Throttle-modulated rattle

[SteveThackery 3,090]

Excellent discussion - thanks for all the thoughts, insights, suggestions, etc.

 

I agree that the obvious thing is to find another NC and compare the two side by side.  I don't know anyone who owns one, but if I'm at the dealer's they might let me listen to one - their demonstrator, perhaps.

 

However, I was very interested to read that several of us consider the engine to be noisy.  Fred likens his to a coffee grinder; Andrew can hear a noise and assumes it's valve gear; embee describes them as "quite rattly/clattery"; and Tex's Integra sounded like two skeletons shagging in a metal box.

 

So, that pretty well convinces me that mine is normal, which is definitely a good thing.

 

I'll tell you why I ask: it's just that I've heard other Honda engines and usually they are superbly quiet mechanically.  Even their cheap 'n' cheerful lawnmower engines (the GC range) sound lovely compared to the crap Briggs and Stratton and the others make.  So when I heard the noise from the NC engine it struck me as being quite uncharacteristic for Honda.  Hence raising it for your views.

[kayz1 2,928]

****uncharacteristic for Honda****

 

I have to agree with you, i too on the 3 NC's i have had up to now think they are indeed Rattly/clattery lumps of metal.

Not at all like a Honda engine, ANY Honda engine i can think of.

Lyn.

[DaveM59 1,603]

What did you say...can't hear you, say again? What...just a minute I'll switch the engine off....ah right, can hear you now. Rattly? No, it's perfectly OK, always been like that.

 

[Dashwood 151]

On 01/05/2017 at 20:21, fred_jb said:

I didn't always wear earplugs because I had managed to sort out the screen so that I had minimal wind noise.  As a result I was possibly more sensitive to engine noise, which when the engine was off-load seemed worse, like someone shaking ball bearings in a can, or one of those spray cans with a ball bearing inside that you have to shake to mix the paint, which might be a little more descriptive than the coffee grinder analogy.

This is precisely the noise. Well described!

[SteveThackery 3,090]

Those of us who've had the dubious pleasure of owning British bikes from the 60s and 70s will, of course, know what real engine clatter sounds like.  I remember riding things that sounded like they had a bolt inside the cylinder, hammering between piston and cylinder head.  Others had valve gear that was so loud you could hear it before the exhaust note when your mate was driving up to your house.

 

Compared with those the NC is almost silent, I guess.  But they are a bit noisy for a Honda.

[Rocker66 34,355]

20 minutes ago, SteveThackery said:

''Those of us who've had the dubious pleasure of owning British bikes from the 60s and 70s will, of course, know what real engine clatter sounds like.  I remember riding things that sounded like they had a bolt inside the cylinder, hammering between piston and cylinder head.  Others had valve gear that was so loud you could hear it before the exhaust note when your mate was driving up to your house.

 

Compared with those the NC is almost silent, I guess.  But they are a bit noisy for a Honda.

If you think they were rattly you should have heard my Ducati Multistrada with its dry clutch fitted with a carbon ventilated cover. On one occasion I pulled up behind a young lad driving a real old banger of a car. He heard my clutch as waslooking around his car as if to stay now whats gone wrong with it

[Slowboy 20,325]

14 hours ago, SteveThackery said:

Those of us who've had the dubious pleasure of owning British bikes from the 60s and 70s will, of course, know what real engine clatter sounds like.  I remember riding things that sounded like they had a bolt inside the cylinder, hammering between piston and cylinder head.

Those of us who have the (very great) pleasure of riding a 90's Triumph triple or four will know what gargling with a pint of 1/2 inch bolts sounds like at tickover. And like Rocker I've owned a Ducati with an open dry clutch, every other bike is a whisperer by comparison, even when their bottom ends are dropping out.

Brian

[embee 7,288]

I've never understood the delight some folk have in hearing an open dry Ducati clutch. I was on hols once with a chap on a Duke so equipped and it was truly awful. Some noises are nice, others are offensive. Each to their own I suppose.

