Rattling noise

[Guest]

Trying to track down a rattling noise:

Noise is present:
When bike is in gear, moving, regardless of clutch in or out.

If I stop, or put the bike in neutral, the noise goes away. Clutch makes little/no noticeable difference. Also, all of my clutch friction plates are new OEM, I replaced them because 4/8 of the old ones were shattered into several pieces.

So if I'm not mistaken, that screams transmission, right? Maybe the input shaft bearing?

I haven't ever pulled my transmission cover, but I believe I have to pull the front sprocket first. Sounds like a pain in the ass. The bike still rides fine and I'm 2-3 hours from home, so I plan on riding back how it is.

Thanks
-Matt

[tkent02]

What condition are your chain and sprockets in?

They sound like you are describing whan they are bad.

[blowerbike]

you have no "transmission" cover.
the spring's in the rear of your basket could be loose..
do what was suggested above 1st.

[lemonshindig]

Thanks guys, it appears you hit the nail on the head.

My chain was quite loose. Adjusted it and the noise went away, seems like it must have been slapping around a bit too much. And yes, my sprockets/chain probably do need to be replaced.

That said:

1) How often do chains require adjustment and lubricating? I set and lubricated this one about 1500miles/4 months ago and today it was waaay loose.

2) I've seen on here a few people "upgrade" their chains by swapping them out for a different link count or width or something. Can someone explain to me why this "upgrade" is better? Does it last longer? I know I can order the parts from Z1 and how to count the teeth to maintain or change my ratio.

Thanks
-Matt

[tkent02]

Use a quality modern chain and they last a long time. I have 12,000 miles on my F800, have not adjusted the chain yet. It's still tight and silent. Ridden in in a lot of dirt, water crossings, etc. I'm not big on cleaning or lubing either. It's just good quality stuff.

If it's a cheap chain, a non O ring chain, is not aligned correctly, or too loose or especially too tight, thay don't last as long. Running a new chain on old sprockets eats them up. Once they get fairly worn they wear a lot faster.

20,000 + miles on a chain is common now. Maybe 30.

If you have the original chain, it was an o ring chain, but I bet a lot of the o rings have fallen out. Once that happens, they're done.