| Author | Message | ||
     Liftline |
A knocking sound is coming from the front end what could this be.It only happens when the bike is on the move.When I rev it there is no sound from the motor | ||
| Mark_weiss |
Does it happen most often when applying or releasing the front brake? That clunk noise is most commonly caused by loose steering head bearings. | ||
| Liftline |
front brake has no effect on the clunking sound | ||
| Hughlysses |
So you're saying that when you're riding along at a steady speed, not applying the brakes, you get a repetitive knocking sound from the front end of the bike? The only I can think of is failing front wheel bearings, and they'd have to be really bad to cause a knock. Check the bearings for obvious signs like rusty grease oozing out of the seals. If you can't see anything, get the front wheel off the ground somehow and spin the wheel. Crunch noises = bad bearings. | ||
| Arry |
If it's a quick repeating knock knock knock... It could be the horn tapping against the back side of the windscreen. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
What Arry said, open the flyscreen and look for signs that the horn is touching the inside of the plastic. It's really surprising how much noise a little contact there can make. | ||
| Liftline |
I removed the fairing took the bike around the court where I live. It's not the horn The sound is more in the middle of the bike down low. I don't think its in the motor. When pushing the bike around with the bike off I can hear a clicking. When I start the bike and ride it it's more of a clanking. Any other thoughts? Thanks for everyone's input | ||
| Hugie03flhr |
Your weight on the bike will change the tension on the pulley when riding it. Maybe something stuck in the belt or a bearing starting to go. Do a very careful inspection on the belt. Something as small as a rice grain can clack, clank and ring like a bell. | ||
| Pitchondesign |
With the engine off and the front brake engaged, push up and down on the front fork. If you hear the clicking sound, it's most likely the steering head bearing. It's probably loose and can be adjusted. I went round and round on this until I found it. Its a common problem. | ||
| Ourdee |
I suggest lifting the front off the ground by jacking the muffler. Then spin the front wheel. See if you can wobble it. See if the brake components are loose. Look for a loose wheel weight. See if anything touches what it should not. | ||
| Liftline |
held down on the brake compressed the front fork Got the knocking sound I was hearing when riding . Could it be something other than the steering head bearings? | ||
| Pitchondesign |
There is a bunch of stuff it could be, forks, wheel bearings, calipers, pads, and anything else attached to the front end. Take your pick. Others have had exactly the same symptom and the fix is to adjust the steering head bearing. Try that first. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
You can hold a finger against one of the triple clamps and the head tube of the frame. Hold the brake and rock the bike. If you feel any movement at all, the steering head bearings are the problem. If there is enough movement to cause noise, there should be enough movement to notice. If the bike has over 50k miles, you should check the steering head bearings for smooth movement anyway before adjusting them and if you disassemble things that far, you may as well replace the bearings. Actually, if you just raise the front end and remove the mass of the wheel, that should lighten things enough to allow you to feel if the bearings have developed notches. Probably so. | ||
| Darrell |
So, I purchased this bike from Liftline. While the steering head bearings need to be tightened, the sound being produced is definitely not from them. It's much louder, and can be felt when on the move, like a hesitation. I felt the front and rear wheel bearings after a short ride, and they're cool to the touch. The idler pulley however, was pretty heated. I'm thinking this may be the culprit. Further inspection will commence later this week. Any other opinions on what it may be? Knock only when moving, can be felt as a slight hesitation. Pull in the clutch and coast and it still happens. Nothing from just revving the engine. | ||
| Hugie03flhr |
Good luck with it! Whatever it is you'll track it down, just make sure to let us know what it was! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Idler pullies get hot - belt friction, bearing friction, and not a lot of material to absorb the heat. The noise could be the forks themselves, although I hear more of it as an "issue" on the 1125 forum than here on BB&D. 1125CR forks have a tendency to "click" when going through their travel and it can be quite unnerving sometimes. Perhaps something inside the forks is making the noise? If it's a running-engine noise, check primary chain tension and primary adjuster shoe. If the chain is loose, it'll make one hell of an alarming racket against the inside of the primary; ditto a loose primary nut. If it does it engine off-or-on regardless...steering bearings can make a big noise. They're directly linked (pressed into) the frame itself, which turns into a big loudspeaker. And as you check torques on all these critical fasteners, have a bottle of touchup paint handy. Once you know a fastener is torqued properly, dot the fastener and put a dot that aligns with that one, on the part the nut attaches. Then future checks are simple - dots still lined up? Fine. Dots out of alignment? Retorque. | ||
| Darrell |
Finally got around to the bike. Up on the lift, I jacked up the rear end and spun the rear tire. After a few rotations, I diagnosed that the sound was from the wheel bearings. Took off the rear wheel and the right side bearing is shot. While trying to think of redneck ways of removing the bearing without screwing up the wheel, and tossing ideas around in my head and the wheel on the workbench, the right side bearing fell out of the wheel. That ain't supposed to happen, I say to myself, along with a few choice words. I had a set of new bearings from my previous Ulysses, so I grabbed one and sure enough, it dropped right in the wheel. Egged out. Guess a new rear wheel is in my future. | ||
| Tootal |
Bite the bullet and get a 2010 wheel. Much improved design. |
