Hey up I've just got my self a 2009 blade love the bike, it's done 4600 miles and has just had a service today, now it maybe just me but the engine sounds quite noisy.... When it's ticking over and blipping the throttle it sounds, dare I say it almost sort of rattley ..... The bike is mint and rides superbly, was just surprised it wasn't smoother sounding..... Can anyone let me know if this is normal ..... Cheers
I have a 2010 blade with 8k miles and mine sounds the same, almost rattley especially when doing town speeds and on decel. my 600rr did it too. just a characteristic of the bike i guess.
Yep they all seem to make noises of some kind. i think honda got some tips off ducati for the 08+ engines
Mines got a rattle that comes and goes, hasnt done it for some time but by chance started agaon today when I was at Arthur's. Cam tensioner is the suspected culprit. Doesn't sound that rattley to me when it's not doing it. How louds the rattle?
It's not mental loud or is anything to make me think there's any issues just surprised at the kind of rattley metaly noise the engine makes, from what you guys have said it sounds like there all like it which is fine if that's the case ;-)
My 2012 definitely has more of a rattle about it than my 600RR (2011) was (Although I had an akropovic on the 600 so it could have been masked . However so was the demo bike I took out that only had 480 miles on it. I did notice that after picking it up from it's first service this afternoon that it was a bit quieter... Not oil level, I checked that several time (Looks like I got a good one. No oil usage in first 600 miles). I just attribute the sound to a larger cylinder (More power == more noise etc)... The 600 only has 150CC per cylinder. That's dead quiet. The 1000 being 250CC per is more like the diff between an XR185 and an XR250... H
It was the first thing I noticed when I started up the demo bike on my first test ride and my brand new 2012 was the same. Was, like you I guess, initially expecting Honda creaminess but that rorty rattly edge is part of the blade's character. Feels a bit like you've sat on an old school race bike.
Must admit, although mine is noisier at idle... And when you open the throttle it has a lovely growl to it, when moving it's so silent you can hear that lovely singing sound you get when everything is just right... I do wear ear plugs though...
Mine is a 2011 model and is rattley when idling when the engine is hot. At least some of the rattling is caused by backlash in the gears of the balance shaft drive which is a direct drive off the crankshaft, and it is worse at idle because the crankshaft rotates in a jerky motion when idling due to low flywheel weight. The backlash is adjustable and mine was way out from day 1, and adjusting it made a big difference to the noise. Also running a low viscosity oil probably doesn't help but we're stuck with that.
