Whining noise varying on road speed, and not gear/engine speed...

Hi all

I had the chain and sprockets done today by my local garage, they had fun getting the chain on, as it seemed too short (530-110), but went on ok. The mechanic said it was a little tighter than it should be but it should be ok... The rear wheel is in as far as it can possibly go.

Well after 60-odd miles, the bike has now developed a whine which alters pitch dependant on the road speed of the bike, it make no difference at all whichever gear I'm in, whether the clutch is out, or what revs the engine is doing. I can hear it with my earplugs in too.

Now I checked the chain tonight, and had a few other people look at it, they all said the chains tension is spot on, and they were scratching there heads as to what it could be...

It's making the noise from about 20mph and upwards.

Any ideas what I should be looking for or possibly check??

Cheers

Is the rear wheel totally straight ??? And the chain properly lubed.

HAve you got a center stand, so you can put the bike on, then knock it in to first gear and watch the rear wheel spin while someone else rolls on the throttle.

No center stand, so we manhandled it to see what it was like, free wheeling there was no noise... It only seems to do it once things have warmed up (so after about a mile of riding) The chain is all lubed up properly too.

I'll get the alignment on the rear wheel checked first thing... I hope it is something like that

should be a 114 link chain I'm wondering if there isn't a tight spot on the chain and possibly if it been ran with a tight chain the output bearing could have been overloaded and thats making the noise might be worth getting onto a centre stand and having a good look or get her back to the shop who did the chain.

Hi there, I'm new to this forum but have the same problem as you PaulW!

I have just taken on a 650 Bandit '57 plate with 18k on the clock in a straight swap for my H****y 1200 Sportster.

I have noticed a whine coming from the area around the front sprocket. At first I thought it was front wheel bearings on the way out as I had an FZR600 that made a similar noise and was diagnosed as the wheel bearings.

I am sure i didn't notice it when I test rode it. I did tighten the chain the other day, but it was to the correct spec of 20 - 30mm play and I think I had noticed it before that.

When I noticed the noise the other night, I stopped, put it on the centre stand and drove it through the gears. There seemed to be a buzzing type of noise from the front sprocket / generator cover area but it was hard to hold the throttle and listen at the same time! I hoped this would eliminate the front wheel bearings (or in my case, confirm it was them as I hoped and not the engine!).
I suffer the same symptoms as you Paul, it doesn't seem to matter what gear, engine revs it is, it seems to start over 20 mph and is in line with road speed and is a constant noise.
So i am following this thread closely in the hope that you guys know what it is. I think the chain was to spec adjustment wise and I had chain waxed it prior to going out on it.

One other thing i noticed was that the gears were quite 'notchy' going down the box and not as sweet asmy R reg 600n had been. see there is another post asking about the notchy gears. Also there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between 5th and 6th gears. Is there someone who has the 650 Bandit who can tell me what their Tacho reads when they are doing 60 in top. I think mine was about 5,000 revs. Maybe it is me just being used to the feel of my H****y for so long!!

I don't know what to do with this bike. I don't want to palm it off onto somebody else, however I don't want to chuck money at it as I don't know how long I am gonna keep with it

Paul, just a bit of confusion.

In your earlier thread that day you said you had done the chain yourself and then in this thread later the same day you said a garage had done the chain! Who did it?
You also mentioned 1mm of play. Was that on top of the 20 - 30 mm or was 1mm the total amount of movement when the chain was too tight?

You may have some recourse if it was garage! I hope you find out what is the issue as I think mine is the same!

I have just spoken to My local dealer and he said that a tight chain / tight spot can make the noise, so I may go slack mine off a bit and see if it changes anything! He said that they are pretty bullet proof.

Does anyone know how much it would be to do an output bearing if it is that?

Cheers

Hee hee