Hey fellas. I've got a 2001 (nearly stock) Savage just about to roll over to 13,000 miles.

I was just heading to a Suzuki dealership about 30miles away to get a clutch side cover gasket cut. About 1/4 away from home my bike died out (I've been having idling issues when coming to a stop).

As I was rolling to a stop with the motor off I could hear a clicking and feel it in my seat. I pulled off the side of the road. As I rolled the bike forward or backward I could feel and hear that clicking with every inch I rolled the bike. Everything felt and sounded fine when I started my journey 1/4 mile earlier.

Rather than fire the bike back up I pushed it the 1/4 back home. The faster I pushed the quicker the clicking goes. It clicks in N and in gear with the clutch pulled in.

When I got back home I couldn't hear the clicking due to living very near a major highway I-75. But when sitting on the bike I could still feel it when rocking the bike back or forth.

Did my cam chain tensioner just let loose? When my GF gets home from work I'll take her car and go buy that gasket. Then i'll open up the clutch side cover and have a look in there tomorrow.


I meant to take off the clutch cover when I changed my oil at 10,000 miles and have a look at the tensioner. No one had a gasket in stock locally so I did not open her up. I had been hearing some ticking. The ticking wasn't as noticeable when I had my valves adjusted 1,500miles ago. A few hundred miles ago the ticking got louder again.

I'm on vacation this week and plan on using the time to work on my bike, which is my only vehicle. I didn't plan on this happening, of course.

youzguyz wrote on 03/10/12 at 13:21:19:

+1

Yeah.  Probably something simple.  A few years ago I noticed a whining coming somewhere near the rear tire when the bike was moving.  I pulled into a parking lot and did a visual inspection and found that my license plate's thin aluminum backplate (which also has an extension at the bottom past the license plate for the state inspection sticker) had gotten bent such that it contacted the tire when I sat on the bike.  Once the bike began to move forward the plate bent underneath the fender and my rear tire proceeded to rub my inspection sticker away.  I bent it back and continued my ride.  I later reinforced it and had to get the bike reinspected for a new sticker.

Routy wrote on 03/10/12 at 14:58:30:

I guess I missed where the motor died.  I thought he just noticed it when the engine wasn't running.

Routy wrote on 03/10/12 at 14:58:30:


I'm not that worried about the motor dying out, I know why that happened. I'm wondering what this new clicking is. I knew that the motor shouldn't be turning over when in N and that shouldn't be the Tensioner making noise, but I've had Tenisoner Paranoia for a while now and that lead to me asking a foolish question in my first post.

I know the ticking didn't make the motor die. That is a separate and unrelated event, that has been existent the past couple weeks leading up to today.

When I come to a stop the idle RPM will drop down about 200-400RPM. I have to give it gas to keep it from dropping too low and cutting out. After the bike sits there for several seconds the RPMS will go back up. I've had to turn the idle screw up way too high too keep the idle from dropping too low at a stop.
Even after riding for 30minutes (more than fully warmed up) the idle will still roller coaster at a stop.
It's not a starvation issue. This is different from what was happening when I replaced my stock petcock and went Raptor around 6,000 miles ago.

Serowbot wrote on 03/10/12 at 15:28:09:


You might be on to something. I  previously read about others hearing an odd whine while riding, and that most of the time they needed to tighten up the pulley and that cured the whine. I've heard that whine on and off recently.

The clicking did seem to time with the belt moving around the pully, and roughly the same location. Tomorrow I'll build myself the DIY bike lift/stand and get the rear tire spinning. That should help me narrow down where the sound is coming from.

With cars I was never as nervous or as paranoid as I am with this bike. It's much more simple, and yet I feel out of my element.

Maybe if you dig that little rock out of that groove in the front pulley ??

youzguyz wrote on 03/10/12 at 13:21:19:



I still like this advice since it involves investigation.