whine or howl annoyance

[Snubnose]

After a few rides in trying to aimlessly diagnose this darned noise I hear, I believe it mostly happens in 3rd gear only, perhaps a little bit in fourth, but not 1st (not enough speed/momentum I think), not 2nd and definitely not 5th.

It momentarily goes away when I ease off the gas, but then kicks in again, but dissipating in pitch as I decrease speed. It increases in pitch when I increase speed. There seems to be some sort of sudo-"sweet silent spot" where the momentum of the bike tries to catch up (or down) with the drive train sort of thing, where the noise momentarily vanishes, and then, once it does "catch up or catch down" so to speak, the noise engages again.

When decelerating, depending on how hard, the noise "jerks" a little in time with the bikes momentum as it cycles down.

Is this my Tranny guys?.. I need to state , however, that the noise completely goes away when I pull in the clutch.

any further ideas?

[pmackie]

If you only hear it in 3rd gear, and it goes away when you pull the clutch in, then yea, I'd be suspecting the transmission...

[China Greg]

Snubby-

I experienced something similar with my first B12... the noise (a whine) appearing at certain speeds, usually starting about 50 miles per hour, then the wind/motor noise covered it up as speed increased.

For the longest time I was convinced that this was due to a bad countershaft bearing .. and, getting increasingly timid, I finally put the bike up for sale and found another 1st Gen B12 on EBAY with lower miles.

It wasn;t until I started fooling around with gearing changes/sprockets/chains on the newer bike that I began to hear similar whining.

NOW I am convinced that it was some result of worn sprockets and/or chain. When I changed to fresh sprockets, the noise was vastly reduced.
BOTH bikes have been sort of whiney, especially in the front. There's also a recurrent shudder around the front sprocket when coming away from lights. It's not bad, but noticeable.

I'd suggest you investigate whether your sprocket(s) are worn.
And remember: CHANGE ALL SPROCKETS AND CHAINS AT THE SAME TIME. Don't try to cheap it out... (please don't ask me how I know).

[Snubnose]

Snubby-
I experienced something similar with my first B12... the noise (a whine) appearing at certain speeds, usually starting about 50 miles per hour, then the wind/motor noise covered it up as speed increased.

Thanks for the tip.

I kinda hope that is the problem, as I'm not looking forward to the possibility that I have wear issues on the tranny somewhere. Thing is, if the noise was the result of worn/exhausted chain/sprockets, then wouldn't that noise still occur when the clutch was pulled in?, as the chain is still moving around right? its just not being propelled by the front sprocket anymore!

[pmackie]

Thing is, if the noise was the result of worn/exhausted chain/sprockets, then wouldn't that noise still occur when the clutch was pulled in?, as the chain is still moving around right? its just not being propelled by the front sprocket anymore!

Maybe...but you kind of put the issue into perspective when the last part of your statment. Once you pull in the clutch, your not applying ANY significant load to the chain, either by driving the chain from the countershaft, NOR from driving the chain with the year wheel.

In any situation with the clutch engaged, except when you can really hit Nuetral throttle, the chain is under tension on the top (accelerating) or under tension on the bottom (decelerating). This causes the chain to contact either the front or rear of the sprocket and it changes on the countershaft or rear sprocket accordinglyl. Either of these situations can cause a whine from the chain or sprockets.

The bottom line, check for wear in the chain & sprockets first, before you get worried about getting in any deeper.