The tick...I found

[jasonm.]

No, not the bug that bites and sucks. In this case it was a noticable tick all the time, like metal on metal. Especially 4000-5000rpm. No, not the balancer been there done that. Hell, I had just adjusted the front valves last year. This was a tick sounding like metal tapping(maybe a valve). As I looked and listened further. It seemed to be the rear cylinder area. So knowing that exhaust leaks can sound like a ticking noise or spitting sound. So what the heck... I tightend the rear "crush clamps". Those stainless buggers that crush the hidden copper rings between 2 beveled washers. I had replaced these rings 15 years ago. Why leak now? My venture has the same design, and never leaked. Well 2-3 turns of the allen bolt, that did the trick. Wow, how noises can piss me off.  "Hey you, shut up, keep the noise down".

[Brian Moffet]

Wow, how noises can piss me off.

I'm glad you found it Jason.

I'm going to diverge a little bit here, tangenting off the noises can piss one off.  Some of you know, or can find out, I am 45 years old.  Not old, not young, sort of middlin.  However, I had some news from a doctor yesterday that I would like to be a warning to people.  Probably for the rest of my life I will have a constant ringing in me left ear.  It will never go away. If I live as long as my family usually does, that is at least another 30 to 45 years of a ringing in my left ear.

The doctors don't know what did it.  They don't know what caused the damage to my inner ear, but the current theory is that it is permanent.  I have never been one to go to loud concerts, and I always wear hearing protection when flying.  I didn't usually wear protect when riding my motorcycle.  I don't listen to loud music in my ipod.

When I first started hearing this around June, I took to wearing ear plugs.  Sometimes tinnitus is temporary. Usually it is caused by constant loud noise, which damages the ear.   I can ignore the ringing, it doesn't bother me.  The fact that I have lost 1/2 my hearing above 5k is bothersome.  I used to, as of 4 years ago, be able to hear up to 14 Khz in both ears.

Take care of your ears, wear ear protection.

[Rick G]

Ear protection isn't a bad idea . My tinnitus arrived about 4 years ago (I'm 66) I tested fine in '02 but  now I hear a soft ringing, that some times sounds like bacon frying.  It doesn't go away,  but you can ignore it , except at night , when it bothers me , so I run a fan on the other side of the room, and go right to sleep.
Mine Shirley resulted from  enjoying the sounds of of two strokes (mostly) with open exhausts , some times late at night  , in closed rooms , so as not to annoy the neighbours. Could be why I enjoy my MAC pipes , I can hear them.

[YellowJacket!]

My ears bothered me for 2 days after the "Cherohala Run".  I told my wife I was going to wear earplugs the next time.  Funny thing is that my new windscreen must have a slightly different angle to it...or I grew 2 inches...because the wind blowing over it is now directed right at my helmet and the wind noise has increased quite a bit.  (I made a comment back a while ago the my "yellowjacket" helmet was very quiet.  It is.  But while riding without a fairing, there was quite  a bit of noise and now with the repaired fairing, there is still more noise than before)

Jason, you are correct.  Noises bother me too.  Both from my Vision and my car, a Honda Accord.

David

[Brian Moffet]

I tightend the rear "crush clamps". Those stainless buggers that crush the hidden copper rings between 2 beveled washers. I had replaced these rings 15 years ago. Why leak now? My venture has the same design, and never leaked. Well 2-3 turns of the allen bolt, that did the trick.

Do this when you change the oil.  You really don't want to have them leaking because the hot exhaust gases will enlarger the hole and burn the copper.  Once that happens too much, you can't really get them tight enough for a good seal.

Brian

[h2olawyer]

When I started riding with ear protection a few years ago, I was amazed at how much less fatiguing a long ride could be.  Some of it is just becoming more accustomed to putting on some miles - but the ear plugs really make a difference in how I feel after I finish a long ride.  Much more alert and I don't feel the need to just sit & veg out after I get geared down.  I originally did it to protect my hearing, but the added benefits of riding with ear protection are amazing.  Muffling that low frequency rumble makes a huge difference.

Fairings will change the airflow in unanticipated ways.  Many fairings or windscreens actually make the wind buffeting and low frequency rumbling worse that it would be without the 'protection'.  Helmets also each have their own wind noise properties.  My HJC CL-14 was fairly quiet - I thought.  The Shoei RF-1000 I wear now is much quieter.  Tests are subjective but made on my V with the same fairing.

For some interesting info on the subject, check this out:  www.webbikeworld.com/Earplugs/earplugs.htm.

H₂O

[Brian Moffet]

For some interesting info on the subject, check this out:  www.webbikeworld.com/Earplugs/earplugs.htm.

paragraph two sounds familiar...  :o

[Rick G]

I bought a Nolan N100 new in '99 and replaced it in '02 with the "new and improved" N100. The newer one had lousy ventilation and was subject to much more wind noise.  The best one I've had , so far is the M2R  have now (made 2 race)  I'll try to score another one soon.

[motoracer8]

I've had ringing in my ears for the past 35 years, I raced motorcycles as a pro in the 60s, and 70s, I was in a rock n roll band for 15 years, and worked off and on as a machinest most of my life, all noisy enviroments, and now my hearing suffers. Now to preserve what hearing I have left I always wear ear plugs when riding a motorcycle. I use a pair of ear muffs when working around noisy machine tools, And I still play my Guitars from time to time, but not nearly as loud as I use to. I don't have to wear hearing aids yet but many of my friends from the music business, or that have been around motorcycles for a long time, or the machine shop business, do. Tinitus does not go away, protect your ears from the wind noise, you may want to have a normal conversation with someone some day.

  Ken G.

[Coil Coyle]

Currently, I always wear foam plugs, especially in full face helmets. I started wearing them way to late.

      I've got paperwork to prove that. You can see the sonogram graph drop right where my right ear rings and then there is no hearing above that.

      I had a 426 cubic inch White Industrial engine with a straight pipe working away 10 + hours a day four feet from my right ear for many years of my youth. Dropping drill pipe on the left side did the other ear; it doesn't ring any more, or hear very well.

Wear them is my advice.

$0.02
;)
Coil

[supervision]

 Ear plugs rock, they make my top end sound better, too. 

[jasonm.]

I wear ear plugs on 90% of my rides on the Vision. My Venture has the luxury of a big windshield. And the noise levels are quite low. Funny thing. The Venture is quietest at rediculous speeds. When the air goes completely around your body and head. And the only thing you hear is the humm of 80+ft/lbs at WFO. At slower speeds(below55) you hear everthing mechanical.55-70 a mix of wind and mechanics. Above 80 a pleasant hummm with a just a little wind. So 75 is my cruising speed.