Odakyu-sen
11th November 2019, 19:28
Ever since I bought my 2001 R6 new from Red Barron back in December 2001, there was always a "clonk" in the front fairing. It seemed to come from somewhere behind the instruments. it was a bit of a non-problem because out on the open road with ear plugs and the wind roar, I would hardly ever notice it. But every time I would ride the bike to Red Baron for a service, she would clonk away over every noticeable bump. The mechanics never sorted it out. They thought it might have been the headlight cables bouncing around, and they put some sticky foam tape where the cables rested on the backs of the headlights, but it made no difference.
Fast-forward 18 years and for the first time I detatched the entire front fairing by pulling apart the 24-pin plug, removing the two 12-mm head bolts of the front sub-frame, and removing the fairing bolts.
An unbelieveable amount of rocks, dust, black dried cow-poo-like material and other crap came out of the air intake plenum system when I shook the front cowling upside-down. There must have been half a cup of junk in total. I shook the front cowling and there was definitely something large and loose.
I removed the 4 screws holding the speedometer/tachometer assembly onto the plastic backing molding, and found a crucifix-shaped wiring sub-loom that ran from the 24-pin socket, up to the instruments and left-and-right to the headlights and indicators. There was a fifth thick cable that ran foward and disappeared into the space between the back of the instrument support frame and the nose of the coweling (above the ram air intake). I gave this fifth cable a pull and found that it was not secured. I tugged at it and pulled out about 15 cm of it. It ended in a black plastic relay-box-like thingy about the size of a small cigarette lighter. This was the culprit all along!
The relay box on the end of the cable had a rubber casing with a slot that indicated that the whole thing should have been mounted on a tang. But it had been jogging around like the clapper of a school bell, and knocking against the inside of the fairing all these years.
I removed the plastic backing molding (supporting the instruments) and found the tang on the back (forward) side. Yamaha had not built an proper retainer, and the relay had worked its way loose over time. I re-fitted the relay onto its tang, and retained it in place with a foam rubber sheet (2 cm thick) between it and the inside wall of the fairing. I then re-assembled the coweling and fitted it back on the R6.
Problem solved! (I should have done this years ago.)
Fast-forward 18 years and for the first time I detatched the entire front fairing by pulling apart the 24-pin plug, removing the two 12-mm head bolts of the front sub-frame, and removing the fairing bolts.
An unbelieveable amount of rocks, dust, black dried cow-poo-like material and other crap came out of the air intake plenum system when I shook the front cowling upside-down. There must have been half a cup of junk in total. I shook the front cowling and there was definitely something large and loose.
I removed the 4 screws holding the speedometer/tachometer assembly onto the plastic backing molding, and found a crucifix-shaped wiring sub-loom that ran from the 24-pin socket, up to the instruments and left-and-right to the headlights and indicators. There was a fifth thick cable that ran foward and disappeared into the space between the back of the instrument support frame and the nose of the coweling (above the ram air intake). I gave this fifth cable a pull and found that it was not secured. I tugged at it and pulled out about 15 cm of it. It ended in a black plastic relay-box-like thingy about the size of a small cigarette lighter. This was the culprit all along!
The relay box on the end of the cable had a rubber casing with a slot that indicated that the whole thing should have been mounted on a tang. But it had been jogging around like the clapper of a school bell, and knocking against the inside of the fairing all these years.
I removed the plastic backing molding (supporting the instruments) and found the tang on the back (forward) side. Yamaha had not built an proper retainer, and the relay had worked its way loose over time. I re-fitted the relay onto its tang, and retained it in place with a foam rubber sheet (2 cm thick) between it and the inside wall of the fairing. I then re-assembled the coweling and fitted it back on the R6.
Problem solved! (I should have done this years ago.)