valve clatter!?!?!?

[busa_bill]

I'm coming home today riding slow behind country cagers. Was in maybe 3rd or 4th at around 2k (yeah, I was in the wrong gear)
Anyway, when I got on it, as it passed about 2.5 to 3.5k I hear a thin metal rattle. Had my helmet on so I couldn't make it out to well.
I ride it around the neighbor hood tonight with no helmet and simulate the earlier conditions. It seems the higher the load, the more this sound comes out during acceleration from low RPM's. I know there is a growl like vibration when you give it gas from a very low RPM, but this is something else. This is a metal sound that appears to be coming from the front of the motor. Since the motor is under extreme load while I'm doing this, the first thing that comes to mind is valve clatter. I've never heard valve noise on a bike motor, so I don't know exactly what it sounds like. Should I go with some better gas and see if it goes away, or does someone else have a better idea?

 

[DNGrumpy]

I'd swear I hear it at idle when the the bike is cold and on the side atand...

 

[busa_bill]

I pulled both farings off and couldn't find anything obviously loose on the front of the motor. I just had the plugs out this weekend for a 7500 mile look. They looked great and the gap was still on, so I threw them back in. I've been running the cheapest 87 I could find at $1.97/gal.
As luck would have it, I needed gas, so I rode it naked and threw in some premium. After giving the gas a chance to circulate, I couldn't get it to do it again. Having been able earlier to do it almost at will, I'd say maybe I found the problem.
I'll button it back up and see how it does over the next few days.

 

[TallTom]

I have been hearing the same thing on mine. I run nothing but Premium from day one. It does it when cold and at low RPM under acceleration. Not hard acceleration or load but it certainly sounds like a can of marbles until it warms up.

It runs fine and pulls like normal. I have heard these are pretty noisy engines and I am still a new owner paying attention to every sound I can at first. But I didn't heaqr it before and I certainly can pick it out now.

 

[Justyntym]

The same thing happens to mine when it's kinda cold.

I usually start mine and wait till the temp gauge starts moving up and then start rolling slow. If I just blip the throttle lightly (up to 3000 rpm) or decellerate I get that noise.

AS SOON AS my bike gets to full operating temperature, it goes away for good.

I posted a queery and didn't get one reply. I did a search and the basic answer I came up with was the busa is basically a noisy beast and since it runs like a top and sounds tight when fully warm...I just passed it off as that.

Valve or chain adjustment, don't know...

 

[busa_bill]

I've put 7k on mine, and have never heard this until today during the ride home.
Cold start ticks, low RPM groan on accelleration, the 4500 rpm
vibration, I'm used to them all. I dismiss most of what I hear on the bike, but this was loud and out of the norm.

 

[JINKSTER]

(busa_bill @ Sep. 26 2006,16:10) I've put 7k on mine, and have never heard this until today during the ride home.
Cold start ticks, low RPM groan on accelleration, the 4500 rpm  
vibration, I'm used to them all. I dismiss most of what I hear on the bike, but this was loud and out of the norm.

don't fret about it Bill...mines always had "the cold start ticking sound"...and as the miles have piled on i dare say it's gotten a smidgen louder but wether it be then or now?...once the temp needle is 1/2 way to normal operating temps?...it goes away...other than that?...the only other time you'll hear it is if you're "Lugging The Engine"....and/or dumping a lot of throttle into her at low revs...and while it may seem strange that one could lug a 1300cc engine at revs under 3,000rpms?...you also hafta take into account that the busa is cogged tall...real tall...so despite it's massive displacement?...it's tall cogging makes it relatively....still....easy to lug.

warm'er up and wind'er up...you ain't gonna break it.

BTW....Kaws where also noted for their chattery top ends....namely because Kaw uses real heavy valve springs...and i would imagine that with 11:1 comp on a 1300 engine that ours are rather stiff as well.

L8R, Bill.

 

[TheAtomicAss]

If you can't reproduce the problem after putting in premium, then I would say the problem is detonation. Even though Suzuki says it's ok to run dirt cheap unleaded, and many people do without any issue, the Busa still has significant compression, as Jinkster noted. At low revs in high gears the computer will advance the ignition to increase power, and, at low revs will cause the engine to knock. (My Ninja 250, WITHOUT computer controlled timing experiences the same issue).

Avoid those high gears/low revs, and all is well.