[Dusty R.]

DL650, 2006

Hello. My V-Strom has been making this grinding sound reminiscent of grinding gears. It's not the gears, that's just about what it sounds like. This sound happened on my way in town and progressively got worse. I rode a total of 5.8 miles (To town and back) and discovered that this sound happens only at 3500 rpm. The gear, nor whether I was moving or not, did not effect when the noise occured.

My father thinks that the Cam Chain Tensioner might be going.

I've had the bike for about 6000 miles (almost a year) and the previous maintenance history is unknown. My last oil change was just over 2000 miles ago (10-40W High Mileage).

Odometer: 53,911 miles.

Perhaps someone here know's what's happening.

 

[Dusty R.]

SOLVED! Crash bar vibration.

I have the Givi crash bars. Turns out that one of the previous owners took a steel bar and attached it via two steel plates to the lower end of the crash bars. One of these plates was not properly coated and the weld between said plate and the bar had been rusted away. This bar acts as highway pegs. My father and I figured this out by pushing down on the crash bard and raising the engine's revs to 3500. When we applied pressure the noise subsided. When we relieved pressure the noise continued. We then tested the aftermarket bar and think that it is the culprit.

I choose to leave this here in case someone else is having a very similar problem.

 

[Rolex]

I was going to say do you have crash bars.

I was on a ride with a Trooper and he complained about the same thing when we stopped for lunch.

Only at a given RPM did the noise show up, just leaning on the left crash bar solved the puzzle.

 

[K9 Wee]

Good detective work!

Glad it was something simple and easily correctable. Since these bikes already sound like marbles in a washing machine, it can be very difficult to chase down an out of place sound.

 

[notacop]

Good solve. There have been many written up problems. My 04 Wee with SW Motech bars have never been a problem in 99.9K miles.