Who has it? Who's fixed it? It starts a few minutes after I start it up. After about an hour of riding it gets really soft but it's still there. Once in awhile it actually does go away after while of riding in hot weather. I've took it to the dealer and the guy that looked at it was really cool, and old school. Of course when I was there it barely made the noise. Seems the hotter it gets the softer the noise is. He took it for a ride and said she has plenty of power. He did hear it though so he made a note of it. Said to keep driving and it should not cause a problem but if it does at least he has it on record. Said he has heard worse and to maybe try just a teaspoon of kerosene. I really think it's a collapsed or sticky lifter. I know it sound petty, but dag-gum-it I've been buying beater bikes and breathing life into them my whole life. I finnaly bite the big one and buy a brand new bike and it ticks at me all the time! I just want the noise to be gone. It started at about 250-300 miles. I only have 900 on it now.

I hate to tell you this and it's not a cop out but these motors are really noisey. What type of oil did you put in at the 600 mile service?
and how much.just 4 qrts I hope.

Have you done a search on here on engine noise,there are several on Y-Tube where you can here them running.

I gave them Mobile One. I gave them 5 quarts JIC, I think they used too much. I Just chaged the oil again tonight and put 4 quarts in with a k&n oil filter. I know they are noisy, coming from old irons it's a blessing but I never had that ticking and they were solid lifters, and a breeze to adjust for that matter.

Edit: Not to mention this noise did not exist at first with the bike. Checked the Youtube already, made me feel better hearing the noise on another but have heard them without the noise also.

Mine had a "zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz" sound that was really loud just after a cold startup (at near freezing temps) the sound got softer as the engine got hot.
I narrowed it down to the oil pump "cavitating" with the thick heavy 20w50 synthetic oil in there.
I went and changed to 10w40 Amsoil synthetic, an low and behold.... there's no more noise on cold startups! Roadie just loves the 10w40 oil!
(Yes, it is still freezing here in June in the foothills of Alberta! ) But we might hit +27* during the day!
The "zzz-zzz-zzz" sound in the cam area of my Roadie sounded kinda like a power steering pump whining on a 1990's Ford when you start the truck at 30 below celsius. (Only not quite as loud in the bike!)

I have seen new camshafts get lobes cut right off in new or freshly rebuilt motors. I don't know why but it just happens sometimes. You need new lifters and cam set if this has happened. But the engine will usually lack power and miss like crazy if this is the case.

This is like hitting the plastic ends of two screewdrivers together lightly. Not quite metalic sounding. I scoped the engine and everything has that nice sewing maching noise then the cam area has that tat tap tap. Engine does not miss a beat though.

Sometimes the lifters will not pump up all the way and may take several miles to do so. Mine sounds similer at times and then it will quiet down for awhile. After a shutdown and starting it again it might be noisey or quiet depending on where the crank stopped. I don't pay much attention anymore as it runs great with over 40,000 miles on it. Just some food for thought.

Greysnake wrote:
Sometimes the lifters will not pump up all the way and may take several miles to do so. Mine sounds similer at times and then it will quiet down for awhile. After a shutdown and starting it again it might be noisey or quiet depending on where the crank stopped. I don't pay much attention anymore as it runs great with over 40,000 miles on it. Just some food for thought.

Thank you, that makes me feel better. Really just needed to vent. Just the thought of that lifter slamming the backside of the lobe was bothering me. I will say, as I was cruzin' down 168 towards Kitty Hawk today it felt great, plenty of power and just felt right. Even the exhaust seemed to have more grumble to it. Till I finnaly came to a stop light of course "tap tap tap" By then you could barely hear it though.

My 02 has almost 25000 on it i bought in 05 with 6000 on it.It is a fairly noisy beast and always was,but it runs strong and i have gotten so used to it that it just seems right!!

I'll add that I have always ridden the old verticle 650's, from a '72 to a couple of '83's, before I stepped up to a V-Star 1100, and they were all mechanically quiet bikes.

When I went to look at my R*, and test drove it... I almost rejected it out of hand because of all the engine noises. It really concerned me... but a friend of mine went along, and he was familiar with the Roadies and told me it was completely normal.

End of the story... the price was right, I bought, and that noise is music to my ears. I'm in love!

It ticks and taps a bit, but it's a torquey son-of-a-gun, and I like the sounds.

jbiv wrote:
This is like hitting the plastic ends of two screewdrivers together lightly. Not quite metalic sounding. I scoped the engine and everything has that nice sewing maching noise then the cam area has that tat tap tap. Engine does not miss a beat though.

First off, when you say "cam area".....you know the cam is down near the crank, right?

If you've got a sound down there, then I dunno, But I think what you mean is up where the rockers are in the top end, and if that's the case I'm really, really familiar with the sound you speak of. I like your description of the two plastic screwdriver handles hitting each other. That's very much like mine.

This is the "knock" that some of us have, some don't, some don't care, and for some it drives us nuts. My bike sounds like a million dollar, blueprinted hot rod for about the first 8-10 minutes I run it. Then, as it gets hot, there's that knocking sound under a light load. Yamaha has said that it makes this sound as the oil thins out, so many of us have switched oils and found an improvement. I've used Amsoil, Mobil 1, Castrol and found no change whatsoever. None. Zip. Same characteristic sounds after about 10 minutes. I personally find Yamaha's explanation incomplete and illogical. Clearances in engines are supposed to tighten up when warm, not loosen. And I'm somehow to believe that only the perfect motor oil is supposed to magically quite that big old knocking sound? Don't think so.

Doc says....and I've been meaning to ask you about this, Doc......that if the motor is noisy with heat that the valves need adjusting. I'm going to try that soon but I need to find time and the nerve to get in there. I'm a little doubtful that with only 4000 miles on her the valves are whack, and also that would indicate the valves were whack ofter only 300-400 miles, since that's when the "knock" started (near as I can remember.)

I'm thinking about adding an oil cooler, since it really seems temperature related. (In winter riding it's much quieter). We'll see, but in the meantime I enjoy my Roadie just the way it is. It's big, bad, noisy, torquey, geared right, and comfortable. It also seems reliable as a hammer, and people on here will tell you that theirs have been banging and knocking for 80,000 miles and never stopped, but never let them down, either.

If I find the answer I will certainly share it here,but in the meantime I've got a lot of riding to do