hatch wrote:
I put the Mobil 1 V-Twin 20w-50 in mine over the weekend. Mine was loud enough that i could feel it all the way thru the handlebars (No sir, thats the way they're supposed to sound. Nothing wrong there) all thru the rpm range. The knock is gone enough that i can easily live with it. On occasion if its really warm i will get a couple of knocks just coming off the line, but only a couple of light ones. I'm a confirmed "user" now.

By the way, my bike has just over 2500 miles on it now, so not a carbon knock.. If it is really hot and knocks under a load..."Detonation" H*** mine hammers constantly, but not just under load at takeoff.. I use premiun fuel when riding on hot days...it will also help your cylinders run cooler thus eliminating detonation...True they will run alittle richer on 91 but the benefits offset it on hot days...Butch

I'm familiar with detonation. This is just pure old "generous clearance" that gets worse when the oil is hot. If i'm idling at a stop light, for example, as soon as i let the clutch out and the load builds/rpm's drop it starts to knock. But, the M-1 has cleared up about 95% of it, so i'm convinced. Now, if its hot, i may get a couple of light knocks, but thats all and it stops as soon as i get just above idle.

The knocks I hear are at higher revs just before upshifting; and there usually is not much of a load on the motor.

I've tried the MMO without any luck; the mobil 1 cured it for a while, but it is back. I might try the MMO again, or another top end lubricant to see if it helps.

Which top end lube is preffered; and how much & how often should I put it in with the gas.

Actually; now that I'm thinking about it, I took off my Hardkrome pipes and replaced them with V&H short shots. So maybe the bike really never quieted down as much as I thought. These pipes are much more quiet at lower speeds.

I may have not been adding enough MMO to the tank. I was just afraid of screwing something else up by adding to much. If anyone has some tried and true experiences as to how much top end lube to add to the fuel; that would be great.

hatch wrote:
I'm familiar with detonation. This is just pure old "generous clearance" that gets worse when the oil is hot. If i'm idling at a stop light, for example, as soon as i let the clutch out and the load builds/rpm's drop it starts to knock. But, the M-1 has cleared up about 95% of it, so i'm convinced. Now, if its hot, i may get a couple of light knocks, but thats all and it stops as soon as i get just above idle.

Mine has the same symptom. About 8,000 miles ago I went to Royle Purple and all is good until a long ride on a hot day. Then it will knock when you roll in to park under a light or no load. I tend to think it is piston slap. Whatever.... a good oil will quiet it down more than the loud exhaust.

lizardad wrote:
just the 4 qts. manual says 4.3,but it seemed a little much. thanks for the reply. new to this but will be back for sure

You probably aren't following this thread anymore, but did you drain BOTH oil plugs or just the front? If only one then there was still oil in the engine when you added the 4 qts.

I too was worried about the knocking noise. Believe or not, it is normal. Yamaha has published an article on it and I also saw this in a Rider Magizine article. It's a big engine and because it's not water cooled the sound is not muffled. Your lifters are self adjusting. Mine is an 07 and it only had 7200 miles on it when I got it. I road a friends 09 with 220 miles and it has the same knocking noise.

Don't worry, be happy and ride. And don't use MMO in the oil or other oils other than spec oil as recommended by the manufacturer in you owners manual. In fact, I too used to run Mobile 1 V-Twin Synthitc in my old Royal Star Tour Deluxe. I just run Yamalube in mine. Your just throughing money away with all this other stuff in my opinion. My local wrench told me that when I took it there and I trust him. He's an old salt and been working for Yamaha a long time.

It's interesting to go back and read the posts on such an old topic. See who was posting.

One post was 2 years 7 months old but the sigpic had a date of 2010. The magic of computers.

Scott B.