I was on a ride yesterday afternoon when I heard a squeaking sound coming from the left rear when starting out. It only lasts a few seconds and then stops as I pickup speed. No sound at all when I brake and stop.

Any clues as to what this might be?

Possibly belt-squeak from the rear pulley. Time for a new belt maybe, or time to clean out the belt housing.

I vote for the clutch.

Special if you hear it only when starting from 0 mph.
Or allmost 0 mph.

Thanks guys. I'm on it later today. I'll let you know what I find. Good suggestions.

GWPSI,

This happens with the SWing if ridden to conservatively. Mine doesn't do this much at all but when it does this is what I do:

1) Pull in the front brake
2) Rev the engine up to about 4,000 rpm's for about 3-5 seconds
3) Then after you let it go back down to idle just take off and you should not hear the noise.

Sometimes when riding in very slow stop and go traffic or just not accelerating more aggressively from a stop, you can get some glazing of your clutch. You can do the above or take your belt off and de-glaze the clutch shoes. By pulling in the break and revving up to about 4,000 for a few seconds, this will de-glaze your clutch.

It won't hurt anything by doing this. Some won't do this but I have done it a few times and it gets rid of that "squeak" in just a matter of seconds.

I can testify JeffR's solution works for me.

(Nor do I ride conservatively either!!!!!!!)

Hi.

When I was road testing my Silverwing, prior to purchase, I noticed this squeal when starting off from rest and was told it would be fixed under warranty.

The noise, which comes from the lower rear / left hand side of the bike, sounds like a squeaking trolley wheel in need of attention / squealing brake pads but only seems to surface when the bike is fully warmed up.

Sometimes it does not make the noise but mostly it does and I have found it can be overcome, to an extent, by brisk and revvy take offs.

I put the bike in last Tuesday for the dealer to investigate and was told that it needed a new belt, collar and a nylon bush and booked me in.

I duly arrived at the dealership on Friday at 0830 and by 1000 the work was complete and off I went.

I could not believe it when, by the time I arrived home, I heard the sound again and so I phoned the dealer and they said they just did not know what it could be especially after having done the work they did which cost quite a bit and said they would need to contact Honda technical dept to see what was what !!

Watch this space.

Jeff,

You can bet I'll give that a try. I pulled the cover from the belt air filter yesterday and cleaned that. I wanted to check the belt, but you need some exotic allen wrenches to make that happen.

As Mitch noted I have heard this only when the bike was fully warmed up. Not on the initial start.

Thanks to everyone who pitched in with suggestions. I''ll post the result of this latest attempt asap.

Gene

I think JeffR ----let engine run up against brakes is easiest cure. Noise will come back.

My 09, bought new, SilverWing does it, My Suzuki Burgman 400 did it.I had various drive line troubles with the 4 new Helix I had, noises, 3 of the 4 had rear clutch problems, belt used to also slap against inner case, etc. one broken belt---since cover was easy to get off, shot of Lemon Pledge worked on them ( I know stupid, but worked) all were traded at 36-50,000 miles when warranty ran out. Reflex no noises-its life ended at 22,500 miles when lady on cell phone ran over it.

This noise I treat as nature of the beast in Silverwing---I suspect only low horsepower should be transmitted with belt--maybe 10 HP---my 125 Dealim in Korea, nor Vespa Ciao 50cc in Italy did not have these noises.


John Grinsel

The X9 suffers from the same noise - not a problem and generally happens in hot weather or when doing lots of stop-start riding in heavy traffic.
We called it the 'strangled sealion' noise, cause by the belt slipping a bit.

I tried the "lock the front wheel and burn off the belt" technique and the squeak is gone, at least for now. It seems this is not an isolated problem, but fairly common and not serious.

The forum is a great way to sort through these things without an expensive dealer visit.

Gene

Gene,

I'm glad it worked for you. If you are one that takes off slowly it may come back but if you give it more throttle on take off it seems to keep the squeal away for a much longer time. If I take off somewhat aggressively, and I don't mean racing either, then it may not come back. It seems for me that slow take offs and stop and go traffic may bring back that "chirp". I don't a squeal but a very quick "chirp" if I get in slow stop and go traffic or slow starts.

With that whining on departure, the belt is often mentioned.

I think it's the clutch.
And only the clutch.

And it's just annoying.
But do not worry.