Engine trouble... awaiting diagnosis

[furious_blue_imp]

I took delivery of my CB at the end of March and now, with just under 1500 miles, the bike is back at the dealer awaiting a diagnosis to my engine noise. I took the bike back to the dealer at ~150, ~400, ~600 (first service), and now at just under 1500 miles, each time telling the service dept lead that there are noises coming from the motor that appeared to be intermittent. Dealer was unable to hear what I had been hearing since I purchased the bike, until Friday when I dropped the bike off after finally being able to localize the noise while parked. To me, the noise appears to be coming from the front, lower engine case right about where the oil cooler lines enter/exit the motor. Anyway, the dealer finally heard what I was hearing and they won't have a diagnosis until next week. I was told they'd be calling Honda to see if there have been any issues with the motor.

I've babied this bike since day-1. Short shifting and varying engine speed below 5k for the first 600 miles. Since the 600 miles service, I've opened it up a bit more, but I haven't hit 7k+ more than once or twice.

At first, either I, or the dealer, attributed the odd noises I heard to helmet vents (Shoei NeoTec) or my 8+ years away from riding. Coming off a 2002 Honda 919 (18k miles in 25 months of ownership), the air-cooled CB1100 was a different sounding bike to what I am accustomed to.

I hope to know more by mid-week.

What kind of noises are you hearing? From where exactly?

It sounds like a rattle or clunking. Also, the valves seemed loud to me since day 1. Again, I attributed that to my unfamiliarity with air-cooled motors. It may be my paranoia that makes me believe the valves are getting noisier as the rattling in the lower engine progressed. I really hope to know something before the end of next week.

ugh.. rattle or clunk from the lower front of the engine.. bearing going bad ? sucks about the downtime. I'll be curious what it turns out to be.