Last session at grattan i got flagged and pulled off the track, Track marshal told me that my bike was knocking really bad, but i could't hear anything till i removed my helmet and ear plugs, it was more of a ticking than knocking
I started doing some research about that tick and seems to be that the valves were the culprit, i used a stethoscope to make sure where the noise was coming from and yes, its coming by the valve cover more noticeable on the right side than the left, so finally yesterday started to taking the bike apart and confirmed the cylinder 2 and 3 are out of spec, but heres where starts getting hard for me to continue, i only was able to check the exhaust side on 2 n 3 and cyl 3 intake, i just can't find a thickness gauge with a thin blade to check the intake middle valve since the cavity is to small for my gauge, i really want to do this job by myself but i also want to do track day sept 1, i know its going to take me awhile to do this kinda job since my bike is stored far from my home (also will have to get a couple special tools to do the job right) Does anyone knows a good mechanic on here? I found a couple on craigslist but i dont want to take it to some guy that only do tires you know what i mean
Thanks

You'd trust your bike to a Craiglist mech.?

Take it to Ken @ Chicago Performance, he'll treat you right..

But careful he may get you into spandex sports..

No sir i don't trust any craigslist guy , how can i reach ken?? what is his name here in the forum?
Oh dude i don't know about the spandex i'm not into that lol

www.chicagoperformance.com

chicagoperformance SN on here

Thank you pilot!

A knock and a tic are 2 totally different things. A valve rarely ever gets more loose. The valve seats in farther and gets tighter over time with wear and heat. A tight valve doesn't make a tic or a knock unless it hits the piston and when that happens the game is over. One of the first tell tale signs of tight valves is hard starting.

How many miles on the R1?

What numbers were you getting on your clearances and were you following the procedure in the manual to get those numbers?

A knock loud enough to be heard by a corner worker is pretty major. You are talking about connecting rod bearings for a guy to hear a motor knock while you are riding and that requires the entire motor to come apart.

Ken will definetly be able to diagnosis the problem. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst my friend. I imagine he will go through the motions on a full diagnosis. Leak down test, compressrion test, valve clearance check. Hopefully you were able to get the bike back together so he can give it a listen before chasing his tail.

What Grasshopper said....spot on.

Eddie Bingham at Naperville Motorsports does good work as well. He is an exceptional mechanic.

There is nothing more annoying for a mechanic to get a bike in his shop that is half taken apart by someone who is not a mechanic. And then having to listen to a diagnosis from that person. It was knock, no a tick... Oh I mean a grinding sound! LOL. IT'S BROKEN!!!
Being able to say I tried to fix it and got over my head to the mechanic is the first step to manning up and admitting defeat. Don't go in there acting like you know what you are taking about when you don't.

And to add to what Nick said to do....... if you have a spare filter, change it, and cut open the old one (can opener or filter cutter, don't use a hacksaw). A rod or main bearing will be obvious and look like silver / bronze glitter (dust sized all the way up to fish food flake size).

If you're up for an oil change, you can just dump the oil into a clean pan and look for debri.

Edit:// Sorry, what Ken will probably do is all the diagnostic. The filter is relatively easy to do at home.

Well said nick.
The trouble is many times I've heard bad rod bearings on a cold bike sound very different than a hot bike.
the noise they make seems to emanate from many places. As the piston energy goes up and has to stop at the top of its stroke it sends a slap of sound up through the top of the motor.

Trouble is, as with anything like this.It's just a guess until you find bad parts.

Gus, I hear crickets.

I cracked a valve in my 2004 R1 with about 17,000 miles on it. It was always maintained but unfortunately __it happens. Pull the motor and find somebody who has experience. When I talked to my Yamaha mechanic about it, he never had an R1 motor apart.

Hmm seems to me every one would be a YAM R1 mech.

Junk second gear has put more of these bikes in the junk yard than any other brand.

My advice. sell it because with god as my witness you will need a new second gear the day after you put it back together........

HINT do the gear set now if you go in there.....

you would think so but this was woodstock yamaha which is a smaller place that deals more with dirtbikes. Anyway, I had mine rebuilt and sold it in 2006.

Been there, done it on a Suzuki 750. New crank, rod, piston, bearings, etc. Put it all back together after looking at the 2nd gear dog teeth, but thinking....nah "it'll be ok". First time I got on the power it ratcheted out of 2nd.

No point in doing a rebuild if you leave the next weakest link in the engine. Especially after a bearing failure, where (when the filter goes into bypass) you send debri everywhere in the engine.

Don't make the same screw-ups I have.

You didn't notice I saved that part of my story???

I'd rather not explain where all my knowledge comes from, if ya know what I mean....

Junk it bro. Get a new bike.

Seems I've ended more posts than most. Girls,Girls ,Girls.

I don't know how Chicago Performance is, but I PMed him to see if he could mount new tires. He never responded back. So he lost a new customer, probably for life. I guess he's too busy? So good luck.

P.S.
I heard horror stories about Chicago Performance. Don't know if they're true, but just spreading the rumor.

^^^^Never miss interpret the customers one sided story when it comes to service.

Not always the best idea to PM, as some people have it turned off.

Best way to contact anyone that owns/runs a shop is by phone.

BTW I've never heard of any horror stories about CP, he's just a bit of a haul for me just for a tire change.

Hmmm. That's fair. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I do admit I'm pisssed off about that. Tcmalker doesn't like to be ignored!

Hey Chicago Performance. If you're reading this, could you clarify this issue for me. Did you received my PM? And if you did, did you choose to ignore it because you don't like me or something??

Hey Tcmalker! Pick up the phone and call him. DuH! This board has been dead. I'm sure he isn't relying or even cares about relying on business off of CLSB. Especially considering the fact everyone wants shit for free or next to nothing. A tire mounting? Tiddly winks.

I got it. On vacation for the last week, and it was crazy nuts for the few days before that. This year I decided I would make the choice to concentrate on current business in my shop or solid regular customers I know that need something instead of immediately chasing what I call the "Price Checkers" which eat up roughly an hour a day. Sometimes it turns people off, especially when they are new to my shop, but I have to make tough decisions sometimes and take the sure bet on income.

The typical conversation goes like this:
"how much for a chain?"
"what bike" "what size" "what brand" "what length" "what model"
dipshit parts chaser looks up price (me)
"$88"
"Oooh fuck, seriously?"
"yeah, why?"
"Cycle Gear has one for $84 and no idea the brand and they don't install it, and ebay has one for $76, but I don't want to wait"
"Oh, OK, well it looks like you know what they cost already"
dipshit parts chaser goes back to working on bikes in back for service already



I'll check tomorrow for the exact prices on those tires and installation and PM you back.

https://www.chicagolandsportbikes.com...d.php?t=132770

May not be worth the hassle

Yeah just saw that.

I wasn't chasing anything. I needed to changed my tires. I saw your post regarding the Dunlap Q2: https://www.chicagolandsportbikes.com...d.php?t=132386

I thought those were good prices considering it's INSTALLED price. But I'm not a sport tire kinda guy, I was looking for sport touring tires. That's why I asked you installed price for BT-023. Your shop is not far from my house at all and I really need tires installed (17000 miles) as Vern will attest. Vern lives like 25 miles from me, your shop about 10...

Being on vacation is no excuse to not check your PM. I've been on vacation and still regularly check CLSB.

If you could, can you check on the price for me anyway? BT-023 front & rear installed.

Being on vacation is the exact reason not to be checking PMs and CLSB, its called getting away from it all, the exact point of a vacation.

let the guy have a life