Triumphrat

SWare

I've started noticing a singing or ringing sound from the front wheel area. When I first noticed it several months ago I thought it was just tire noise. It was only noticeable when cornering and not very loud. It has progressively become louder and can sometimes be heard when cruising in a straight line. Cornering does aggravate it to the point now I would call it loud. The noise becomes louder and of higher pitch with speed. There is no roughness or growling as I would expect with a bearing. If I jack up the bike and spin the front wheel it is smooth with no noise that I can hear. I had the wheel off to check the bearings and there doesn't seem to be any play and turning the inner race with my finger they feel OK.
What next, brakes?
Ideas?


Stan :???:

Tumbleweed

Yep, next step brakes:

Feel the disc after a good drive not using the front brake (if possible) and stop by using rear brake only. If the front disc is warm you most certainly have a brake/pad problem. Not good, as the heat may turn the disc to go wobbly. (a kinda well-known phenomen amongst us who drive the ocasional car now and then...)

Solution - change of pads and brake fluid. Be sure to bleed the system properly. (when pads are new they tend to touch the disc for a while until they're "settled")

T'Weed

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jimmyj900

Try lubricating your speedometer cable. A few drops of oil might solve the problem.

Jim

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MickMaguire

Stan,
Beleieve it or not an overtight chain can cause a simlar noise:

I once mistakenly overtightened my chain once and got a similar noise that I could swear was coming from the front end. In desperation (after finding nothing) I went back over everything I had recently done and found that somehow I had adjusted my chain quite tight. I didnt think it could be the problem, but I re-adjusted it correctly and the noise disappeared.

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Mick...

Just remember; an awful lot of the free advice you will get on forums is worth exactly what you paid for it. There will always be somebody trying to convince you to do something really stupid, just because they did it or want to do it.

SWare

Thanks for the suggestions.
I know the chain is OK, would have never thought of the speedo cable, kind of suspect brakes but the sound does not change when the brakes are applied.

I'll be checking all this weekend.

Anyone actually had a bearing go bad to describe how that felt or sounded?

Stan

Slinky

If it was a shot bearing you would feel it in the way the bike handled & steered -it would definitely be noticeable.

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98 Thunderbird, 03 Speed Master

Osara

SWare,

I have the same phenomenon on my 93 trophy and my 95 Tbird. When driving straight it can barely be heard, but when cornering, the bike starts to "sing" quite loud. I have the impression it comes from the rear end. My guess is, it's the chain or the rear wheel (definitely not the engine, as I recently swapped it). I've had defective bearings in the rear wheel of my Tbird twice (it has over 80.000 miles now), changing them didn't change the noise. I have to change my chain very soon, I'll let you know if it helps. Brakes are another possibility that I have to check out, however there's no excessive wear on my brakepads.
If you find the cause of the noise, I'd like to know, because I've often wondered where the "singing" came from.
Just curious : how many miles does your bike have? I always thought that the noise was related to that, as in the first 30.000+ miles I never noticed it. Anyway, I've been doing 10.000's of miles with the noise, and my bike still runs great, so I think it's not really dangerous. (If we're talking about the same thing here, that is... :???: )

glgavin

Well this is interesting. I have no singing (other than the exhaust) on my TBS. But my Tiger, at 40 mph, sings away. I suspect rear wheel bearings as the fronts were replaced just before I purchased it. On my car one of the rear wheel bearings would sing (howl) when a certain speed was achieved. Above or below that speed no noise.

:-g

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Gare

SWare

I have 29,000 mi on the bike now.
I first noticed the noise around 26/27,000.
Eliminated the engine by pulling the clutch and dropping to idle while cornering, no change to the noise.
I also noticed that it starts at about 45/50 mph.
I still think it is coming from the front but noises can sometimes fool you.
I tried lubing the speedometer cable as suggested and went for a ride last night. No improvement.

Stan

MickMaguire

This is really interesting, the more you describe it Stan, the more it sounds just like that noise I was getting when the chain was too tight. Maybe Gary is onto something with the rear wheel bearings.

I was sure mine was the speedo cable until I disconnected it and drove down the road only to still hear the noise.

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Mick...

Just remember; an awful lot of the free advice you will get on forums is worth exactly what you paid for it. There will always be somebody trying to convince you to do something really stupid, just because they did it or want to do it.