clunky tick over

once the engineon my 1982 550 seca is hot, it has a funny clunking sound when left to just tick over. it sounds like its coming from the clutch/gearbox area? the bike rides fine and there are no funny vibrations. so im a bit lost as to what it is. any thoughts?

 

Sure. You're hearing your HI-VO chain rattling the clutch and trans when slack; the chain is tensioned by oil pressure which is low at idle.

The sound can be greatly alleviated by running 20W40 or 20W50, and making sure your idle is as smooth as it can be, and the bike is idling at ~1200rpms. You WON'T get rid of it altogether, it's normal.

We just had a big discussion about it here: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=33497.html

In this member's case, it turns out he has a clutch problem that may be contributing; disregard that, but my "breakdown" of the HI-VO tensioner and all in my replies will apply, and hopefully answer your questions.

 

thanks very much, great bit of info there, il have a play with it this week end and see what i can do. thanks again