"Not going in for service, tick DIDN'T drive me nuts!!!"

[jeffs99vulcan]

Well, it's been a hectic evening and morning, my wife is off to Montreal with her girlfriends for a weekend away... just left... that was the reason for the 18* bike ride last night. Might be the last chance ever this year. I'll be alone with the kids all weekend (can't leave them in the house) and it's supposed to snow every day this week!

But I got the sound clip downloaded to my laptop... that's the good news. This is where it gets to be a long story! The laptop is the only computer I have that has the Palm software on it... now, I have to get it over to my desktop (no big deal), then I have to re-install the file conversion software I had (the Palm records in WAV, too big for posting), then I have to clean it up with an editor (I have to find the ticking and crop it, the recording is 28 minutes long), and upload it (assuming I can use photobucket!)

When I said LONG story, I wasn't kidding... BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS I can hear the ticking on the laptop speakers. The recording is no where near as good as I'd hoped, I think the Palm mic was overwhelmed with wind and exhaust noise, but I can hear it, so maybe it's enough for some of the gurus to be able to tell what it is...

Gotta make breakfast for the kids first! (I'm tired already...)

[Mercury]

SOUND CLIP COMING SOON!!!

Hey gang... I went out tonight, 18 degrees and all, and got a sound clip! It started snowing before I got back home...

I captured it with my Palm Treo Smartphone... it takes pretty decent recording, and even though the speaker for playback isn't great I'm pretty sure I can distinctly hear the ticking. At speed, there is a lot of wind noise but during decel the wind drops and ticking increases, and once I get it downloaded to my computer (that's another story), I'll upload it right away...

In the mean time, have to get the kids to bed and start working on the download!

Oh... how do I post the clip? Does Photobucket do that?!

what format is it in... if the websites dont accept it... i have webspace and can upload the whole file to my space so it is avalible for down load.. let me know if you want to execute this option

good deal man cant wait to hear clip

today i got new jets and am about to eat something and go mess around

< 30 degrees out but i dont mind

kenny

[jeffs99vulcan]

what format is it in... if the websites dont accept it... i have webspace and can upload the whole file to my space so it is avalible for down load.. let me know if you want to execute this option

good deal man cant wait to hear clip

today i got new jets and am about to eat something and go mess around

< 30 degrees out but i dont mind

kenny

Thanks Kenny... it's original format is WAV, but I can convert it to just about anything. I'll let you know what I get to the upload part if I need help!

[Jamie C.]

Y'know, there's something seriously wrong with the world when it's warmer in NEW JERSEY than it is here...

It's only 20 degrees out on my back deck right now... and that's just wrong, all by it's self. But to be 10 degrees colder than it is "up north"???



Anyway... I guess I'll just sit here and shiver, and wait for Jeff to get that clip loaded...

Hurry up, Jeff... I think I feel hypothermia setting in...

[jeffs99vulcan]

GOT IT!!! I've got the clip cropped and reformatted to mp3, on my way to photobucket now!!!

(are you still OK Jamie?!)

CRAP! Photobucket is audio/video only... Gimmee a minute, I'll see if I can upload it to my ISP's server and give you an URL...

[Jamie C.]

Jeff, I haven't been "okay" in years...

I am starting to warm up though... coffee helps a bunch. Especially with a little bourbon in it.

[jeffs99vulcan]

SOUND CLIP AVAILABLE!!!

WOW, this is almost as much fun as finding the solution to the ticking!!!

Read this first... Obviously there's a lot of wind. I had the Palm wire-tired to my GPS holder, on my handlebars behind my windshield, but still...

So I retained about 10 seconds of just straight riding at about 50mph so you can get a feel for and get used to the clip. You can hear the rumbling of the exhaust in the background over the wind, but if your sound player monitors the time, I start decelerating at about the 11 second mark. I can hear the first ticks at that point, but they become more noticeable at 13 seconds and are VERY cleay by 16 seconds...

Give it a shot, here it is!!!

[rsterren]

hmm, its random isnt it? not rithmic like i would expect if it came from the valves or something...
its not your gremlin bell?

