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Rebel 300 – reducing the roar/scream/vibration/harshness
do 1st – change front sprocket to 15 tooth (With the 15T sprocket, all the gears are higher and you now have two gears usable for the highway. If you need to, you can cruise forever in 5th gear.)
do 2nd – add neoprene or plastic washers to front motor mount
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To reduce vibration coming through the handlebars:
- thicker grips or grip covers (like Grip Puppy)
- crash bars (adds rigidity and weight to frame
- tighten all motor mount bolts (torque settings are below)
- if you have removed the driver footpeg rubber inserts, put them back in for less vibration through the pegs.
- add plastic washers to the driver footpeg braces – you need four washers.
- rubber mounting or new riser rubber washers for the bars
- anti-vibration motor mount bar – remove the two lower front motor mount bolts and replace with one 3/8″ threaded rod and buy frame sliders for the rod ends. Any weight you can add before the frame sliders go on will help. I experimented adding 3 lbs of weight and it made a noticable reduction in vibration. Walmart sells 1.25 lbs “CAP” Barbell weight plates for $1.88 each. You could use 1 or 2 per side. Threaded rod should be 14.5 to 16 inch long – put it in place with all weights and sliders BEFORE you cut it.
- (Rebel 300/500/1100 already has bar weights)
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Please pay no attention to the notes and stuff below.
The engine sounds more revved up than it actually is (someone needs to work on an engine damper 😉). It starts sort of screaming around 55 mph, yet 80 mph is only 7,500 rpm, which the bike seems like it could maintain for a long while on the highway. Rev-limiter engages at 10,900 rpm.
…. The sound of the bike encourages short-shifting (shifting early) 🙁 and low rpm riding, which will prevent you from knowing what the bike will do. It starts making a roar about 5,000 rpm and you have to overcome the tendency to shift up.
when you hear the engine start to roar, you know it’s 5,000 rpm, so you can shift up. Or wait for it to wind up more and shift up at 6 or 7,000 rpm.
Rebel500 