Is that a bird in my Superhawk?!

[akpasta]

Toward the end of a 100+ ride yesterday I noticed my bike started making a random, intermittent chirping noise when I'm riding. It starts at about 5-10mph and doesn't seem to follow wheel rotation or anything clear like that. I can't figure out where the damn sound is coming from. I don't believe it's engine related, cuz I can switch into neutral and turn the engine off and still hear it. It doesn't happen when the bike is on the stand with the engine running and the rear wheel spinning, so I don't think it's anything related to the rear wheel, or chain. I tried spinning the front wheel by hand with the bike on its stand and I can't hear anything there either.

Seems to only happen when under load. Doesn't seem to affect anything just yet....

Totally stumped.

What should I do about it?

Thanks.

[akpasta]

It appears after more observation to be coming from the front wheel perhaps, but only when it's under load. With the engine off I can run it down the alley and it's quiet, but when I hop on, I start hearing the chirping. Brakes? Bearings? What do you guys think?

[Goodysnap]

Not related to the speedometer is it? Dry cable or adapter? Pull the cable and see if its gone. Does it change or go away with brake?

[davomoto]

Tire rubbing?

[lifewithoutparole]

My money is on the speedo...I was riding mine one day and heard a high pitched sound. Looked around to see where it was coming from since I KNEW it wasn't from MY bike...yeah, right. I looked at the speedo when I was going about 15 MPH and it was up around 60! Yep, it was whining away. I oiled the cable and it hasn't done it since, the sound that is...

[akpasta]

My speedo used to do the same thing, both speedo and tach are busted and disconnected, but it's not the speedo, I finally removed it and sent it off to Foregin Speedo in San Diego today for repair. I also removed the speedo cable, and it's not that either. For some reason the sound is happening less frequently today, usually between 5-15mph, and getting a bit harder to re-produce. Not a rubbing tire either.

I guess it's one of those things, sometimes you just can't track down that damn noise. I figure I checked everything important that I could think of, I guess the source will present itself if things get worse, ha.

[conbs]

It wouldn't take long to take the front wheel off and check for a dry bearing. That would "chirp". One dry/bad ball would probably have a different frequency than tire rotation and might only make noise under load.

They are really cheap from the online bearing houses and easy to change so, you may want to change them just to eliminate that as a possible cause. Get the sealed bearings and pop the rubbers off to add some grease. Leave the old seals as a kind of dust cover.