[jeffs99vulcan]

hmm, its random isnt it? not rithmic like i would expect if it came from the valves or something...
its not your gremlin bell?

Cool... that means the link is working and we've gotten one review already!

No, it's not rhythmic... and it's not at the speed of the engine (or anywhere near it). It's not always the same volume, same duration, or same intensity, but close. Since I was out for about 40 minutes, this is one of several variations, but they are all SIMILAR, and this was the loudest and easiest to find on the 40 minute clip...

Actually, I'll rephrase that, I don't want to leave the impression that it ticks in a substantially different way... they are all very similar, do do vary somewhat in intensity, probably based on the warmth of the engine, and the speed that I begin decelerating from.

The one thing I CAN say, is it seems to have NO impact on the ticking if I clutch, no clutch, brake, no brake... I've been living with it for so long I can't remember now if I can impact it by downshifting or not, but I believe it's still there. That leads me to believe it is relative to the deceleration of the bike, or the resulting change in backpressure...

[Jamie C.]

Jeff, maybe it's just the recording, but to me, it sounds more like a "Tch Tch Tch" than a "tic tic tic"... meaning it sounds more like what you hear when you drip water on a hot stove burner or hot frying pan than what you'd get by taping that same pan with a spoon or fork. Just not what I'd consider a metal-on-metal tick or tap though.

Which leads us right back to the exhaust or reed valves as the problem... or anyplace else that high-pressure, high-velocity gases could be escaping.

But, as I said, it may just be the recording and not what the noise sounds line "in person". ( I did put headphones on to listen to it though. )

[jeffs99vulcan]

Jeff, maybe it's just the recording, but to me, it sounds more like a "Tch Tch Tch" than a "tic tic tic"... meaning it sounds more like what you hear when you drip water on a hot stove burner or hot frying pan than what you'd get by taping that same pan with a spoon or fork. Just not what I'd consider a metal-on-metal tick or tap though.

Which leads us right back to the exhaust or reed valves as the problem... or anyplace else that high-pressure, high-velocity gases could be escaping.

But, as I said, it may just be the recording and not what the noise sounds line "in person". ( I did put headphones on to listen to it though. )

No, you're right! You got it... It originally started life as a tick, and there was even the odd "tch" thrown in, but I believe it has migrated more towards a more consistent "tch" as time goes on and it gets worse (good ear!)

I was going to try to update my description as "the sound made if you were to imagine taking a wire whisk and tapping a cymbal, while holding the cymbal with one hand"... but "tch" is much easier!

[jeffs99vulcan]

Feels great to be able to share it finally... between the requests and Joram's nudge, I can't believe it didn't occur to me to get this done before now... And ya can't tell me that's normal or that it wouldn't drive ANYONE nuts to listen to that at each deceleration!!!

[Jamie C.]

Too bad that you've finally got this posted so we can hear it, and Rusty's off visiting relatives for the rest of the month.

[jeffs99vulcan]

Too bad that you've finally got this posted so we can hear it, and Rusty's off visiting relatives for the rest of the month.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Is he?! I missed that... I was wondering why he was such an infrequent sight!!! He must be checking in, there is still the odd post from him...

Ah, no biggie... the panic and priority was to get it recorded before the snow lands so I'd know what to work on over the winter. It's sunny today but too cold to wash it, and now I'm getting worried about that... I don't want to put it away filthy but the rag will freeze to it if I try to wash it! -9 right now, what's that about 16?

[Jamie C.]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Is he?! I missed that... I was wondering why he was such an infrequent sight!!! He must be checking in, there is still the odd post from him...

Yup, he posted a thread about it yesterday, here.

Seems he's coming to Tennessee for a bit. Too bad he's visiting when the place has F***ING FROZE OVERE!!!

Ah, no biggie... the panic and priority was to get it recorded before the snow lands so I'd know what to work on over the winter. It's sunny today but too cold to wash it, and now I'm getting worried about that... I don't want to put it away filthy but the rag will freeze to it if I try to wash it! -9 right now, what's that about 16?

