Tracking Down an Unwanted Noise

I started hearing what I felt was a buzzing sound and I could hear it very loudly at the top of my apes. 

I first tried to determine if it was engine related or something else. When I could hear it real loud I pulled in the clutch as I was going about 35 and waited to see if the noise dropped off after the engine went to idle.  No change in the noise except it started slowing down as the bike did. This lead me to believe it was a rolling part that was making the noise since the engine had no effect on it. The only rolling parts would be the wheels, front pulley and the belt.

I leaned to the right side as I was coasting and could not hear it, I checked the left side and it was there.

Next I checked the belt, I thought it might be a little tight so I loosened it enough to get it to chirp when you blip the throttle but the noise was still there. 

Next I cleaned it thoroghly with dawn and a scrub brush. Took it for a spin but the noise was still there.

Next I  pulled the front pulley cover and checked to make sure it wasn't working loose and checked the clip holding the pulley nut.

With the belt and pulley eliminated I focused on the wheels.  I put the bike on my jack and ran the bike to 40 mph and no noise.  I did this several times to make sure.  (Please be very careful if you do this, we do not want to hear of someones bike taking off on them while they are testing it.  Make sure you are on the jack in a solid position and strap it down securely)

Well that put me where I figured it would be to start with but it never hurts to give your bike a good check regardless. 

The noise was coming from the front end so I was prepared to pull the front wheel and check the bearing when a friend said the holes in my rotor could possibly cause that noise. 

He was dead on, I had just changed ther front pads within the last 2 weeks and they were catching the holes in the rotor.  To check this I went home and using a screwdriver I pushed the pads away from the rotor so they were not touching it.  Then being careful to not use the front brake I went for a ride.  Sure enough no noise. 

Now to verify that the brakes were the noise, I used the front brakes and as soon as I touched them the noise was back strong as ever.  To resolve this I started going on the front brakes a little harder than I had been to get them to seat properly and it has made most of the noise go away. 

If doing that doesn't work for you go to a set of organic pads like kevlar pads, mine were the stock Yamaha metallic pads that I personally prefer but If I had to deal with the noise I would change to organic ones.

If you are in a hurry and want to speed up this process I suggest that you go back to the last thing you did on the bike first. If I had I would have found this problem right away.  Good luck solving your riddle and I hope this helps.

BD (BD41757)