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Thread: Main bearing noisem

  1. #1
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    my buddy was riding my lightning the other day which has 7800 miles on it now and he said it seems as if the main bearing was making a lot of noise. he went to school to be a harley tech but its been about 8 years now since last picking up a wrench on one and says he cant remember from class how noisy the main bearings were on the buell they had in class.
    i was wondering if anyone in here could shed some light on how noisy the main bearing are or if i should just have harley check it out when i take it in to get the new front tire put on.

    thanks

  2. #2
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    I personally thought my first buell was ready to explode at any time till I got used to the agricultural type sound being emitted from its internals(stems from jap bike background) once I came to terms with that I went on to put 30k plus miles on it and have removed the part of my brain that hears that frequency. are you sure its your mains or just another of erics masterfully mysterious oddities designed to provide visceral satisfaction to those who go to the beat of a different drum. all my buells have been loud, you don't notice the noise as much on a Harley because they all have wide open strait pipes and are cant idle

  3. #3
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    Yeah I'm almost to the point where I'll just ride it till it dies

  4. #4
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    ego: i'm sure your friend meant well but a proper comparison for a "schooled harley tech" as you stated would be between a sportster and a buell XB. and they do not "sound the same" when riding one. there's a whole host of reasons including heavier valve springs, more aggressive cam profiles....but in general it's the acoustics of the 2 bikes. the sporster and for that matter the big twin engines are out in the open and the XB motors are tucked up in the frame and surrounded by a fan, lid, cover, box base and more. bottom line is they just sound "noisier" and i'm sure yours is fine.

  5. #5
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    You'd really have to abuse an XB to get any serious bearing wear after on 7800 mi; it's barely broken in!
    Air-cooled motors express their inner workings much more loudly than liquid-cooled motors which have water jackets to insulate noises, and no air fins to amplify them.

  6. #6
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    Air-cooled motors express their inner workings much more loudly than liquid-cooled motors which have water jackets to insulate noises, and no air fins to amplify them.
    precisely Go. as usual you're spot on.

  7. #7
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    I took mine in shortly after I bought it, thinking the same thing. I was met with an "It's normal." Now, with 20K on the bike, There's no sign of failure, and sometimes she gets temperamental and will express her objections a little louder, but, since the main bearings are ball bearings, if they start going, you WILL know it.

  8. #8
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    precisely Go. as usual you're spot on.
    Well, once you've ridden an old BMW airhead with open Hoske megaphones, a Harley motor sounds like a hair dryer!



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