Bike makes chirping noise

Hansonjh88 · October 29th, 2012, 03:42 PM

I've just noticed today when riding that my bike is making a chirping noise when moving. The noise seems to vary speed depending on my speed and still happens when coasting no reving. Also seems to go away when under 10mph. I dont think it's the brakes cuz using them or not the noise is still there. Any help would be great, thanks.

csmith12 · October 29th, 2012, 03:44 PM

Lube your speedo cable.

Hansonjh88 · October 29th, 2012, 03:52 PM

What should I use for lube?

Alex · October 29th, 2012, 03:55 PM

A spritz of WD-40 to see if it goes away. If it does, then it was correct. At that point just about any oil could work, as the WD-40 will wear away quickly. 3-1 oil, a small smear of moly, or anything else that you have on hand. It's just a noise that you're trying to deal with, so if the noise goes away, you're all set.

Joshorilla · October 29th, 2012, 03:58 PM

I have the same thing, i'm taking my bike to the dealers as their are a host of things wrong with it so i'll get them do lube it for me, but I would use a silicone greese or a lithium greese if their are no rubber parts.

Hansonjh88 · October 29th, 2012, 04:28 PM

Well I just greased it and it didnt seem to do anything, I'm not sure how much to put in there so i will do a little more.

Joshorilla · October 30th, 2012, 06:09 AM

I recorded a video on my head cam on my ride to work this morning and my bike made the noise, i'll post it when I get home for about 5pm GMT

flynjay · October 30th, 2012, 06:45 AM

When was the last time you've cleaned and lubed your chain?

Joshorilla · October 30th, 2012, 12:00 PM

Me? Weekly

Joshorilla · October 30th, 2012, 01:12 PM

This is my video of the weird noise!

http://contour.com/stories/ninja-250-weird-noise

I hope it works! Silly cameras silly own upload site.

EDIT: Noise isn't straight away, maybe five, ten seconds in, you'll hear it! It's very loud, more so in real life.

csmith12 · October 30th, 2012, 01:29 PM

Whoa! You have one of those special edition whistling bikes. Brakes drag? It seems to have a circular resonance about it as I hear it.

Can you get your front wheel in the air and spin it to try to reproduce?

You can upload the contour vids to youtube as well. You don't "have" to use their site. I do it all the time.

Joshorilla · October 30th, 2012, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by csmith12

Whoa! You have one of those special edition whistling bikes. Brakes drag? It seems to have a circular resonance about it as I hear it.

Can you get your front wheel in the air and spin it to try to reproduce?

You can upload the contour vids to youtube as well. You don't "have" to use their site. I do it all the time.

I did click to upload to youtube and it gave me the link to that site and it won't let me push from that site to youtube! I did think it may be brake disk resonance, I can't reproduce it freewheeling as it only happens above 35mph and doesn't stop till the bike is below 5 - 10 mph

kremtok · November 2nd, 2012, 12:01 AM

I had a similar problem with my bike when it was new. It went into the dealership 3 times and each time they identified a different problem and 'fixed' it. Of course, nothing changed.

So I started researching myself, and I saw everything from the speedo cable that was mentioned above to the wheel bearing itself as a possible cause. Like you, I disregarded brakes because the symptoms didn't seem to support it.

I was wrong. It was the brakes. I fixed it by going up into the lonely hills on a low-traffic day and while going downhill at about 60mph, I braked hard until the bike got to about 10mph, then sped up and repeated the process until I ran out of road. This bedding in process made the sound go away and though it comes back every thousand miles or so, it's an easy fix. Give it a shot and see if it works for you.

Hansonjh88 · November 2nd, 2012, 05:03 PM

Well I went to my shop and during regular maintenance we took off the front wheel and greased the axel and bearing and even the speedo gear box a bit and the sound went away (for now). Could have been because it was dry or maybe cuz it was torqued to much from factory and we lossened it to a good fit. Otherwise the noise is gone and it cost nothing to do. Thanks for all the advise.

csmith12 · November 2nd, 2012, 05:52 PM

Cool to know, thanks for the closure and glad your issue was taken care of.

Joshorilla · November 3rd, 2012, 04:03 PM

Sorry to "hijack" your thread, I like to think of it as recycling, i took my bike to the dealer and picked it up today, he said they took the wheel off, rebuilt the brakes spun the wheel up freely and couldn't find a fault but rebuilt the brakes at no cost to me

Got 100 ft out the dealer and it made the noise worse than ever! ARGH!

klewi · November 4th, 2012, 08:55 AM

Like so many others I had the dreaded front wheel squeak. I did all the reading and tried all the tricks from WD-40 the speedo to re-torque the gorilla tight axle nut. Nothing seemed to work.

