A few weeks ago my 2006 Boulevard started squealing while I was riding (13k miles, only mods are a tach and a raptor petcock). It came on slowly and was almost impossible to hear over the wind noise at first. I've had issues with the belt making noise in the past, so I thought nothing of it and ignored it. As the days went on it got louder and louder. I happened to notice the sound goes away when I'm holding in the clutch lever, as well as during engine braking (most noticeably when I'm driving downhill). The noise becomes audible above ~2.3k rpm, increases volume when under load, and persists when the trans is in neutral (albeit barely audible when in neutral).

I realized this wasn't normal, so I checked the engine oil level, come to find out it had burned enough oil that it was below the minimum level (or leaked the oil. I think the fill cap seal is going bad because grime slowly accumulates around it). I topped the bike up with my usual oil, but the noise persisted (Mobil 1 racing 10W-40). I'd just changed the oil and filter ~1.5k miles ago, so I'm kind of surprised it disappeared that fast. 95% of my riding is stop and go (I use my bike to commute to work), but I don't ride it particularly hard. I've only been riding for 9 months, so I'm still gentle on the clutch and rarely accelerate hard.

The clutch feels like it has plenty of grab and I've never had it slip on me, so my next thought was the clutch bearing (#20 on the diagram, part number 09262-12001). I've been able to find other people online with similar problems (it's usually a bad bearing for those people), but never exactly the same issue, and never on this model of bike. I've got very little familiarity with the insides of engines, so I could be completely wrong. Does this sound like a clutch bearing, or could it be something bigger? I can replace the bearing myself, but much more than that and I'll have to take it to the shop and have them work on it. Taking the bike to the shop is a hassle since I don't have a trailer, so I'd like to avoid that if possible. I can get a video if needed, but I'm trying to stay off the bike until I can get the issue resolved.

Are you sure its not the belt ?

Hiko wrote on 12/11/21 at 15:38:51:


Yep, it squeaks even when sitting in neutral.

verslagen1 wrote on 12/11/21 at 16:25:05:


I took the cover off and #20 looks fine - it isn't binding or gritty or anything, so that wasn't the issue. I'd imagine the bearing behind the clutch takes a fair bit more work to get to?

Don't dismiss that. You can put baby powder on the belt and see if you see a change. If you have the belt tight it's gonna make noise. A wimpy secretary should be able to grab the belt half way between the output shaft and rear axle and twist the belt 90 degrees.

Gary_in_NJ wrote on 12/12/21 at 13:57:02:


>I use the motorcycle specific oil, I just forgot to type the 4T. I'm not that big of a dunce.

DragBikeMike wrote on 12/12/21 at 16:30:38:


>It squeals in neutral even when the bike isn't moving. The only times it doesn't squeal is when the clutch lever is pulled in, or at low engine rpm (I can't hear it squeal at idle, for example). In neutral I only hear the squeal if I give it gas or the choke is on.

So I checked everything (1, 3, 5, 21) and didn't see anything suspicious. I put everything back together and replaced the oil to try and get a video of it squealing, and it just... doesn't squeal anymore? I'm not really sure why it suddenly works fine, it's not like I replaced any parts or anything. Maybe there was a little piece of something that got stuck in the clutch and I knocked it loose, or maybe one of the previous owners worked on the clutch and didn't put the input shaft nut on tight enough? Or a Jeep with a bad timing belt followed me around for two weeks to mess with me.

Either way, I'm gonna keep an eye on it and see what it does. I rode the bike to work and back today and it didn't squeal at all. It could just be fake fixed, and in a few days it'll start squealing again.

I had a bearing on the counter balancer go bad.
the cage separated and let the balls rub against each other screaming out in pain.
But it was intermittent and would only do a few short times a day.
Until it completely failed.
with the clutch basket off, you can see both bearings, I'd give them a close look.