Fasst Company Vibration Damping Dirt Bike Handlebar Insert Installation And Review | Reduce Buzzing

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When it comes to riding a dirt bike for a long time, everyone knows the feeling of their hands going numb from hours of buzzy vibrating handlebars. This can actually lead to some nasty long term side effects known as hand-arm vibration syndrome or HAVS. HAVS occurs when your muscles, joints, circulation and nerves in the hands, wrists and arms are exposed to long term vibration which can cause damage. Not to mention the fact that it sucks to ride when you are trying to operate the brake and clutch, let alone hang on for dear life while not being able to feel your hands. This has been a problem since the dawn of dirt bikes, especially with two strokes. Thankfully in recent years a lot of manufactures have designed their dirt bikes with counter balancers on the crank shaft which greatly reduces the vibration throughout the entire bike. For older bikes like my 2010 KTM 300 xcw, I'm not so lucky. For this we have to turn to other measures to reduce the vibration in my handlebars. In this video I am installing a pair of Flexx Company vibration damping inserts into my handlebars and will conclude with my first impressions on how well this product works. Basically these inserts are brass rods that are threaded into the ends of the handlebars and counter the vibration which greatly reduces the buzzy feeling and numb fingers. I ran into a few snags along the way however I did notice a significant improvement in reduced vibration which made my bike a lot more comfortable to ride.
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[@nolanmccann5250]

Thanks for the review. I'm installing these inserts on my EXC-F this week for the same reason. Good to know about the tap pitfalls. And yes, it appears the tap they provide is a bottoming tap, not a plug or taper tap (like the one you compared it to). Typically, bottoming taps are used for blind holes (not something like a tube) and you would start the threads with a taper tap and then finish the last few threads (at the bottom of the hole) with the bottoming tap.
You could make a fixture to help align the tap to be parallel to the grips while cutting the threads - think a tube that slides over the grips, sticks out past the bar ends, and has a smaller hole in the middle to keep the tap aligned when cutting those critical first few threads.
Lastly, your assumption of the preload (and misalignment) on the O-ring affecting the damping performance is a valid concern in principle, but I really have no idea how much damping is being provided by such a small section width O-ring.

[@ExtremeSportsWannaBes]

There is definitely a noticeable improvement in vibration reduction on mine so it’s worth it even if you mess it up as badly as I did haha. If you can find a better tap solution I’d definitely recommend it. You can loosen up the threads with the tap like I did and that seems to have worked but it’s not ideal.
You’re right about the oring. It’s hard to know how much effect side pressure on the oring would have. My impression is that the brass shaft is supposed to be free floating so the the vibration wave can be canceled out. With that in mind if the brass shaft is pressed so hard against the side of the handlebar tube that it can’t move freely then it seems like it would defeat the purpose.
Anyway I hope you have better luck with it than I did. Hope the video is helpful!

[@dropbackdilley]

Hey what year is your bike and did you use on stock handle bars

[@nolanmccann5250]

My 500 EXC-F is a 2020. The bars are stock. I did make a simple fixture to make squarely tapping the holes easy, and I did notice a little bit of vibration reduction.

[@dropbackdilley]

@@nolanmccann5250 are they worth buying

[@nolanmccann5250]

I wouldn't personally install them again. The improvement was marginal.

[@geneva760]

I saw a guy using lead shot for a similar effect - only filling up the few inches on each end of the bar, not the entire bars - I think he was suggesting No. 4 scuba diver lead weight shot. I am going to give it a go on my 'new/old' XR1000 soon on its way to me. My last XR1000 'buzzed' so much, it was useless riding with a rear view mirror (HA - as well as mufflers - HA - the old 'loud pipes save lives' theory - HA). CHEERS from AUSTRALIA.

[@ExtremeSportsWannaBes]

Super interesting idea! Thanks for sharing

[@jc76811]

i did this to my 500 exc a year or 2 ago makes a huge difference plus protaper pillow top grips

[@Yz250fx]

Take the bars off the bike and mount in vice with soft jaws, when putting inserts in do the same in out method as with the tap

[@rodrigolloreda7012]

You may want to try some oil as the lubricant for the tapping and use a tapping drill instead of the hand one. It allows you to use both hands to steady and ensure you’re going in straight.

[@ExtremeSportsWannaBes]

Both good ideas. We do this so infrequently we're def not experts.

[@lincolndrushella8204]

Would be nice if the bars came threaded so buying their dampeners would be an easy install. Especially for $400 handlebars 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@ExtremeSportsWannaBes]

Totally agree. Especially since their the ones that sell the vibration dampers. It would be a good way for them to promote their own products. Worst case you could thread in the inserts for wrap around guards.

[@teddysurf]

No, you don’t have to be perfect with the tap. All you need is to make a tab guide…. Adam Savage how did tutorial on how to make one.

[@onedollarstiffy]

if you put grease on your tap it will catch the metal shavings

[@ExtremeSportsWannaBes]

Yup, great tip!

[@jeffcarter4787]

The tap with the taper is a starter tap. Do you use that first and then you follow with the other tap to finish the threads

[@ExtremeSportsWannaBes]

Yup, we got there eventually 🤣

[@awfab3517]

You would figure ktm would want a solution to this problem and build it into there models