South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

I own a Honda CB-1 400 1989, since i've own this bike, a couple of months now, it's been making a rattling noise when ticking over. This noise goes away when the bike if in motion or revved, i've been told it might have something to do with the starter clutch...but my mechanical know is pretty limited so i still don't really know if this is the problem...

however, recently a few new noises have been added into the mix. there is now some top end noise which starts after about five minuets of riding and makes the bike sound pretty unhealthy (this noise actually drowns out that of my exhausted)...i truly have no idea whats making this noise. any idea's???

The performance is also being a little affected as occasionally when i twist the throttle there seems to be no power and the engine feels as though it's choking, though if i roll off the throttle and try it again it sometimes gives the power back???

i'm really stuck and wanted to know if there is anything that i could do to solve these problems myself and avoid an expensive trip to a garage?

Rattle on tickover is common on bikes especially on older ones and tend to go quieter when you pull the clutch in. Its normally the gearbox.

You can also have a bit of camchain rattle and this can get worse when revving or even quieter as the tenson is taken up.

You also could have a main bearing starting to go on the bottom end and this would get loader whilst revving.

You also could have have a piston slack which is where the piston and bore have worn so much that when you rev the bike it moves in the bore sideways as well as up and down obviously causing a rattle.

But i have also known people confuse weak mixture and bike running too lean causing it to "PINK" (this is a noise) under hard accleration as a rattle.

It could be numerous things mate and needs someone with a bit of engine know how to pin point the prob, before you start stripping the engine to bits as most of those probs are big jobs.

Could be lucky and it could be a bracket rattling somewhere

charlie wrote:I own a Honda CB-1 400 1989, since i've own this bike, a couple of months now, it's been making a rattling noise when ticking over. This noise goes away when the bike if in motion or revved, i've been told it might have something to do with the starter clutch...but my mechanical know is pretty limited so i still don't really know if this is the problem...

however, recently a few new noises have been added into the mix. there is now some top end noise which starts after about five minuets of riding and makes the bike sound pretty unhealthy (this noise actually drowns out that of my exhausted)...i truly have no idea whats making this noise. any idea's???

The performance is also being a little affected as occasionally when i twist the throttle there seems to be no power and the engine feels as though it's choking, though if i roll off the throttle and try it again it sometimes gives the power back???

i'm really stuck and wanted to know if there is anything that i could do to solve these problems myself and avoid an expensive trip to a garage?

If your bike has cv carbs then they can also cause a rattling noise at tickover due to changes in pressure etc making the slides bounce up and down.

i took the bike past a garage and he said that it was most likely one of the bolts holding the starterclutch had come loose?