The only thing I had left to try was pulling and re-greasing the axle. I had a dealer service due so I told them the problem and asked them to do it. After wasting an entire day they said 1) we fixed it by pressure washing (huh???) 2) it's normal 3) oh that's your exhaust (huh again???). 4) they also said don't trust what you read on the Internet on sites like Ninjette (wtf???).

After listening to all this BS I had to insist on seeing the manager and making some threats before they agreed to pull the axle, grease and re-torque. It absolutely fixed my problem.

What seems to work for some people, like speedo lube, doesn't seem to work for everyone. In my research the thing that most often, by far, fixes the squeak is pulling the axle, greasing and re-torquing.

A quick note about dealers. This incident should have been a sign to never return to this place again but I'm far to trusting. I had a different issue a month after warranty ran out and my experience at this place was far worse. There are obviously good dealers out there but there are also some that aren't.

Joshorilla, are you really sure they pulled the wheel? Just asking...

Cheers

Alex · November 4th, 2012, 09:39 AM

Makes sense. When I removed the axles on my 300 to replace the wheels, they were completely bone dry. They don't need a ton of grease, but a little goes a long way.

October 29th, 2012, 03:42 PM	#1
Hansonjh88 NinjaGlider Name: J Location: Salem Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2011 Ninja 250R (White-SE) Posts: 8	Bike makes chirping noise I've just noticed today when riding that my bike is making a chirping noise when moving. The noise seems to vary speed depending on my speed and still happens when coasting no reving. Also seems to go away when under 10mph. I dont think it's the brakes cuz using them or not the noise is still there. Any help would be great, thanks. __________________________________________________ WhiteRider!

October 29th, 2012, 03:44 PM	#2
csmith12 The Corner Whisperer Name: Chris (aka Reactor) Location: Northern KY Join Date: May 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2010 250 (track), 1992 250, 2006 R6 (street/track), 2008 R6 (track) Posts: Too much. MOTY 2015, MOTM - Nov '12, Nov '13	Lube your speedo cable. __________________________________________________ Goal: Shake A Million Hands \| Look through the corners \| Track Day Prep \| Closest track? \| The Mid-Ohio School

October 29th, 2012, 03:52 PM	#3
Hansonjh88 NinjaGlider Name: J Location: Salem Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2011 Ninja 250R (White-SE) Posts: 8	What should I use for lube? __________________________________________________ WhiteRider!

October 29th, 2012, 03:55 PM	#4
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	A spritz of WD-40 to see if it goes away. If it does, then it was correct. At that point just about any oil could work, as the WD-40 will wear away quickly. 3-1 oil, a small smear of moly, or anything else that you have on hand. It's just a noise that you're trying to deal with, so if the noise goes away, you're all set. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

October 29th, 2012, 04:28 PM	#6
Hansonjh88 NinjaGlider Name: J Location: Salem Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2011 Ninja 250R (White-SE) Posts: 8	Well I just greased it and it didnt seem to do anything, I'm not sure how much to put in there so i will do a little more. __________________________________________________ WhiteRider!

October 29th, 2012, 03:58 PM	#5
Joshorilla Bass Master General Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 24	I have the same thing, i'm taking my bike to the dealers as their are a host of things wrong with it so i'll get them do lube it for me, but I would use a silicone greese or a lithium greese if their are no rubber parts.

October 30th, 2012, 06:09 AM	#7
Joshorilla Bass Master General Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 24	I recorded a video on my head cam on my ride to work this morning and my bike made the noise, i'll post it when I get home for about 5pm GMT

October 30th, 2012, 06:45 AM	#8
flynjay ninjette.org guru Name: Jason Location: Houston, TX Join Date: Nov 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2007 Ninja 250 (sold), '06 Ninja 650R Posts: 455	When was the last time you've cleaned and lubed your chain?

October 30th, 2012, 12:00 PM	#9
Joshorilla Bass Master General Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 24	Me? Weekly

October 30th, 2012, 01:12 PM	#10
Joshorilla Bass Master General Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 24	This is my video of the weird noise! http://contour.com/stories/ninja-250-weird-noise I hope it works! Silly cameras silly own upload site. EDIT: Noise isn't straight away, maybe five, ten seconds in, you'll hear it! It's very loud, more so in real life.

