I searched "quiet" and this was the most recent (not really relevant) thread that's for Gen1 so I'm pirating it
TL;DR=Bike suddenly became quiet, sounds beautiful again, and I don't know why.
Started the bike to leave work yesterday, walked 10' away and then she had a
substantial drop in noise. Quiet enough that I thought someone snuck their SUV between me and the bike...again, I only made it a couple paces away. I hustled back over in shock thinking that this was the "quiet before the storm"-something is clogged, it's about to build up and blow, etc. Looked her all over, no lights on the dash, and nothing new on the ground (fluid, parts, etc). I mean...she's quiet enough I can hover my ear an inch above the tank and
hear the fuel pump whine while idling...I can hear the little (drain?) holes chuffing out on the bottom of the stock mufflers...I forgot those even existed! No clue how long it's been since she's sounded this good.
She has been
really raspy sounding for the past year (at least). I suspected an intake issue more than exhaust since the bulk of the dry noise was up front directly under the tank, but may have been those metal exhaust header o-rings/gaskets since I took off my exhaust years ago to swap the radiator and re-used the originals...IDK. She sounded more like a hot rod with an open intake than one with no headers if that makes any sense.
Seriously, she's been so loud that you couldn't hold a normal conversation near her because you would have to talk like you're next to a Harley with screaming eagle pipes...not the same sound, but the same noise level. Loud enough I could hear her idling in the driveway 20' away inside my closed house. One of those things that just started, became progressively worse and just became the new normal.
I have no idea what happened or what was causing all the noise in the first place, but 18hrs, 3 cold starts, and 70miles later-she still sounds
so much better. I still have a little noise from the timing chain/upper right engine area, but pfffttt...small potatoes compared to this
