I've spent the last few days reading on this forum and VSRI about the clutch chudder problem that the 1000's have and trying to decide if that's what I have on my 650. I have a 2008 with a bit over 26k miles on it.
My description:
It happens at two specific times only. When I take off from a standing start and when cruising at about 3800 rpm. I feel it through the foot pegs as a slight clunk and can hear it a little bit as a knocking sound. It doesn't appear to affect performance, but I do notice it. When taking off from a standing start it only happens in that very initial moment - probably 10 feet of travel and then it's gone as the bike winds up before shifting into second. Kind of a "thunk-thunk" and then it's gone. Then when I'm cruising at a steady speed at about 3800 it sort of randomly comes and goes. Not exactly a pattern, but almost. Above 4k and it disappears. I've noticed nothing while at idle - clutch out or out in neutral or clutch in when in gear.
I noticed it because I just changed out the stator and regulator/rectifier last week and was sort of hyper-alert as I test rode it. But I think the noise was there before, and I wasn't really noticing it. Thinking it might be related to a loose chain (which was too loose), I adjusted my chain to where the manual says it should be. It helped a little, but that may be subjective. Another factor is that I had new tires put on the bike and put the wheels back on myself. I saw on a different thread that described "wheel chudder", but it seems to me that would be noticeable more often.
If it is indeed clutch chudder as has been described on the 1000's, I'm told via the threads that this is not a "stranding" issue (ie. won't leave you stranded). If so, I can ignore it until I have some extra $$$ to get it taken care of (perhaps by realshelby). If not, and it's something else, then I need to figure out what it is.
Anyways, I would appreciate any thoughts from the group on this.