If you don't like it, or can't live with it, let it go. It's not worth stressing over.


Be aware though. Ducats can sound like a bag of marbles is hiding under the seat. BMW boxer twins too. Mine does. BMW boxers also have clunky shifting. It's common to bikes with high torque at low RPM.

 

Diavel is going down on my shopping list.
I felt BMW boxer shifts were one of the best out there. Maybe it's only for new (

 

Just back from 2 hour riding. Such a nice bike: nimble, powerful, and gorgeous.
No matter I add another horse in my stash or not, I am going to miss her if I get rid of her so soon.

Can anyone suggest me a list of things I should try to reduce valve train noise? I think mine has really loud noise. I will see if I can upload a video later. These are couple suggested already.
- Use mineral engine oil
- Stage 1 upgrade
- Else?

 

Upgrades aren't going to reduce the noise. The noise will remain the same. You will be masking the noise with louder pipes and maybe more intake noise (but prob not by much). Not sure if Dino oil will make a difference, but if others say so... I honestly would live with the noise rather then use conventional oil and lose the benefits of syn. Esp. On a, hot, air cooled motor.

 

I luckily get to expand my hobby of owning and riding my own HD to doing side work on other peoples bikes. I won't expand further but I have been a professional mechanic for 31 years. I hate to discuss oil on this or any forum because it's like discussing who makes the best beer and that line of discussion goes downhill quickly. I have customers that ask me to install their favorite brand of synthetic oil in their bikes, and I do only after explaining to them that the engine will make more valve train noise guaranteed. Some folks accept this and want to proceed, and never say a word. Some proceed and soon after ask me to drain the oil and replace with Dino oil. Some listen to me from the get go and never have a complaint, and surely don't have any oil related failures.

I also happen to work on aircraft of all types. Back in the 1980's Mobil oil introduced a synthetic Mobil AV1 oil for air cooled piston aircraft. It was a huge failure and caused massive issues with these engines. Now an HD is not going to have massive issues with syn oil, but it is exactly the same architecture as an aircraft piston engine. Those things are flying thru the sky and ALL have mineral oil in them. Turbines use synthetic but that isn't even the same discussion.

As far as synthetic in your primary. Understand that HD still hasn't completely cured the SE type compensator wear issues on the 2010+ bikes, even with the improved 2014 SE compensator like your bike has. What is well documented on Harley Tech Talk (HTT, a site of vast technical knowledge of HD products) is that the best GENERAL results for overall clutch activation and compensator wear have surprisingly come from using HD Formula + primary / gearbox oil. This is mineral oil and it does a damn fine job with a stock clutch.

Trust me I love synthetic oil, but not in a HD engine or primary. The best luck I've had engine wise for twin cams is whatever 20/50 is on sale at Walmart.

There is an old adage in mechanics. Something's wrong with a machine: ok, did you recently do anything to that machine? Answer is yes. Then go back and reevaluate the last thing you did to that machine. The problem is almost always found there!

You swapped out all the oils on your bike for synthetics. You adjusted your clutch rod adjuster. You have ticking noise and a clunk transmission. I'd back up a bit and address those issues before proceeding further.



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Thank you for your informative reply.
I had ticking noise and a clunk transmission, I brought in my bike to the dealer, and they said everything is normal. I did internet search, many people were saying good things about RedLine hole specific oils and clutch adjustment, so I did. I feel like there was a little bit improvement ( = less noise ) but I cannot quantify. Still there to my uncomfort level (to me, maybe not to many others). Nothing is worse. Just slightly better.

Swapping synthetic oils back to mineral is something cheap and quick, much cheaper than trading the bike. So I might try this for the next couple of days.

 

I mostly ride with FF helmet. Only when I'm riding without it do notice some of the other noises associated with a Harley.

It's a motorcycle with the engine basically between your legs so you're gonna notice that stuff more. If you actually drove your car the same way you be amazed at the noises you would hear. LOL.

I started out on metric bikes cuz it was all I could afford and they had their own quirks too. Yes, there are quieter motorcycles out there but they will never have coolness factor or resale value of a Harley Davidson.

 

Quoted for truth. Let's think about this......if HD's are the piles of all the other brand riders say they are then why do they hold their value so well when the value of thier bikes drop like stones in a pond???

Harley's make glorious and raw drivetrain noise. It's part of the charm. Either you embrace it or you walk away.

 

for a mear 10 to 15 bucks get a qt. of the redline shock proof and put in your tranny and it will help a good bit. Drain the old out and put in the redline I think it only holds either 22 or 24 oz Where it wont totally eliminate the clunk but it will get rid of most of it. It did for me. I have run it in my bikes for atleast 10 years now. I have a 07 FXDL and have had no tranny troubles so far.And it shifts smooth as glass

 

I notice SE slip-on from your bike. Air cleaner looks different too. Have you done stage 1 to your Low Rider? How do you like it?