I have recently develpoed a squeeking noise that at first I thought was the rear tire rubbing on the saddle bag braces. When noise first started, it was during acceleration. I removed the saddle bag brace on the right side, as there was some scuffing on the sidewall,  and noise continued. Then I got suspicious that it was coming from the drive sprocket area. I removed the cover and tested the bike. This time noise was worse. Put the cover back on, and it was as bad as when cover was off. The noise now is much worse when off throttle and coasting. It almost sounds like a small piece of gravel caught between a disk brake pad and the rotor, or behind the drive sprocket.
I don't want to damage the bike, but I can't seem to locate the source, and with the weather is the 70's the last week, I really hate to miss out on riding time. Any suggestions anyone?

I will give that a shot. With no center stand, these beasts are not the easiest to elevate. Think I will use the hoist if I can find a good place to attach it.

I can't believe Suzuki left so little clearance from the rear fender  to tire sidewall.

I have already tried belt lube, and it did nothing for the noise. It sounds like metal to metal. Could not find my work light today. Hope to locate it, and have a look at the back side of the drive sprocket.
The bike is an 03 with 5700 miles

You're right it is a chirp, and the drive sprocket was what I first suspected. That is one heck of a nut that holds that thing on.
I don't have any sockets that large, but guess I will have to buy one.
The next thing to do is find my calipers to see what size the darn thing is.

Thanks, I will try that.

Thanks for that tip as well. Wish I had thought about checking the sprocket by rocking the bike while the cover was off. I thinkMonday I will go get a large set of sockets, a new lockwasher, and give it another go. I do know that the belt is tracking to one side. I thought I had that fixed, but I noticed today that it isn't.  You know, I just don't enjoy working on these things like I did 40 years ago. But even less, the labor rates charged by the repair shops today.

fishinjim wrote on 02/19/11 at 17:59:32:



Harbor Freight has a whole set of 1/2" drive, deep, impact sockets for about the same $$$ as a Good Socket that size.

This one has a new rear tire as well.
Could well be the issue. We shall see.

check the belt guard too, remove to test. That sob is large and resonant, turns every contact with pulleys or belt into a concert! I had that case.

A little dab of grease won't hurt either. The belt will move from side to side and sometimes you get a chirp when the sides of the belt walk into the guides.