My Superhawk makes a "whining" sound
 

Hello. My Superhawk makes a whining sound. The sound seems to be coming from the engine area. Any info would be greatly appreciated. My bike has sounded like this for a year, and if there is something I can do, I would like to do it. Thanks

Which side of the motor? Based on engine speed or road speed? High or low rpm? Please provide more info. A sound clip wouldn't be a bad idea either if you have the resources.

More than likely it's the cam chain. Mine whines pretty good.
It has for the last 15k miles.

It shouldn't whine. I think if it whines then it may be too tight. You have APE's or stock?

Mine whines also. It sounds exactly like a supercharger to me and everyone else. It is most noticable at idle and low revs. The bike has 5K miles and the stock tensioners.

mine makes this noise as well and has for as long as i've had it (from 8000-13000 mi). somebody on here once suggested that it sounded like a Jetson's mobile and i think that's pretty accurate. to me it seems normal. i've got stock CCTs.

That's interesting because mine has had the same whine you mentioned for over two years now.

Mine also. Bought bike last April 06 had 6000 miles on it, now has 15000 on it. Made the sound from the day I got it. I just assumed it was the water pump impeller, or just a characteristic of the engine. I heard a TL got by my shop the other day, and it made the same sound only LOUDER. May have been due to stck pipes on the TL.. I cant hear dick over my pipes... (shortened Erions by half)

I think we've established that this is a normal sound. the explanation I got from a guy at my local shop was that all V-twins with overhead cams make the noise to some degree. its the price we pay for not having to adjust the valves until the 18,000mile mark. ducs are gear actuated, so they don't whine, but they need more frequent maintenance. pushrods, same thing, but overhead cam engines can rev way higher than pushrod(harley). just gotta learn to live with it. RC51, TL1000, KTM superduke, they all whine.

Ducati is very far from gear driven, they are belt driven.

belt "driven" yes, but aren't the valves gear actuated?

my (new to me) 4300 mile engine has the same whine.

No the cams are belt driven and the valves are actuated by a adjustable fork that push or pull the valve. Much like a gear selector fork, but adjsutable gap.

I thought it was the primary drive. lots of bikes do it, Hondas maybe moreso.

well I guess I stand corrected. are the 4 valvers set up different? I could have sworn that I heard ducati's have gear actuated valves.

The old bevel drive Ducks had them. I think they're all belt driven now.

This is a bevel drive: http://twistingasphalt.com/index.php...engine-cutaway

This is the modern 1098 motor: http://www.ducati.com/en/bikes/my200...del=SBK1098-07 Click on ENGINE.

And here's the desmo system used on all their bikes nowdays.
I was a bit confused in the beiginning whan I saw this drawing as it use a return rocker arm spring but it's not used to actually lift the valve, but only to apply a light pressure when closed. Therefore a much lighter spring than on conventional DOHC machines.