Front end knocking 2007 VFR

[Captamerica]

I'm riding a 2007 ABS VFR and when I hit the brakes it makes a knocking sound in the forks/triple clamp area. It makes me think something is loose and the front end is flexing. It's not but it makes think that is what it is doing. It's just a bit un-nerving. My 5th gen didn't make this noise and I've had it into the dealer and they say it's normal on the 6th gen bikes. The bike rides fine. I've ridden 2500 miles in about 2 1/2 months and I haven't had any problems. The only suggestion I have had is to lighten the pre-load.

Any thoughts?

[SLOav8r]

It's your head bearings, stop doing wheelies.

[jasonsmith]

Knocking on the front end is not, I repeat not, normal on the 6th gen. Are you sure it's not your brakes? You can try and to a few hard stops in succession and see if it clears it, however if something is going wrong down there...

Does the knocking rate change with the speed of the bike? Does it correspond to the bumps in the roads?

Sometimes I get a noise but it's the brake pads 100%. After another stop the noise goes away. I wouldn't say the noise is a knocking though, more of a rubbing or scuffing. I am under the impression that the brake issue goes away after some time.

[Captamerica]

This noise only happens when I hit bigger bumps or if I hit the front brakes, and it's definitely not from doing wheelies. It is definitely a knock or a clunk, as opposed to typical brake noise, rubbing, scuffing etc. Here you go you'll love this...you hit the brakes and you get KA DUNK, you let off and hit them again, KA DUNK...don't you just love the sound descriptions.

[XXFirefighter]

Still sounds like head bearings...
DO you wash your bike with water ?

With the bike shut off, sit on the bike put it in Neutral. Apply the front brake so it's locked. Rock the bike forward and back like your trying to "test" the suspension. If you hear knocking from up top, it's your steering bearings.

[Captamerica]

Well when the bike is stopped and the brakes are applied and I don't get the noise or feel the slop as if the steering head bearings are bad. Also, I do wash the bike with water, but it's not quite 3 months old.

[kia001]

Either one of two things:
1) steering head bearings knocking on the race due to excessive clearance.
or
2) left front caliper has the linked braking pressure cylinder which pressurises the rear brake system when you brake. The rotational force of the rotor moves the left front caliper in a semi-arc which in turn compresses the brake fluid into the rear serving lines. If you brake bard enough OR if there is air in that secondary cylinder, then it will rotate forward and clunk when the piston bottoms out.

I'd say option one more likely.

[eddievalleytrailer]

You'll have to lift the front end off the ground to get a good feel for what's going on. You might put it up on the center stand and have a (heavy) helper sit way back on the seat to lift the front wheel off the ground. Give the front wheel a good shake to feel any slop in the bearings. It might be worth a trip to the dealer and have a mechanic ride it. Still under warranty?

[Gears]

Try something simple first, make sure the bolts on your front fender are tight.

[benjammer]

I'm with Jasonsmith on this one...I've got a '07 and NO noise up front.

[speedstreetz]

haha WOW i had the same problem on my 05... scarred the shit outta me... it was my plastic key chain... check it...

[Captamerica]

Ok, the fender bolts are tight. Yes, it is under warranty and the dealer where I bought the bike has looked at it and they are the ones that told me that the noise is inherent in the 6th gen, which is why I never heard it in my 5th gen.

[eddievalleytrailer]

Ok, the fender bolts are tight. Yes, it is under warranty and the dealer where I bought the bike has looked at it and they are the ones that told me that the noise is inherent in the 6th gen, which is why I never heard it in my 5th gen.

Sounds like you need a different dealer, and report them to Honda Customer Service!!!! (like that would do any good). My '07 RWB makes NO NOISE AT ALL from the front end. I haven't heard your noise, but it sounds like your dealer is full of . Have they ridden the bike and heard the noise?
Maybe you could ride another 6gen bike to see if you hear the same noise. I just don't think any front end "clunk" is normal unless it is a key chain or something simple like that.

[Captamerica]

It's definitely not the key chain and I think they are full of it. I doubt they rode it, they said if I lightened the preload that the noise would go away. I could try that but I'm hoping to find other answers first. I need to find "Big3" He lives near me and I think we've met I just don't know his name on here, but he has a 07.

Thanks for the replies

[medyv]

If it's a brand new bike still under warranty, I'd take it back and start bitching big time. The warranty is comprehensive -- there's no reason you should have to even touch a wrench to that bike until it expires, especially when its so new.

