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Demon, went with the undamped one, no rubber bits.... so maybe! Rideon, I'm liking your thinking. The whine is there even when just doing a constant 60 on a flat road. At this stage I just want to know what it is so my mind can stop coming up with disasterous scenarios!! I put in the semi synth this morning, and I'll do a few miles this afternoon to work it into the engine. I'll check that master link too in a min. Thanks guys!!

Ar$e!! Noise goes away when you clutch, but that could be just the bottom flow of the chain is taking up the slack. The noise only comes when the drive is loaded. Gonna switch back to semi synth tomorrow morning to see if that makes a diff. I'll let you know!

Nice one rickrad! I'll try that later. Surprised if you don't hear a sigh of relief when (hopefully) I discover that it is the chain!

Ok, the Bird has developed a really annoying whine noise. Sitting on a motorway doing 60mph in 6th it is noticeable. When you gas it on to overtake the noise sounds like a wasp in a jam jar going mental. You can hear it up to 75 ish, but then the wind noise takes over. It has only started in the last 24 hours, and the only maintenance I have done on it over the last three weeks is an oil change (10 40 fully synth), and a chain and sprockets. Any ideas??? (other than better ear plugs!!)

Did my chain and sprockets last night Squareman. As I didn't have a splitter, the longest time spent was taking the angle grinder to the old chain and cutting it off without damaging anything else! first time doing a chain, took me 2.5 hours. This is how I did it (opening myself to ridicule and "but why didn't you......) No bodywork removed. Rear wheel off, rear sprocket changed. Clutch slave off, wriggle off, hard to get out. (tape it up to stop the pressure forcing the plunger out). Sprocket cover off, wriggle again, bit stiff. Front sprocket off. Clean out chain guard, and surrounding area. Cut old chain and remove! New front sprocket on. Feed new chain around sprocket and make the join. Sprocket cover on, Clutch Slave on. Wind back the chain adjusters a bit. Install rear wheel, adjust chain adjusters till rear wheel is in line with front. Did not remove any panels, did not replace clutch slave gasket. Did end up with the hook for the stand switch left over after it was all back together.......... :roll:

This is the tread pattern, hope this link works. They are deep enough and regular enough too. The tread helps disperse the water, and the silca in the compound helps it heat up quicker in the wet. No, link won't work. Is there a way of posting a pic on this site?

Ok, wet weather test done! It poured here last night, so I donned my waterproof overalls, winter gloves (coz it was cold too!) and headed out for a blast. The Avons are better in the wet than the Dunlops ever were in the dry!! I was hoofing the bike into corners tyring to get it out of shape, but nothing. Under heavy braking and very hard acceleration you notice a slight loss of traction, but I mean that you would have to really concentrate to notice it. Accelerating while cranked over coming out of bends was confidence inspiring too!

Demon, This is my first test with Avons, and to be honest they are not bought over here at all! The set cost me €260.00 in comparison to about €360.00 for the equivilant michelins. I am happy with them in the dry, I just need (not often asked for) a wet day to see how they are on wet roads. Seemingly they are fabricated with large amounts of Silca therefore increasing grip in the wet, and significantly reducing warm up times on wet roads. I'll let you know how I get on.

Well gents, saw the interest in the Vipers, and here is a copy of a mail I sent to a couple of mates this morning. My previous were D208 rear, 207 front: Well gents, the official review of the Vipers after 300kms: Had them on the bike at 1500 on Saturday having paid the fitter ……….. actually lets not get into that rip off fitment lark again………. Off I went to find the straightest bit of road in the county to ease them in. After 40 kms of dual carriageway riding at a constant of 60mph+, I took a roundabout (carefully). It was like riding on blu tack. Amazing. Now, bearing in mind the sidewalls hadn’t met road yet, the grip was incredible. After a few more miles I started getting adventurous. Not even 70 kms of riding done, and it was holding slip roads onto motorways and roundabouts better than that condom of a D208 was ever doing it. Heat up times are much quicker too. After only a couple of hundred yards you can feel warmth in the tyres without having to start stop to get the friction up. There is one thing that you must get used to. The centre tread of the tyre is a much firmer compound with the construction packed tighter, whereas the off centre is more flexible to give a bigger print when leaned over. When upright, the bike felt firm and solidity I haven’t felt before. It accelerated quicker than on the 208 (so now its like I'm in "Back to the Future") and brakes with more confidence. When coming from a long straight to a 10 / 20 mph corner is where you’ll find the difference. As it moves to the second (more flexible) part of the compound while cornering, you can feel it. The bike doesn’t as such shift position, but you can feel the flex in the tyre ever so slightly. As Bridgestone make a particular tyre for the Blackbird which is something like quadruple belted with the inside made of fooking titanium and concrete or something, I’m thinking that the bike is a bit heavy for the Avons. It’s not something that’s going to make me go out tomorrow and change them, but with a combined rider / bike weight of 310kgs (before dinner) I’m guessing that it is flexing that bit more than it would do on a lighter bike. Other than that, I’m happy with them. The grip levels are increased by a factor of 20, and the ride is more confident.

When your wheel wobbles like an escaping salmon....... then it's usually time to get them looked at! As long as there is no free play left to right, and the wheel spins smoothly with no abnormal grinding noises then there isn't much need to change them. Grease them, but other than that.. if it aint broke...

Doubt it, but it will brew coffee for you for your breakfast!

Honda have come up with some way of impregnating the cam chain metal with some super conductor molecule which makes a highly effective electromagnetic force when used with some of that old super conductor stuff which they tried to run high speed trains on a few years ago. The cool bit is they have their little rod of super conductor down inside the channel where the cam tensioner normally sits, encased in a ceramic housing which virtually makes it frictionless and....wait for it.... Silent (what will a Honda be like without a rattle I hear you ask yourself). The rod will be get pushed down its housing and due to the properties of the "doped"(technical word there) cam chain it will keep several microns of free space between the two. Honda claim this will A. Reduce Wear B. Enhance the life of the chain C. Improve engine performance and D. Lessen engine noise which they are most proud of with ever tightening noise regulations.(yeah right) It will all be controlled from the ECU and will adjust itself automatically as the engine not only warms up but as the style of performance is required

Birdman, I'm just about to do the same. I have a brand new 208 ready to go on the rim on Saturday morning, and a 207 front that has at least 2k miles left on it. I'm not worried, just get the feel of it before hooning around!

That's not a bike, that's a tank!! I actually did see one of those before and I lurve it!! Pete, on the Hawk, when the spring snaps, it releases the tension on the ratchet mechanism in the CCT. With the vibes of the v twin, the plunger retracts and takes the tension off the chain. When this happens, then the chain jumps a cog or two and then valves meet pistons etc. When you are changing the CCT on the Hawk, you must keep the tension on the chain by alternate methods or release the tension on the cams, as if it is mid cycle and the spring is compressed, when you take out the CCT, the spring expands, and throws your timing all over the place. On the Hawk, it was found that the spring was the issue, and no, Honda didn't strengthen it........... nor have plans to do so!!

Whoar, a Nekked Bird?!? Thanks for that "Rock......" On the VTR forum there are a few clever mods floating about in the workshop section. Main one was bolt down the centre so when the CCT did go pop, it wouldn't release and cause havock inside. Is the CCT in the Bird sprung with a rotational spring?