Triumphrat

tomster · 07-13-2010, 05:00 PM

Ok, I tend to be much more a rider than a wrencher. Mainly because I don't know much what the hell I'm doing and I don't have money to pay a mechanic. Having said that. I did check my valves at 12,000mi and It looked like one was a tad out of spec. I didn't adjust anything and figured I would get to it at 18,000mi. So, I'm at 18,600mi and a friend of mine was standing over my bike during idle and said, "that shouldn't sound like that, it's knocking a bit hard". I kind of thought so too when I listened. He said to first change the oil and see how she sounds. I'm gonna do that soon. Question is, how much harm is it to run around with the valves a bit out of whack? Can the engine handle it? I'm gonna get it checked/adjusted properly. I just haven't done it yet, but I don't want to be worrying about it while riding.

Thanks in advance.

CHRIS211083 · 07-13-2010, 05:29 PM

hi, its not your valves. the valves in bonnie's recess into the head and the valve clearance reduces so no noise and loss of power is a bad sign. However the cams are loud on these so i would recommend changing the oil and filter. Another culprit can be the Air injection solenoid. Finally the last thing it could be is the cam chain tensioner, if you buy a cheap stethoscope and place it on parts of the engine to locate the noise. This will let you know what it is. Good luck.

tomster · 07-13-2010, 05:39 PM

Thanks Chris. I'm gonna change the oil as it's been about 9 months since I've done it and the bike had to have a little work done after I laid her down so that interrupted my own service/riding schedule. Only nicks and scratches from that, so I'll go with the oil change first and check the filter as advised. Thanks as I can now ride without worry.

Nickwiz · 07-13-2010, 06:29 PM

Another thing to remember is that air cooled motors usualy run with bigger tolerances engineered in which means they make more noise. Water cooled motors should be pretty quiet. If your freind rides a water cooled bike your air cooled twin will sound loud and rattly to him