Wednesday, November 16, 2011

A Harley SHOULD Thump when it idles...

I myself prefer the thumping noise coming out of the pipes. Now truthfully, with a Twin Cam, the Harley Thump doesn't really exist. That great sound went with the last produced Knucklehead.

But as I pulled up to a stop at a light Monday night I noticed a distinctive thumping noise come from the bike, annoyingly thoug,h it was accompanied by a chirping sound. Moving my head back and forth I could determine the noise was definitely coming from the back of the bike, (much better than the engine area), and it was from the left side.

The first thought that I had was, that of the impact I had with the other bike on the highway may have caused it. I had not thought to look past the cosmetic aspects of the hit. Could the bag mounts be cracked, maybe the support bar bent, or simply the bag mis-aligned. Today I took the bike to work, as is normal, pulled inside and checked the bag. The bag was mounted firm and was not integrally damaged. I removed the bag and checked the exhaust. Correct me if I am wrong but the rear pipe should not slide back and forth on it's mount. The hardware was tight but the bracket tracked in the rubber insulation mount.

So I did what anyone would do, I sent someone else to Harley for the replacement part. About $4.00 later the new rubber was installed and the exhaust secured. The original rubber mount had a small tear in it's side, I can't say it was from the hit because there are no marks on the exhaust, but Coincidence?

klay

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