UH-OH!!

[Dash Riproc]

I'll be as concise as possible:
'93 Honda Nighthawk 750, 18200 miles-the last 4k are mine;
Left side chain drive, not loose.

Have recently noticed some chattering, not really grinding; can't quite pinpoint the point of origination. I "feel" the chattering in my right foot.

Not EVERYTIME, but I notice it most when accelerating from a stop, or when almost lugging in one gear too high for the speed. Have never heard it with the clutch in...only when in the friction zone or fully engaged.

Goes into gear just fine, no jumping out of gear; accelerates normally. Can hear chatter sometimes at highway speeds in all 5 gears.

If it's chattering I can let off the throttle, use engine braking, and the noise immediatly goes away. Everything else is absolutly normal; all fluids are good.

I'm thinking (read: hoping) clutch, rather than tranny.

ANY thoughts would be appreciated.

[sharpmagna]

How are the valve tolerances? Does your bike need adjusting or are they self adjusting?

[Dash Riproc]

The chasm of ignorance in which I wallow is dark, vast and knows no limits ...

I don't know if my valves are self adjusting...I'll check my Clymers manual tonight; meanwhile I'll try to Google some information.

So maybe it's the valves making noise? My guess is that they have never been adjusted...I know I never did it and I'm pretty sure the previous owner never did either.

[Dash Riproc]

...the valves are self adjusting, thank you very much...(I'm still in my chasm, though)

[oldschoolorange]

If you have factory pipes and they are dual walled take a rubber mallet to them and give them a whack, not hard enough to bend them but just hard enough that you might be able to hear a rattle inside. I have only seen this once, The inner and outer pipes break away from eachother

[BuzZz]

Loose muffler or exhaust?
Bad wheel bearing?
???

[ZooTech]

If it's chattering I can let off the throttle, use engine braking, and the noise immediatly goes away.

This leads me to believe you should still revisit your chain tension. It's making the noise when under load, and that's when your chain slack will be on the bottom where it could rub a frame spar. When you engine brake the slack goes to the top where gravity will keep it from rubbing anything.

You also may want to check the cam chain tensioner, assuming it has one. Mine is automatic (spring-loaded) and will run out of travel as the miles are racked-up. Once it bottoms out the chain itself will start sawing through the spark plug tunnels.

[Dash Riproc]

Zoo, that may be the original chain. I've been thinking of replacing it with an o-ring chain.

I'm going to give all these suggestions a shot...

Once again, Total Motorcycle has proved to be an invaluable site...thanks again for all the help.

(sweet meanie, Zoo.)

[guitar guru]

A very similar thing happened to me, if no the same thing. I have an old chain and it chattered when starting from a stop. Turned out the chain was bone-dry. I lubed it up and the sound went away.

[Dash Riproc]

Guru...I lubed the hell out of the chain last night and this mornings ride to work was quiet, no trace of the chattering. Perhaps I wasn't spraying the chain as much as I needed to.

Still going to replace with an o-ring chain and keep the tension correct...thanks much...