Engine Noises
 

When listening to my bike, I hear a ticking noise. If I rev motor, ticking increases linearly with throttle. I hear that V-twins make a lot of noises, but curious as to what this is. Even when I adjusted the tensioners, the noise was still there. I was curious if anyone else has a noisey VTR or what the deal is. Any suggestions to fix???

Can you isolate its location? A mechanics stethoscope is helpful for that. It is possible (likely)that it is only an exhaust leak.

With shim-under buckets and overhead cams, its not likely to be excessive valve clearance. Clearance tends to decreae with time. But check it. Did you overrev it?

Get to the bottom of it. Don't ignore it.

Re: Engine Noises
 

I believe this is actually the valves ticking. This is normal.

Re: Engine Noises
 

Can you please elaborate on why valve ticking is normal? Although,... I have heard that v twins make odd noises; it just seems like clatter and erks me a little not knowing what it is. If its normal, hopefully aftermarket exhaust will silence it! That's next.

Re: Engine Noises
 

I have the noise. Jardines hide it very well and with the visor down it's like a miracle repair! I was told not to worry about it. I noticed when I had the carbs off the slides have quite a bit of clearance. Sometimes I hear them clacking a little too.

The valves only have +-.001" adjustment range. Mine are quiet. Slides, that might be it. Exhaust leak? I sure would hate to spin a main bearing because I thought the noise was "normal". At least pinpoint the source of the noise.

Re: Engine Noises
 

Mine doesn't tick. There's lots of whirring gear noises though.

Some do, some don't. This is a common complaint on all bikes.

If the valves are in spec, the ticking noise is normal.

Re: Engine Noises
 

The ticking shouldn't be omnipresent. I find on bikes I've had that are V-Twins (Ninja 250, Ninja 500, Superhawk, CB450) that the noise doesn't increase and the stock muffler sound and Jetson's-sounding engine drown out the ticking almost completely after 2500 rpm. I would suggest a valve check at the dealer (it's a bit tricky) if you can hear it above 3k rpms.

I have some pretty darn good hearing and can tell subtleties pretty well in engine sounds and things.

If the ticking gets more intense as you ride uphill under low rpms with throttle openned up decent it could be "knock" meaning you're using crap-gasoline from convenience-store gas stations (ie. not Conoco, Sunoco, Union 76, etc.) or too low an octane. I'm pretty sure the SHawk needs 87 octane minimum. I tend to use 91 (which is a tad high, though unlikely detrimental at 4-points above suggested, though 93 octane might be bad) (Uh-oh, I hope I didn't open an octane forum war here..)

If the ticking is drowned out by wind noise and engine/muffler noise at 3k rpms, you're good.