October 30th, 2012, 01:29 PM	#11
csmith12 The Corner Whisperer Name: Chris (aka Reactor) Location: Northern KY Join Date: May 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2010 250 (track), 1992 250, 2006 R6 (street/track), 2008 R6 (track) Posts: Too much. MOTY 2015, MOTM - Nov '12, Nov '13	Whoa! You have one of those special edition whistling bikes. Brakes drag? It seems to have a circular resonance about it as I hear it. Can you get your front wheel in the air and spin it to try to reproduce? You can upload the contour vids to youtube as well. You don't "have" to use their site. I do it all the time. __________________________________________________ Goal: Shake A Million Hands \| Look through the corners \| Track Day Prep \| Closest track? \| The Mid-Ohio School

November 2nd, 2012, 12:01 AM	#13
kremtok ninjette.org member Name: Gary Location: Homer, AK Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2016 Triumph Street Triple RX Posts: 54	I had a similar problem with my bike when it was new. It went into the dealership 3 times and each time they identified a different problem and 'fixed' it. Of course, nothing changed. So I started researching myself, and I saw everything from the speedo cable that was mentioned above to the wheel bearing itself as a possible cause. Like you, I disregarded brakes because the symptoms didn't seem to support it. I was wrong. It was the brakes. I fixed it by going up into the lonely hills on a low-traffic day and while going downhill at about 60mph, I braked hard until the bike got to about 10mph, then sped up and repeated the process until I ran out of road. This bedding in process made the sound go away and though it comes back every thousand miles or so, it's an easy fix. Give it a shot and see if it works for you.

November 2nd, 2012, 05:03 PM	#14
Hansonjh88 NinjaGlider Name: J Location: Salem Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2011 Ninja 250R (White-SE) Posts: 8	Well I went to my shop and during regular maintenance we took off the front wheel and greased the axel and bearing and even the speedo gear box a bit and the sound went away (for now). Could have been because it was dry or maybe cuz it was torqued to much from factory and we lossened it to a good fit. Otherwise the noise is gone and it cost nothing to do. Thanks for all the advise. __________________________________________________ WhiteRider!

November 2nd, 2012, 05:52 PM	#15
csmith12 The Corner Whisperer Name: Chris (aka Reactor) Location: Northern KY Join Date: May 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2010 250 (track), 1992 250, 2006 R6 (street/track), 2008 R6 (track) Posts: Too much. MOTY 2015, MOTM - Nov '12, Nov '13	Cool to know, thanks for the closure and glad your issue was taken care of. __________________________________________________ Goal: Shake A Million Hands \| Look through the corners \| Track Day Prep \| Closest track? \| The Mid-Ohio School

November 3rd, 2012, 04:03 PM	#16
Joshorilla Bass Master General Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 24	Sorry to "hijack" your thread, I like to think of it as recycling, i took my bike to the dealer and picked it up today, he said they took the wheel off, rebuilt the brakes spun the wheel up freely and couldn't find a fault but rebuilt the brakes at no cost to me Got 100 ft out the dealer and it made the noise worse than ever! ARGH!

November 4th, 2012, 08:55 AM	#17
klewi Ninjette of the North Name: Kyle Location: Quesnel, BC Join Date: May 2011 Motorcycle(s): Blue 2010 Ninja 250 Posts: 51	Like so many others I had the dreaded front wheel squeak. I did all the reading and tried all the tricks from WD-40 the speedo to re-torque the gorilla tight axle nut. Nothing seemed to work. The only thing I had left to try was pulling and re-greasing the axle. I had a dealer service due so I told them the problem and asked them to do it. After wasting an entire day they said 1) we fixed it by pressure washing (huh???) 2) it's normal 3) oh that's your exhaust (huh again???). 4) they also said don't trust what you read on the Internet on sites like Ninjette (wtf???). After listening to all this BS I had to insist on seeing the manager and making some threats before they agreed to pull the axle, grease and re-torque. It absolutely fixed my problem. What seems to work for some people, like speedo lube, doesn't seem to work for everyone. In my research the thing that most often, by far, fixes the squeak is pulling the axle, greasing and re-torquing. A quick note about dealers. This incident should have been a sign to never return to this place again but I'm far to trusting. I had a different issue a month after warranty ran out and my experience at this place was far worse. There are obviously good dealers out there but there are also some that aren't. Joshorilla, are you really sure they pulled the wheel? Just asking... Cheers __________________________________________________ “In through the out door"

November 4th, 2012, 09:39 AM	#18
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	Makes sense. When I removed the axles on my 300 to replace the wheels, they were completely bone dry. They don't need a ton of grease, but a little goes a long way. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

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