Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Ashveratu]

So, 2022 SS9 with 3,742 miles on the odometer. Just recently I have started to hear and feel (through the foot pegs) a rattling grinding sensation when letting off the throttle. Very reminiscent of a Ducati with an open dry clutch but muted. While accelerating or just maintaining a speed, it's as smooth as can be. Since the bike shop is not open till Tuesday, yall have 2 days to guess what the problem is if there is or am I just being paranoid.

Personally, it just doesn't feel right anymore and is starting to freak me out.

[Pard]

Is the chain clean, proper tension, lubricated?  Since you have Ducati dry clutch experience, I assume you know bikes, so no offense intended.

Gear box fluid clean and at proper level?

[jotjotde]

Sounds like the problem I had once as well.
Was a combination of not enough tension and the upper chain guide being misaligned.That's the plastic thingy on top of the swingarm. It's only held by two small screws and became loose.

Pls let us know if this helped. Thx!

[Specter]

That sounds like your chain is loose, and when you go into regen it hits / drags across the top.

Have you adjusted your chain tension since you got the bike?
Check your chain tension and adjust it if necessary, clean it as well while you are down there and see if that helps.

Aaron

[Ashveratu]

I did perform a quick inspection of the chain and tension but not the guide/guard on the swingarm. Will perform a more thorough inspection this evening post results. Thanks for the replies!

[Specter]

It will be interesting to hear what you have to say.  I have about 3600 miles on my bike and have had to adjust mine twice now but will admit, I like spirited riding so may be putting a bit more stress on my chain than a normal rider might.  That was one of the things that alerted me the first time, you could hear like a rattling noise as the chain slid across when you went from ..lets say a driving force to a driven force as you went from power to regen, especially when you are just idling and slacking along with the force vectors swapping back and forth.   The grinding, that is another thing, with the engine noise gone, you get MUCH more attuned to the bike and motor noises.  What's that???  Oh shit, is THAT normal??  it's bumpity bump at low speed!  What's that grinding? (just the regen,nothing to worry about) etc etc.

aaron

[Ashveratu]

Welp, Yall nailed the hit on the head. It was definitely the chain. Apparently it really needed a deep cleaning and was too tight. According to the chain guard instructions, it's supposed to have 1.25 inches of play, mine barely had half an inch.

After cleaning the chain, sprockets and lubricating, she is smooth as silk again.

The chain might still be on the tight side with just an inch of play.

[Specter]

Well too tight is interesting.  The grinding or what you thought was grinding may have been just the motor noise which has kind of a rattly pitch to it when doing regen, at least on my Ribelle it does.  At slow speeds you can actually feel it bump bump between poles as you are walking the bike if you pay attention.  HOPEFULLY it was that and not bearing damage due to the chain  being super tight!

How would it get that tight though?  Did you adjust it at some time in the past or did you get it like that, because generally they loosen over time no?  Even then, after 3k miles, Id think it'd would loosen itself up a bit anyways if it was super tight.

correct me if I am wrong but Id think overall, if you miss the mark on tension, a bit on the loose side is better than being too tight as it does not bear on the bearings so hard, not to mention the bike does ride a lot quieter with the chain a bit loose.  This caught me off guard the first time I adjusted my chain, I took it for a ride and could really hear the chain / gear noise then, enough that I turned around after about a block and re checked everything.  The chain was actually a bit warm which concerned me and after measuring, seen that the wheel apparently slid a tad when i was tightening the axle nut and it was much tighter that I originally set it to, so I basically undid what I adjusted and it was quiet again.

As a side note, make sure you have the wheel aligned too when you tighten up after a chain adjustment, as it's fairly easy to cock it a tad and you can easily tell by looking at the dirt mark on the tire if it's off center from the center of the tire.

Im glad you got it sorted out and it was nothing major.

Aaron

[wadejesu]

[jotjotde]

That video was discussed already some time ago in another post. While it's nice to have some kind of visual tutorial one can rightly criticise it for totally neglecting what the manual says, including the tightening torque for the rear axle nut (video 60 Nm, manual 70 Nm).

On the other hand our bikes are not space rockets and a millimeter more or less is not life threatening. Most probably both methods lead to the same result.
In the end the video method spares you taking off the chain cover (which takes you about 20 seconds to remove three screws  ).

But doing it along the manual it gives you the opportunity to clean the chain cover insides which can accumulate an astounding lot of grease and dirt.
Plus less danger of scratching your hands on the quite sharp tip at the end of the cover (at least with the carbon version you could kill animals if lost in the wild  ).
Plus better access to the chain wheel which I recommend to clean as well while you're at it.

[Stonewolf]

Chain drive is what it is, a little TLC is just par for the course with them, I would think anyone who rides motorbikes would know this.

What annoys me about the Energica setup is the chain guard is just a little bit too long so you have to remove it to check tension. I get that the Italians think this is something we might do once a year (I generally get the feeling Energica do not expect you to do more than 2-3k miles per year) but it's really irritating nonetheless.