If the dealership keeps blowing you off, report them to BAR or whatever agency oversees their business and go elsewhere. They should give you a hell of a better explanation (and fix) than tweaking the suspension.

[Jessiah1]

You said it happens under braking and big bumps, if its not the steering head Im betting on the sudden fork travel. My 2008 brand new forks make an abrupt clunk sorta sound under sudden compression like that. It can sound like something is loose and knocking at times. You may have a case of the new bike phobia I hear something wrong. Maybe not.....but there is a "sucking up a big bump or sudden harsh bump" sound from these suspensions that is close to a "clunk" sound. Thus the comment to loosen up preload which will make the forks intial travel easier and looser which could elminate the sound. Try winding your preload all the way out on the front and go hit some bumps and report back.

[Cyborg]

Go somewhere else, don't tell the new shop about the first until you have the results from the second check and you can compare notes without bias. In any case, your dealer is dangerously full of bullshit...

[vfornicate]

I had similar issue with 1998 VFR800. Dealer found steering head bearings had developed a "notch" if you want to call it that. Doing wheelies a lot would cause it, which I don't do, but Pennsylvania roads have huge frost heaves and expansion bumps in the pavement. That constant hit at high speeds sseemed to have made a dent into the bearing's raceway. With the front end off the ground, see if your steering wants to center itself and stop in a "notch". Also if you try the shaking the forks with the front end in the air, be aware that there is play in the center stand that may be misinterpretted as some sort of steering head bearing movement. I had new steering head bearings put in and solved the problem. The whole issue started with me when I noticed that the bike was handling "sloppy" and couldn't determine what was wrong. It had a real un-nerving feelng in fast turns.

[vfornicate]

I also think your dealer is full of it. That front end should make no noises that could be described as thunks with brake application. Could it be that the bushings on the 2 bolts that hold your left (I believe) caliper on were left out. If they were it would make a lot of rattling noises as well and would certainly clunk with brake application.

[Tonymorr]

I'm riding a 2007 ABS VFR and when I hit the brakes it makes a knocking sound in the forks/triple clamp area. It makes me think something is loose and the front end is flexing. It's not but it makes think that is what it is doing. It's just a bit un-nerving. My 5th gen didn't make this noise and I've had it into the dealer and they say it's normal on the 6th gen bikes. The bike rides fine. I've ridden 2500 miles in about 2 1/2 months and I haven't had any problems. The only suggestion I have had is to lighten the pre-load.

Any thoughts?

I just had a similar problem on my '00 VFR. I'm embarrassed to say that I caused it myself. I'm willing to admit my stupidity if it will help another VFR owner I found my steering head bearings to be slightly loose. I took the top triple off and consulted my Honda manual to see what it said about how tight to make the steering stem nut. It gives a spec for a certain amount of weight needed to move the bars using a scale. I didn't have a scale so I went by feel. Then put everything back together. After doing so I found that I had a knock exactly as you describe. I didn't notice it untill AFTER I left for a 3000 mile trip to Georgia. It knocked on every freakin bump after awhile. Very annoying! I checked things out and didn't find anything loose. How could tightening something make it seem loose? Well, when I go back to town I went over to a buddies house and put it on his lift. "We'll figure it out" he says. "Hmm, I don't see anything loose, WTF" We decided to just take it apart and loock at the stem bearings. He put a wrench to the top triple clamp nut and..........it was loose. Not finger-loose, but not very tight. We torqued it down to 75 lbs I believe. No more knock! I was mortified. I'm usually very thorough when working on things. I was in a hurry getting things ready to go on vacation so I guess I just didn't tighten it. I coulda sworn I did.......

Give yours a check. It's free, it can't hurt!

