some the same …?

MAK · Sunday at 12:48 AM

Trifield790 said:
Hi Tony , lve fitted the grips u recommended which r a great improvement. Where did you get yr foot pegs as l wld like to fit some the same …?

Get some miles on it..mine is smoothing out now.

TonyA · Sunday at 6:48 AM

MAK said:
Get some miles on it..mine is smoothing out now.

The pegs I fitted are for a BMW F800 and were from Ebay and China made . You have to do some filing (on the peg not the bike) and get a new slightly longer 6mm pivot pin and E clips . When you get the pegs and start to fit them you will see it is obvious. If you can get a late model Norton 961 (TVS) rotation lock plate one for each peg this will put the rotation angle of the peg in the most favorable position . These are not mandatory just a better fitment.

Trifield790 · Tuesday at 11:42 AM

Yeah l got something very similar on Amazon Spain , just arrived today will be fine with a bit of filing , only cost €15 and have a decent chunk of rubber to rest yr foot on …

richard-7 · 2026-10-09T14:51:27-0600

I didn't read the entire thread. But the BALANCE SHAFTS are not all balanced. You can remove them and balance them yourself. Some are close. Some are perfect. Some are not even close.

Why does the 961 vibrate so much ?

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