It was down to 17 here last night... Just now got back up past the freezing mark.

Again... GLOBAL WARMING MY A$$!!!

[Lobocop]

Does it do that ticking while the clutch is pulled in?

Didn't sound like a consistant tick, but then lots could have been lost in the recording or my sound system.

[jeffs99vulcan]

Does it do that ticking while the clutch is pulled in?

Didn't sound like a consistant tick, but then lots could have been lost in the recording or my sound system.

Yes, still ticks with the clutch in... it's very specific to deceleration, but it will even tick if I shift slowly, in that second or two before throttle up.

The tick is not constant, only during decel, whether it's just throtte-off or down-shifting. It stops when I'm stopped... there is no ticking in the first 10 seconds of the clip, that's just lead-into get you used to what it sounds like before the ticking starts...

[Mercury]

Yes, still ticks with the clutch in... it's very specific to deceleration, but it will even tick if I shift slowly, in that second or two before throttle up.

The tick is not constant, only during decel, whether it's just throtte-off or down-shifting. It stops when I'm stopped... there is no ticking in the first 10 seconds of the clip, that's just lead-into get you used to what it sounds like before the ticking starts...

Since it is only doing this while the bike is DECELLERATING - here are a couple things for you to try...

since you said it still does it with the cluth pulled in... do you have any large hills by you? try aiming down the hill getting the tch to occur... then pull the clutch in... does it go away? now try it going up the hill.. pull the clutch in does it go away?

its very hard to decide what that is... but it almost seems like air / exhaust OR something with the driven wheel... since it is not there under power try this..

get the tick to occur.. then rev the engine while in whatever gear to make the tick go away... now clutch the bike and hold the clutch in with the tick occuring... now rev it.. does it stop? if no then its a drive issue

my best guesses here... without riding it and hearing it myself... i got nothing..

worn sprockets? do you have aluminum sprockets for the drive?


does it do it at really slow speeeds?

jack the bike up throw it in neutral and spin the rear tire...

kenny

[jeffs99vulcan]

I gota run, goign to my parents for dinner with the kids (wife's away, why cook?! ) But until then...

There aren't a ton of hills nearby, BUT I did read about clutch roller bearings a while back, and tried to see if it was clutch related as best I could at the time. I've never been able to prove that the clutch has any effect on the tick, but a hill would let me play with it more...

While coasting to a stop, I only have about 10 seconds of tick to experiement with... during that coast, I've tried clutch in, clutch back out while in gear, as well as clutch in, shift to neutral (that's a trick) and clutch back out... all seem to have no impact.

Again, like you said, it COULD be driven wheel related because of that, but the noise it too far forward and too high to be sprockets... and I've adjusted the chain at least twice since it started. Even if the chain was adjusted POORLY, then any adjustment at all should have changed the pitch or tone or volume of the tick, but it hasn't.

This brings us back to Jamie's reed valve suggestion... OR my original cam chain suggestion. I have to assume that the tension on the cam chain releases to a different side of the chain during deceleration...

Which reminds me... does this sound like chain slap to anyone?!!!

Back tonight... I'm gonna try the "spin the back wheel thing" then...

[ellalenell]

Jeff, I took my bike out last weekend after being afraid to ride it and make whatever was making the sound worse. After all the conversations on this topic on here I felt fairly confident I wasn't going to ruin anything so I finally itched my itch. Once I started riding though, the sound had changed in my head. It was the same sound I had remembered, but didn't quite mesh with what I was thinking you were hearing. So after riding it last weekend I was dejected thinking that the sound was not the same as yours. I wasn't gonna be able to copy your fix!. But the sound on your clip is my sound also.
It sounds somewhat fluid driven. Like some flap or valve is being," closed, open, closed, pause, open, pause, closed, open , close." Just random, not rythmic. But don't the tick almost have a together, apart, together sound?

I know this post may make me sound kind of crazy, but it's hard to explain. It definately sounds metallic though, but metallic in fluid being forced open closed and sticking occasionally.

I'm going to shut-up because I'm digging a deeper hole and sounding crazier. But I do believe we share the sound.