Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech New Triumph Rider With Questions

Hey guys. Just bought an 04 America from another guy and need some clarification. The engine seems to have a slight ticking in it, sound kinda like valves seating. It doesn't seam that bad, but I just wanted to make sure. Is this normal for these bikes, or do I need to adjust my valve clearance? The guy I bought it from said he already had the dealer do the 12000 mile adjustments and maintenance, but I don't think I can believe that one bit. Its current mileage is 11,800.

Thanks in advanced,

Newbie Aaron

If it makes you feel better, go ahead and pop the cam cover off and check the clearances. But these engines have noisy valvetrains anyway. I'd wager most sewing machines are quieter.

when I had my 12k valve adjustment done the valves were
a bit louder after the adjustment.
I would not be concerned but you could check them yourself.
it is easy.
I just check my friends bike after 33k miles and never had
the valves adjusted, they all checked within spec.
easiest valve adjust I ever did.

My only concern would be that the dealer did the adjustment - and for that, you have no idea what was done, or not. If you want it done right, do it yourself.

That being said, it is an easy check, bit do it with the engine at least 24 hours cold for best results.

These engines do produce a bit of a "tick", but consider that characteristic of the engine. I checked my own at 12k and 24k, and though I hear the "tick", my valves are in spec.

Since these bikes don't have self adjusting valves, a slight ticking is good because quiet valves tend to burn because they aren't closing tight.

Thanks guys. It doesn't (to me) sound bad at all just a tick. Like you said valves do need to seat all the way. I just needed reassurance from people that know this bike.

I'm 22 and I've just started street cruising. I've been in the offroad dirt biking all my life though. This 04 triumph that I got surprisingly turns heads and raises lots of questions.

Thanks for you support.

Aaron

Aaron, it's great to have some youth on a Bonny - this forum is mostly made up of old farts (like me)!

Welcome aboard Aaron.

Where are you from?

Gerry

I live in Missouri. Lots of rolling hills and curvy roads. I grew up in wine country near Herman, MO the I moved to Lees Summit, MO (suburb of Kansas City, MO) for college and now my career. I'm a senior engineering technologist for Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technology.

Most of all I love riding my TBA!!!

and me,I'm so old I fart dust.
Welcome to the site and the world of Triumph.

Personally I would be more concerned if the valve train wasn't making noise. You should also notice a wirring noise too. The jury is still out as to weather thats from the primary , tranny , or timing chain but it to is normal.

Yes the wirring noise that you call it, I describe as kind of a gear whine sounds a lot like a Jetson's Mobile. Yes my TBA has that too.

I took the final stage of baffels out by first breaking the weld around the 1" pipe by wiggling it out. Then I took a 2.5" hole saw and drilled that baby out. I got lucky because 2.5" was perfect for the lip of the baffel that sits on the outside rim of the pipe. It made it a bit louder, and helped drown out that whining and ticking. Might take the next baffel out too, but I'm pretty happy for now.

If you can't fix it drown it out!! Right?

If yopu are opening your pipes and/or doing any air box changes be sure to rejet as not to run lean.

There's only two things I dislike about the Bonny after 5 weeks of ownership: The whirring sound which I think totally sucks, and I can't remember the second thing!

Thats one thing that I've learned real quick with my 2 stroke dirt bike. I've rejetted, rejetted, rejetted, and yeah rejetted. Every little mod I've done involves a rejet. I was hoping that just one baffel wouldn't make me change the jetting but it did open it up a bit.

What is this that I keep hearing about a special tool to balance my carbs? How do I do this?