Signed;
Embarrassed in NY (Tony)

[Captamerica]

Sorry folks for not updating sooner but I've been out of town without internet service. In any case here's the update. I went to Deal's Gap to ride the Dragon. I had loosened the preload and naturally the noise did not go away. Well the closer I got to North Carolina the worse I thought the noise got(probably me being nervous). In any case when I got there and met up with the rest of my group, we put my bike on the center stand and sure enough the front end was loose. You could see it move forward and backward. So the next day I talked with a local who new the dealerships in the area and I called. Amazingly enough they got me in that day(this would never happen where I live). The Honda mechanic looked at the bike for about 15 seconds and said, "Yep, it's loose." He said that the nut under the top bridge was loose and was never tightened correctly when the bike was assembled. He could fix it in about 30 minutes. Now here's the kicker...I had to pay to have it fixed! The dealer said that since it wasn't put together correctly, it wasn't covered under warranty. I was stunned. I called my home dealer, explained it, they asked why it wasn't covered. told them what I was told, they laughed. I told them well I had it in, and you missed it, I'm now in North Carolina, it's bad and I'm upset. So they asked how much, they agreed to reimburse me, I paid, they fixed it and VOILA! no front end clunk. I'm glad they got it in on a moments notice but I'm pretty pissed about having to pay to fix something when the bike is 3 months old...needless to say I'm not done with this yet. Someone is gonna hear about this...

Thanks again for the help and suggestions

[captb]

It was probably adjusted right when it left the factory but one of the bearing races may not have been seated all the way, after a few bumps the bearing race seated then the steering is loose.

[Captamerica]

I suppose that is entirely possible. The dealer blamed the final assembly people, not the factory. Interestingly enough, about 2 weeks later I noticed the clunking was starting again. So I took it back to the dealer where I bought the bike and sure enough it was loose again. They said the first dealer didn't tighten it correctly. After it was tightened this last time it was fine. All in all it was a shame. I lost riding time on vacation because of a mistake, I had to pay money while under warranty(sure I got it back but it shouldn't be that way), and it was in 3 times for the same thing. Not what I expect from Honda and I've had lots of Hondas.

[captb]

Hopefully they're seated now. But I'd rather have them just adjust the bearings rather than have some of the bone heads take my bike apart. If it don't have tapered roller bearings I would do that after you get some miles and out of warrantee. I've had over 20 Honda's and never had a issue till they get over 20k on them as far as adj them to keep a tight feel. I'm putting tapered bearings in my Blackbird now with 38,000 miles originals still looked great but getting loose. I never beat on them as far as wheelies, I loft the front end sometimes on acceleration but it lands smooth

[Captamerica]

I expressed concern about the bearings being warned but as I figured that did me no good. As for tapered bearings that is what I would replace them with when the time comes. Unfortunately at this juncture it is irrelevent. On May 24th, 2009, my daughter was riding with me and we were rearended by a Honda Accord. After flying 70 feet I woke to a motorcycle cop holding my chest so I couldn't get off the ground. Naturally, he didn't want me getting up. Ends up I was life flighted and ended up with a concussion, a broken left collar bone, 4 broken ribs, a broken right hip and a sprained ankle. I spent 18 days in the hospital and my bike was totaled. I'm doing pretty good at this point, I can walk, drive etc. I don't have much pain but I still miss my VFR. Best bike I've had.

[Mark 024]

Hi Captamerica,
Sorry to hear of your off. Hope you and your daughter are ok. I suppose the head bearings dont matter too much now. I have just bought my '98 and is going in for a look over on Friday including front head bearings as I reckon they are clunking. It was interesting reading your experience. Hope you can get aboard again. Best Wishes

[captb]

Wow! That's not good, best wishes for a speedy recovery, was your daughter injured? Probably another idiot texting or talking on the phone.

[Grayghost98]

The sound is coming from the fuel tank float clunking around.

[Scubalong]

I expressed concern about the bearings being warned but as I figured that did me no good. As for tapered bearings that is what I would replace them with when the time comes. Unfortunately at this juncture it is irrelevent. On May 24th, 2009, my daughter was riding with me and we were rearended by a Honda Accord. After flying 70 feet I woke to a motorcycle cop holding my chest so I couldn't get off the ground. Naturally, he didn't want me getting up. Ends up I was life flighted and ended up with a concussion, a broken left collar bone, 4 broken ribs, a broken right hip and a sprained ankle. I spent 18 days in the hospital and my bike was totaled. I'm doing pretty good at this point, I can walk, drive etc. I don't have much pain but I still miss my VFR. Best bike I've had.

You sure have no luck with that bike. I am sorry to hear about you and your dauther. Wish you both well and speedy recovery. Look like you have to get the new VFR 2010 for your replacement

[VIFFER RIDER]

It could also be brake pad knock (pad moves inside the caliper). or maybe even a rotor disc retention washer coming loose allowing rotors to "float" from the hat a little. That is what happened to my buddies Daytona 675.