VTR250 start up and low speed noise

**f2dz** · 28th March 2014, 08:54

So my VTR250 has consistently made noises when it starts up. It's quite hard to explain but it's quite lumpy sounding and I assumed it was just the water pump or water moving through the system as I have a similar sound on my car when it starts.

However lately it's been happening at low speed also, mainly in the carpark once I get to work and I'm parking it up for the day. It's the same sound as when it starts in the morning but it's noticeably louder, but still fades after 10 seconds or so. This is while the bike is well warm too.

I rode to a carpark last night and rode it around trying to replicate my actions and figure out what it was but it really doesn't seem consistent. It sounds like it's coming from the clutch, centre of the bike, or the area around the shock but I can't pinpoint it down.

It doesn't happen all the time so I'm guessing it's not related to the internals of the engine and it doesn't happen consistently at certain rev ranges either.

Anyone have any ideas? Thought I'd try asking on here first before I take it into someone.

**iranana** · 28th March 2014, 10:18

Could be a number of things, but to start with, try applying the rear break, give it a little throttle and slowly let the clutch out so you're putting a light load on the engine. Don't give it heaps of throttle or strain it, you want a just a light load. If it makes a kind of knocking noise or rumble, it might be a crank bearing on it's way out or perhaps something in the clutch. What sort of noise can it be likened to? A low pitched knock, a high pitched tick, a consistent rumble a grinding noise etc? How many KMs on the bike? Does it happen only at low RPM, when taking off at the traffic lights, for instance?

It could be something in the gear box, in the clutch, in the crank... or it could be something entirely unrelated. Lots of possibilities. With engine noises the only way to diagnose them is to try and isolate the area it's coming from, and then pull the damn thing apart and inspect it once you have a fair idea for what it might be. As an example, I had worn dampeners in my clutch between the primary gear and clutch basket that created play between the two components, and they would knock at a particular RPM. What threw me off is that the knock was travelling down the push rod and into the opposite side of the engine, which made it feel like it was something completely unrelated... so try and figure out where it's coming from, then think about the relationships between the parts. A screw driver or wooden dowel can be used as a make shift mechanics stethoscope.

**f2dz** · 28th March 2014, 13:13

Thanks for the reply. I've tried riding with a little rear brake, front brake, jumping up and down on the rear shock and front forks while rolling slowly and the sound doesn't reoccur. It seems to only start happening once I'm turning quite sharply at low speed. For example when I park at work I have to ride through two large columns and usually when I do this the noise starts and then continues for a few seconds before stopping.

I got the noise to reoccur slighlty last night while I was riding around the carpark and this was while I was at full lock doing a left hand turn at a walking pace. I could hear the sound but then it died off as soon as I straightened my bars again after a few seconds. It doesn't sound like it's coming from the front of the bike at all though. More like the clutch/rear shock area. The bike is a v-twin so that could possibly be one of the cylinder heads also?

I'd liken the noise to a wheezy sounding rumble/rubbing sound. It doesn't sound like a grinding, clacking or clanking noise. The bike has 32,000km on it and is a 1998. It doesn't happen at the traffic lights at all. Only times it happens is parking at my work carpark after doing a sharp turn and then it happened last weekend when I was pulling onto the footpath at Red Baron before coming to a complete stop.

I know it's not very helpful when I can't track down the sound but it's so hard to identify the source when it only happens while I'm riding and then when I jump off and look for tell-tale signs only to find/see nothing.

**iranana** · 28th March 2014, 13:50

Very odd that it happens mainly at full lock. My initial thought when reading that was the tachometer or speedo cable (assuming it's driven by one of those spindle cable things?). Turning it to full lock might be pulling on the cable and putting strain on the tacho drive gear, or something... Probably a long shot, but maybe worth looking at? The tacho drive is often located towards the back of the engine case, which might explain why the sound seems like it's coming from the rear shock area. I don't know anything about the VTRs sorry, so I'm probably not of much help when it comes to specifics

**Akzle** · 28th March 2014, 15:37

adjust your chain.

**nzspokes** · 28th March 2014, 17:04

Check your front wheel bearings. If its only on lock then its something that gets loaded at the time.

**hayd3n** · 28th March 2014, 18:00

sounds like youeither have a loose or possibly dry or over tightened you chain

**f2dz** · 1st April 2014, 09:01

A mate reckoned my chain could be too tight so perhaps it's that. I recently checked it against my service manual and it seemed to be in spec but I'll have another look.

I recently noticed I was running slightly low on oil and ended up doing an oil change last week. I haven't heard the noise occur again much. Someone else I talked to reckoned my clutch could be oil starved while turning. I'm running my oil between the high and low marks so perhaps I'll take it up to the high mark and see what happens from there, as well as readjusting my chain.

I'll have a look over my front wheel bearing also.

Thanks all.