Front wheel bearing noise?

[peterbaron]

I'm still somewhat new to motorcycles specifically, and don't have access to advice besides what I find on the forums so any help is appreciated.

My 2014 CB1100 (20,000 miles) developed a high pitch whining noise in the front after its sit over the winter. I did have the front tire off to put gaitors on but reassembled it according to the manual. Even realigned the axle twice to verify I didn't mess it up. (The part where you move the forks up and down before tightening the pinch bolts.) And greased the axle.

I feel like its a bad wheel bearing, but the thing is it ONLY happens at ~60mph. If I cruise at 50mph, quiet, if I cruise at 65 it goes quiet again. But at 60 MPH regardless of gear/rpm it makes this noise. Also hitting the front brake doesn't seem to make a difference either. Any ideas? I've put over 100 miles on it so far with this new noise thinking it might work its way out but still whining.

Thanks for the help!
Colin

Based on this info is less likely that your noise comes from a wheel bearing.
Usualy a bad wheel bearing produces a grinding, growling, or humming noise that increases with speed and may worsen when turning.
Piched-whine noise are more associated with gears i.e transmission or pinion-crown gears which usually increases with the speed or load.

1. When the front wheel is off the ground, does it have excessive radial/side-to-sidel play?
2. If the noise is loud at 60 mph, as stated, does the noise change when cornering left or right?
3. With the front wheel off the ground put your hand on the front axle/lower fork tube, spin the front wheel as fast as you can, do you feel any grinding, growling or humming?

I had a car in the shop and the owner complained about a wheel bearing noise that we were unable to reproduce during our road test. After three days and while driving on the highway, the noise was loud and replacing the wheel bearing was a permanent solution. Based on this example, periodic bearing noise is difficult to diagnose, but it does not happen often.