What the heck is this clicking noise?

Be sure to ask them to rule out the starter clutch that is on the rear brake side. Its under the cover. I found that mine started ticking and the starter was winding without starting and it was the springs in that clutch. I look forward to hearing back from you though.

 

Ok I dropped it off with this mechanic last night. He said it didn't sound good, and could possibly be a totally messed up head, which is what he'd seen before with these bikes I guess. But he's going to check it out and get back to me in a week or so!

 

Hate to bring up an old topic....but was the noise ever found? was the bike fixed?

 

it might be an exhaust leak, easy to fix, sounds like a rattle and is not very pronounced at low rpm's. did you replace the copper seals on the headers?

 

Well, the mechanic said the camshafts for the front two cylinders had worn into the cylinder head pretty bad, and I should replace the head.

He offered to fix it, but quoted me over $1000, so I trailered the bike home, intending to fix it myself.

And that's about all that has happened since! I've been so busy with school I have hardly gotten any work done on it.

But, I did find that a local bike salvage yard can get me usable cylinder heads for only about $150, so that's promising.

I'm still hoping to figure it out this winter, I just need some time to work on it. This semester ends in like three weeks though, so hopefully I can get back at it then.