Total Motorcycle Community Forums

My first post here, so first hello everyone.

Here's something I have been wondering for awhile, but asking it on the internet seems near impossible.

What are some common noises you frequently hear when riding a motorcycle? (That the motorcycle makes.)

This is my first bike so I'm not sure what I should hear and what I shouldn't be hearing. For instance, when riding I can hear an, almost metallic sound constantly coming from directly underneath me. Really, really hard to explain this sound. I can hear it np when on the bike, but can't, say, if my brother is riding and I'm watching him. I would say it's just my chain, but it doesn't seem to be coming from the direction of my chain.

It also only does it when I am engaging the transmission while accelerating. Reving the engine and decelerating I can't hear it.

Any ideas? Or anything else. I'm definately used to the clunk and clicking of gears by now. =)

Thanks. My bike is a 96' Honda Magna V45 btw.

Bikes can be noisy in general... Lots of stuff that can start to shake loose. I have a bit of a fairing buzz on my Ninja.

If you wear a full helmet, you miss a lot of noise. You might try putting around a bit with no helmet just to hear all the sounds an 11 year old bike can make.

One thing it could be is a buzz or shaking of a pipe (pipes on both sides of that bike? not too up on Honda). Could be a loose bracket or support. Could be the chain too. It might have a kink that is making noise, or a bent coupling.

If you can get your back wheel off the ground, put it in neutral and spin the tire slowly to look at the chain. Maybe use a small mirror to see both sides at the same time.

It could really be anything, but those are two noise makers in my experience.

Good luck,
Dave

It could be the normal noise that your transmission makes. I got used to the way the chain sounded on my Yamaha xs650, then I moved to a kz1000 shaft drive and it's a totally different noise that freaked me out for a while. If you are really worried about it, see if you can find someone in your area that knows a little about bikes to take it for a ride, or you can take it to a local dealer and I'm sure they will give it a quick inspection (probably for a fee).

Thanks for the replies guys.


I posted this on MOOT forum also, out of curiosity, and they also agreed it was probably the chain. One of the guys there is going to help me clean my carbs, soonish, and said he'd listen to it just to make sure whenever we did that.