Help, my Wee is making noise

[Dr Psyko]

I've had pieces of bikes get a little loose, and if the wind and engine vibrations are right, can set up harmonic frequencies. A vague hum, whistle, buzzing sound. Almost melodic (maybe it was the coffee and lack of sleep). My old harley had a bad vibration that turned out to be a bearing on the crankshaft. It was rpm dependent (clue), but intermittent. With an engine load it was gone, but coming off throttle was more noticable.

[Lonesome Dave]

My old harley had a bad vibration that turned out to be a bearing on the crankshaft.

Lets not have anymore talk about engine problems!

Hank, I checked out the stormtropper.com link.  It certainly sounds (no pun intended) like my problem. 

Tonight I removed the calipers from the front wheel and gave it a spin.  I could hear a very slight noise / squeak as it rotated.  I removed the wheel and felt the bearings.  At first there seemed to be a slight catch.  I then tried rotating it on my wheel balancer.  Seemed fine.  Put it on and off numerous times, and now the bearings seem okay.  I'm going to have Gage (MX Connection) check the bearings tomorrow.  At this point, I don't think the bearings are bad, but the speed senor appeared to be the source of the slight noise.  I cleaned it up and would simply have tried it, but not sure if I need special grease or not.  The sensor is basically a circular magnet rotating around the axis of the axle, with a stationary pickup coil secured to the fork with the axle bolt. 

To be continued....... 

[Hank]

Yeah I thought that sensor sounded like the deal too after reading the description.   I would think plain jane lithium or wheel bearing grease would be A-OK.

[Lonesome Dave]

Hank buddy your the man!!    That link did the trick.

Checked with Gage today, he didn't think the bearings were bad either.  Gage thought a light coating of chassis type grease (not moly type) would work fine.  And it worked!  Went for a very short ride, all was quiet, if that's possible at 60mph.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, especially GreatBuffalo.  Dan your heartfelt concern was almost overwhelming, it gave me the inspiration to continue on.   

Thanks guys

[Hank]

Awesome!

[greatbuffalo]

Crowd problem solving works again. Glad I could be of service.