[Oldschooler]

2006 Vstrom, 23K on it now, garaged, doesn't sit for more than two weeks. I noticed a small clunk clunk in the front forks when I compress them. You cant hear it but you can feel it in the handle bars. Haven't really felt it when riding but I have never felt this before. If I sit on the bike, hold the front brake and compress down on the front forks I feel Clunk as it goes down and Clunk as it come back up. If I do this with my hand on the fork tubes I don't feel it. But still feel it in the handle bars. So I checked the triple tree and everything there is tight. Normal tire wear. I'm stumped. What in the heck could this be. Its not a BIG clunk, just enough to notice and like I said I don't feel it when riding.

I found this trying to find a rattle. Around 3400rpm there is a small rattle like a loose washer vibrating on a bolt sound. Somewhere in the fairing area. It only manifests while rolling and only between 2800-3400 rpm. But this is secondary to what the clunk is.

Has anyone had this clunk or something similar????

UPDATE: If i block the front wheel and compress the front, no clunk. Only if compressed while holding the front brake. Yes, I then checked the rotors, calipers, etc. Can feel it in handle bars.

 

[richw]

do the steering bearings anyway

 

[nineronesix]

Sounds like a floating front disk.

 

[Black Lab]

Has anyone had this clunk or something similar?

What I would like you to do is, scroll up to the small "Google" dialog box that is to the left of the "Search" button. In that dialog box, I would like you to type the following - front end clunk.

Next, brew yourself a cup of coffee, or tea, and sit down a read for awhile.

-----------------------------

If one person adds a suggestion to what they feel is the "clunk" to the front end of your bike, you will most likely get a dozen, conflicting answers as well!

I have my own beliefs as to what it is. Actually, absolutely convinced as to what it is. But, that is just me and MY bike, and not yours, or anybody else's.

EDIT: Here is a hint, you have gotten REAL close with the title of this thread.

B.L.

 

[MikeB]

Steering head bearings loose. Tightened mine. Clunk stopped. Story ends.
Happily.

 

[Oldschooler]

Well on a side note i found and eliminated the small rattling sound even though it was unrelated to the tiny front end clunk. The rattle was a GPS external antenna i had mounted just under the shield at the front of the fairing. It came loose and dropped into the small opening there and was rattling on the back side of the instrument cluster. Removed it, test drive, No rattle anymore!

I followed Black Labs mystery answer and searched front end clunk. I ended up checking all kinds of things. The triple clamp bolt is torqued to spec (by the way you have to take the bars loose to get a socket on there!!) I dont think it was that. All of my fairing bolts are still in and they are all tight. No loose brakes, rotors, etc. But i think I've found the answer, maybe. It was a thread by Jetjaguar who described my exact symptoms. Only I took mine one step further by blocking the front wheel and compressing without using the brake. With the brake it clunks on the way down and on the way back up. With the the wheel blocked and not using the brake to compress it there is no clunk.

Here is what Jetjaguar found:

I've pinpointed the cause of my clicking, and this is it. The pads (EBC HH, FWIW) have a little bit of play in the calipers and they are clicking on the pad pins when the fork rebounds. I isolated it while rolling the bike in the garage, the brakes clicked with each direction change. I confirmed it by lifting the front of the bike and spinning the wheel by hand.

I have stock brakes but they have 23K on them and are right at the replace stage. I'm thinking they now have play and are clunking around in there.

 

[nineronesix]

With the brake it clunks on the way down and on the way back up.

Try getting someone to help you when you do this. Lay your finger across the carrier and the rotor. Then the between the pad the caliper. Between the caliper and fork. Have your assistent hold the brakes and compress the forks. I think you'll find out what is loose quite easily.

Same technique for checking head bearings. You'll be amazed how easy it is to feel relative movement.

 

[dugan13]

I have a 2007 Wee which I picked up late last fall. I put about 2000 miles on it and the one thing that stood out was a clunk in the front fork when I hit any small bump in the road.

Last week I went on a ride in California. In preparation I checked the fluid level in the forks. After I took the caps off and removed the springs the fluid was 1 inch high on both sides so I siphoned 2 inches out and added back 1 inch of 5W Honda Fork oil bringing the level up to the correct level 4.5 inches when measured from the top.

I rode it 2500 miles last week and the problem was gone. This fixed the problem completely.