Bike has been whinning for about three years. Have about 34,000 miles on it now. I
talk to a service manager about it and he said it sounds like main drive gear bearing failure and the cost will probably be around $1400.00 to fix. My question is would I be better off buying a newer transmission

 

I think you would be better off finding out what is causing the whine. Don't just take someone's guess at it. $1400 is a lot for a $50.00 bearing. Try an independent dealer in your area that has been around for a while. Labor rates are usually much better. If it is a main drive gear bearing that is about a 6 hour job. Say they are charging a $100 for the bearing that is still $216.00 an hour labor.

 

When coasting, is the clutch in or out? May just be the primary tensioner... For me when a bearing fails it's more of a grinding sound.. Maybe it messes with the gear lash enough to make the whine??

I'd also check rear belt alignment and tension.. Anyway the fact that it has been doing it for 3 years and not blown up leads me to believe it is something else.. 07 primary tensioners are can have issues.

 

.............07 transmissions are notoriously noisy (NOISY!) - might not be anything wrong at all.

 

IPB gone south due to crappy tensioner?

 

its whines with the speed of the back tire, faster the back tire turns the higher pitch the whine is. Motor on or off, in gear or out of gear.

 

Also the whine seems to be getting louder with more miles on the bike

 

can you raise the bike and spin the wheels?
Rule-out wheel bearing

 

While the main drive gear bearing's speed is dependent on the rear wheel I would be more inclined to look at the drive belt and rear tire.. Older Dumbflops can make noise.. I'd bet it's the belt / belt alignment.. Make sure it is tracking so that it is not rubbing one side of the rear pulley hard.. You might want to check tension.

 

look at what kind of tire it is ...when they get the flat track from riding straight up so long ,the small edges of the tread will cause a whine also , the flatter the tire , the more the whine..