[Rocker66 34,355]

23 minutes ago, embee said:

I've never understood the delight some folk have in hearing an open dry Ducati clutch. I was on hols once with a chap on a Duke so equipped and it was truly awful. Some noises are nice, others are offensive. Each to their own I suppose.

Yoir last scentence sums it up. I find Scat music  an offensive noise but others love it

For me the dry clutch was part of the Ducati experiance.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Rocker66

[Slowboy 20,325]

4 hours ago, embee said:

I've never understood the delight some folk have in hearing an open dry Ducati clutch. I was on hols once with a chap on a Duke so equipped and it was truly awful. Some noises are nice, others are offensive. Each to their own I suppose.

Me neither, I took off the open cover fitted by the original owner and put the original closed cover back on. It still rattled like a cement mixer part full of half bricks, but cut the volume significantly. It also stopped stones, rain, small children and animals getting jammed in it.  🤐😁

Edited May 3, 2017 by slowboy

[Rocker66 34,355]

52 minutes ago, slowboy said:

Me neither, I took off the open cover fitted by the original owner and put the original closed cover back on. It still rattled like a cement mixer part full of half bricks, but cut the volume significantly. It also stopped stones, rain, small children and animals getting jammed in it.  🤐😁

I may just have been lucky but never got anything in it even when staying in a farm cottage in the Lake District

[Slowboy 20,325]

12 hours ago, Rocker66 said:

I may just have been lucky but never got anything in it even when staying in a farm cottage in the Lake District

If you were in the cottage the bike wasn't moving. Is there a prize for solving that conundrum......😜

[Rocker66 34,355]

36 minutes ago, slowboy said:

If you were in the cottage the bike wasn't moving. Is there a prize for solving that conundrum......😜

But you should see the yard the cottage was in and the state of the lane used to access it

[Slowboy 20,325]

Now that's properly rural, looks like a grand place to stay.

[Rocker66 34,355]

10 minutes ago, slowboy said:

Now that's properly rural, looks like a grand place to stay.

It certainly was. It was bought by a female work colleague and her partner to run as a B&B. Sadly they chose to do it just before the foot and mouthoutbreak which meant no customers so they ended up separating through stress. I had some good short breaks up there though.

[embee 7,288]

Looks like someone has been practicing herding cats.

[Rocker66 34,355]

35 minutes ago, embee said:

Looks like someone has been practicing herding cats.

They were the cats from the place I was staying. However if I mistimed it I would get held up going out in the morning or returning in the afternoon by a herd of cows being brought in for milking. I would stop well clear of them but one cow always seemed to wander over to investigate until brought back in line by the dog

[Taipan 110]

I was relieved to have searched and found this thread this morning. I rode in to work today and by the time i'd got here, i'd practically convinced myself that my timing chain was hanging out!  So I'm somewhat pleased to find, "They all sound like that Sir"! 

[michael 324]

On 3 May, 2017 at 05:52, embee said:

I've never understood the delight some folk have in hearing an open dry Ducati clutch. I was on hols once with a chap on a Duke so equipped and it was truly awful. Some noises are nice, others are offensive. Each to their own I suppose.

I suppose that's why there's jazz, opera, rock and blues as well. Each to their own.

 

(I agree - not a fan of the dry clutch rattle but by god it's a beautiful piece of kit to look at)

[commuter 262]

Sometimes butterflies inside the throttle bodies can get a bit noisey on some engines, I've heard of this on BMWs but not on Hondas.

[larryblag 14,236]

A trusted bike mechanic (not necessarily a main dealer either) or a fellow NC owner might need just thirty seconds to dispel your fears, especially if you're obsessing with this noise - which it's quite easy to do Steve. In all honesty though, the car-derived NC engine has probably been built well enough that anything major would produce obvious issues - bear in mind that the four cylinder version in the Jazz is cosseted with a miriad of anti-vibration mounts and more or less given a tog 20 quilt to keep the noise down in it's particular application. 

[larryblag 14,236]

On Thursday, May 04, 2017 at 10:32, embee said:

Looks like someone has been practicing herding cats.

You took the words right out of my index finger