What could this noise possibly be?

[510]

Hey guys,

So I just replaced the swingarm today (the old one was damaged in an accident), and during the test ride, I could hear a very faint squeaking noise, barely audible over the engine noise. I pulled the clutch and let the engine idle, and sure enough, there's this noticeably loud noise. It's this intermittent squeak, almost like a chirp, and at 30 mph, it squeaks about 2-3 times a second. At freeway speeds, it gets a tad louder, and the frequency increases as well. I don't know if it has anything to do with the swingarm swap, because I wasn't very attentive towards this kind of noise before.

Now, I'm thinking that this probably isn't wheels or the brakes, since the wheels are spinning much faster than 2 times a second at 30mph. Could it possibly be the chain? The chain is at around 10k miles, and it's been pretty well cleaned and cared for.

Thanks!

[ivany]

Very likely is the chain. Could be mis-aligned wheel, have you checked your rear wheel alignment after the swap?

[yamahonkawazuki]

or bearings perhaps got pics of the swap? ie how it looks now?

[The Buddha]

Yes, chain, bearings, shock linkage.
When the bloody thing was apart - you clean and grease everything ??
And here is another biggie ... if the swingarm had spacer shims, did you use all of those spacer shims, or did you measure and decide how many to use ?? swingarm and frames have a good bit of variation in the dimensions. The factory put shims to match their widths. Those need to be re done. AKA, measure and fit.
Finally is the wheel lined up right and its bearings greased well.
Then again, is the chain 1/2 decent and lubed well or somehting that belongs in an ad for a before and after as the before item.
Cool.
Srinath.

[510]

Yes, I greased the axle and the linkage when it was apart. I also measured the differences between the old and new swingarms, and despite the damage to the old one, they were only off by a fraction of a millimeter at the axle.

I coasted the bike downhill with the engine off, and it definitely sounds like it's the chain. At low speeds, the chain "stutters" to produce kind of a whipping noise, which gets higher pitched as the bike goes faster. Come to think of, it, the chain probably got damaged in the same accident: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=38317.0

Does anyone have the exact specs for the chain? I know it's a #520, but I dunno if that's the only spec I need.

Thanks!

[ben2go]

520  110 link O ring chain clip or press style link is OK