A tipover and a possible rattle.

tmoldovan

tmoldovan

Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Messages
136
Location
Nebraska
Bike
2007 STinkerbell
We'll after a gooorgeous and peaceful ride today, I had my first and hopefully last tipover. (A T intersection half a block from my house. I started to go, turning left when the car to my right also started going, straight, heading straight for me. One thing left to another and I ended up under the bike, while they continued away, looking at me and talking on their cellphone.)(I'm ok too, full face helmet saved my head as I smacked the pavement pretty good, padded jacket saved my back, and good boots saved my pinned foot.)

No damage to the bike, I let her down gently, and no leaks. But it seems to me that it has developed a new rattle around 2500 RPM. Am I just imagining things, or is the sound around 2500RPM normal?

What's the best thing to do? Take off tupperware and examine it?
TIA.
 
Is it a clutch rattle? Mine makes noise at idle, increase the revs and she quiets down. If it was a tipover, and you were not moving forward I'd think no damage (based on extensive testing on my part). You might post an audio file here for us to hear. Then you will get better feedback.
 
I chased a rattle while riding two up with my wife on the back. Everything checked out...over and over again. First time I used my garage door opener, the rattle stopped. I now put it on top of the paperwork in the left pocket. It's amazing how loud that was.

My only point is don't ignore the unlikely.
 
I don't think it's a clutch rattle, but i don't know how I could tell. Ok I'll see about posting an audio file.
Yeah, i checked for loosy goosys on the bike too. Those little resonance rattles can make quite a noise.
 
tmoldovan said:
I don't think it's a clutch rattle, but i don't know how I could tell. Ok I'll see about posting an audio file.
Yeah, i checked for loosy goosys on the bike too. Those little resonance rattles can make quite a noise.
Click to expand...

I didn't hear your rattle in the sound clips. Maybe someone else will. Clutch rattle: pull in the clutch - does the noise change? Engage a gear and slowly let the clutch out to the friction point Again, does the noise change? (Don't change the rpms and don't move the bike.)

Alternatively, get a mechanic's stethoscope and go over the engine poking the probe in to touch metal at various points through holes in the tupperware. See if you can narrow down where the noise is coming from.
 
A "Tipover" is usually self inflicted! So don't be too quick to add it to your tipover counter!

Glad you got out of it okay! I would just check to make sure all the "joints" and clips are correctly attached. Check under your tipover cover to make sure nothing was damaged there too.

It doesn't take too much to bend the tipover bars where they attach to the frame in the rear and bend the triangular bracket attached to it.
 
Sounds good, thank you guys. And thank you for listening to it. I'll check the tipover bars and all the clips.
If I find the culprit, I'll post an update.
 
SMSW said:
Alternatively, get a mechanic's stethoscope and go over the engine poking the probe in to touch metal at various points through holes in the tupperware. See if you can narrow down where the noise is coming from.
Click to expand...

Or use a long screw driver. Seat the blade against the engine casing in different locations, and put your ear against the handle. It is surprising how well this works.

Its possible that something has broken off and is trapped in the fairing, or between the down pipes. The keys / fobs rattling in the pockets are always worth checking - they do very good impressions of a serious mechanical fault.

I'll take another listen when i can play it on decent speakers. Are you sure the rattle has just started happening, or is it possible that since tipping over, you are more aware of the possibility that something is wrong? Not that it matters, you still want to find it, but it helps to know where to start looking.

Glad you are ok.

[edit]Ok, just played it on my PC with a decent set of speakers. I can't hear anything there to be worried about - in fact it sounds pretty good.

There is an adjustment (two actually) at the front of the engine, left hand side, which allows the counterbalancers - two small shafts which are clamped with a pinch bolt - to be brought closer or further away from the gear with which they mesh. The shafts carry two sets of counterweights which rotate in the opposite direction to the crankshaft. Too close together and you get a very obvious gear whine. Too far apart and you get a rattle. Somewhere in between you can 'tune' it to make the sound that you like best. Use the screwdriver trick on the end of those shafts to listen if that is the noise you are hearing.

There's a sequence (manual says to do one before the other, and I can't remember which has to be done first) You should be able to find it in one of the posts if that is the source of the rattle you can hear.

Having said that, I haven't heard anything that would get me concerned.
 
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