| Author | Message | ||
     M1combat |
I've got a bit over 2K miles on my RX. A week ago I took my son to a birthday party and the ride included about 2 miles of dirt road. It was generally smooth but a few sections were a little wash-boarded. It wasn't too bad so I didn't think anything of it. After I got home and through the next couple days I noticed a bit more noise than I'm used to. My fiancee even noticed when I pulled in the drive and she doesn't generally notice things like that. As far as frequency and pitch it sounds a lot like valve train noise. It's louder on the right side of the bike. It seems to not be so bad once the bike warms up and it's "mostly" at idle and low RPM. The bike always made a decent bit of mechanical noise and I recall my Firebolt getting a decent bit louder as it wore in... but this seems different. I can hear all of the valve train noise that was there before but it sounds like one finger follower is louder than the rest. It still makes great power. No starting/running issues. No smoke etc... Any ideas? | ||
| Ebrfan |
It could possibly be the welds on the exhaust system cracking from the washboard road. The weld are crap, for whatever reason, and seem to be a common problem on some bikes, mine included. A loose bolt or the like will transfer and project a noise as well. Let us know what you find. | ||
| 1_mike |
Probably what what EBRfan said. I'm just over 14,000. My first adjustment was only one valve and I was nitpicking to install another shim, really coulda gone without it. The valve clearance actually gets tighter with wear. The seats recess into the head and close the gap. Even with wear on the shims, rockers and cam lobes. My lower muffler is full of broken welds...and my bike's never been offroad... Mike | ||
| M1combat |
I'll check that out. I assume time is of the essence as a broken muffler weld will put extra stress on the header... | ||
| Snacktoast |
The weld are crap This doesn't exactly tell the whole story. The early headers (2014 model year) were a problem for a couple reasons. Not sure exactly what "early" means, but as far as I know, the first hundred or so bikes used different headers as well as a different rear header heat shield hardware setup. This was revised to be less prone to cracking at the attachment point of the heat shield. The later headers certainly looked uglier as far as the welds go, but I believe they actually held up better. (Message edited by snacktoast on April 29, 2016) | ||
| Theshinenz |
So were the first hundred or so bikes all RX models? | ||
| Snacktoast |
Yes | ||
| Stevel |
If the valve noise is louder, it is usually bad news. It means the clearances have increased. This is not normal. Normal is some wear on the valve faces and seats, which decrease clearances and the valve noise decreases. If the valves and seats were correct at manufacture, this clearance reduction would be minimal, even at 20,000 miles. If there is observable valve noise, this is normally related to cam and/or finger failure. Infantile cam failure is NOT uncommon. When it occurs, it is usually caused by break-in failure. The first few hours of operation of a new cam is critical to its long life. | ||
| M1combat |
I'm not certain it's a valve though... I haven't put a stethoscope on it to figure out exactly where it's coming from but it has the right tempo. | ||
| M1combat |
Here's a vid... I think if you compare it to another you'll hear the sound immediately. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_1ch17SXraVeGw1d HNhb0Q5QzA/view?usp=sharing I would put it on Youtube but it's notorious for screwing up sound... | ||
| M1combat |
Wen't ahead anyway... We'll see what happens. https://youtu.be/aeF_oznvae8 | ||
| Dannybuell |
My 1125 w/22Kmi has had one valve adjustment and has never been over 8,000 RPM's. It has the Barker muffler, you do hear more engine noise after a while. Is your exhaust system is breaking in and relaxing on the sound a bit? Two up riding means how many pounds? a tiny bit low on oil and/or the oil is cooked? The hydraulic cam chain tensioner runs on oil pressure. Could it be off a bit? 2Kmi? drop the oil, filter, and try 3 quarts of something good. A part of the motorcycle experience is being in an unsettled state. Adrenaline overstimulates and may be heightening your sensitivity to noise? | ||
| Theshinenz |
I wouldnt boast about that LOL, might as well buy a harley if you never want to exceed 8000 revs :-) | ||
| M1combat |
Well... I have over 70K miles on the XB so I'm probably past the adrenaline stage  . It certainly sounds louder. Check out the video. You can hear the noise I'm talking about but it's a little tricky because of the way audio recording and hearing works. It's the diesel-ish sound in the vid. WRT oil it has Amsoil 20/50 that's about 1K miles old. | ||
| Dannybuell |
Theshinenz: after 106,000 miles on my S1 and three top ends, I decided to have an engine that would be understressed. using no more than 75% of the engine means it will likely last longer than a Harley motor. LOL | ||
| 86bgn |
I think mine may be louder than yours lol hopefully they are just noisy valve train engines. That's what I am thinking... | ||
| Ebrfan |
Are you sure it is valve train noise? It is a bit hard to pinpoint the noise but in the video I hear what sounds like the clutch housing torsion springs operating and general drive train clatter, not a steady ticking like something in a valve train would do. I just listened to the video of when I bought mine and the bike sounds like yours too for the most part. Does the sound change when in gear? Mine is louder when idling in neutral coming from the right (clutch pack) side of the bike because of that big clutch pack and housing taking up slack and the like from the drive train. When first gear is engaged and the clutch disengaged with the lever pulled it is a lot quieter because all those springs aren't rebounding back and forth from the solid mass unit acting on them. hhttps://youtu.be/PA-hxTF36ew (Message edited by Ebrfan on May 04, 2016) | ||
| 86bgn |
I am not sure of anything, but I do know if I pull in the clutch lever some of the noise leaves, and it gets a little quieter. There is still lots of noise that seems to be coming from the upper-ish right side. i am not really worried about it, the bike runs great, and considering that it is more stripped down, performance focused bike than a heavy, docile commuter i think mechanical noises should be expected. Most of the reviews of the SX, and RX said there where lots of mechanical sounds coming from everywhere anyway. |
