Hey all, have been riding 3 months now (as some of you know) and had my first accident today and laid my '99 down.

Was a kind of perfect storm of issues...was driving in the city and got caught in a storm shower with no option to pull over and then a yellow taxi cut me up turning left from the far right lane. the combination of slippery road and an obstacle appearing in front of me was just too much...I squeezed the brakes to avoid hitting the cab and my old girl simply skidded, bucked and slid to a halt....the cab carried on driving.

Amazingly my bike seems to have survived without a scratch, I think to be honest it was me that took most of the impact, luckily we were only traveling really slow (approx 10-15mph) and by the time the bike fell sideways we were almost at a complete stop and the bike landed on top of me!

I am giving you this whole story as maybe it will aid if you do have a tip for the only 'issue' I did find. Once I got back home (the bike started right back up after pulling her to her wheels) when I was parking I noticed a little click click click noise. At first I thought maybe a fender had taken a bump and was lightly touching a tire...no, I pushed and pulled the bike around trying to find the source and i 'think' its coming from the belt.

I have inspected the belt thoroughly as I can (without removing it) and I can't see any issue with it but you can feel a slight vibration run through it as you push the bike at walking speed with a really quiet click, click, click kinda sound.

Looking for any ideas what it could be? Could it have been caused by the mild impact? Could it have been caused by running in super wet weather and be nothing to do with laying the bike down? Is it something completely different. Any help or advice would be hugely appreciated....everything seems to be running no worse than pre-accident....just wanna know I am not ignoring something that could be a bigger issue.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 01/03/17 at 18:30:05:


This is so true brother, but this is definitely a new 'sound' I have ridden every day since passing my test and my routine is pretty much the same every day so I know that this sound is a newbie....whether it is nothing to worry about or not is another thing though.

I would say that my belt is on the tighter side.

If I push my bike out be fore starting it I always here some belt noise, that being said ,I would remove the guard from the front belt pulley and make sure that pulley has no play as that will cause wear on the splines of the output shaft ,damage that is costly to reverse.anything else is of relatively minor concern.You can jack the bike up ,rotate the rear wheel by hand and determine where the noise is coming from.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 01/03/17 at 18:56:53:



Time between clicks is reasonably even spaced and similar loudness (its not a LOUD click, think a touch louder than a whisper) Yes the click is audible both forwards and backwards.

A sidewalk and a friend..

Kenny G wrote on 01/03/17 at 21:40:05:


I think you could be right Kenny, to be honest replacing the wheel bearings is something I have wanted to do anyways. I get a squeak from the front wheel especially on or after a damp day...bike is a '99 and has done almost 21,000 miles now...wouldnt suprise me if the current bearings are the originals.

Dave wrote on 01/04/17 at 06:55:45:


Just replaced the pads with some very basic BikeMaster pads a few weeks after purchase of the bike weeks ago Dave, had the little squeak prior to install and post in damp weather. Wasnt trying to cheap out on my brakes but they were the only ones I could get from my local store that fit the bike and the previous owner of the bike had let the pads run almost to the metal so needed a quick fix.

The squeak always dissapears within a mile or so of riding so I think it could be a  slightly seased bearing

Back to the clicking though, I rocked and walked the bike back and forth over and over this morning and I 'think' its coming from the front pulley. I havent had time to open up the casing yet but if you place your hand over the pulley cover you can feel a slight vibration through the casing when the clicking sounds. Any ideas?

Quote:


I took a quick look at the posts.
How OFTEN does it click?  

Once per revolution of the front pulley?  Could be loose on the shaft or have a rock/pebble imbedded.  Or maybe something internal to the transmission.  (Dave is just too fast for me....)

Once per cycle of the belt?  Could be a rock/pebble in the belt.

One per revolution of the rear wheel?  Could be a rock in the rear pulley or bearing problem in the rear.