So I bought my bike in the winter, and today was only the second ride on it. I noticed a loud whining type noise and at first I thought it was the wind coming over the fairing. But after letting off the throttle I heard the noise go away. After stopping I found I could hear the noise from around 1500-2500 rpms even with the bike in neutral, and from the best I could tell it sounds like the transmission area. I found a bolt on the chrome transmission cover that wasn't all the way installed (and I couldn't get it to budge), but that was the only thing I found.

My bike only has 30 miles on it, and like I said it was only my second ride on the bike. I will take it to Black Hills Harley Davidson in the morning and hopefully they can look at it today. Has anyone else heard any noises like this before?

EDIT: after taking a ride for some lunch, I just noticed that the noise goes away as soon as I pull the clutch in. Hopefully that will help them fix it quicker.

 

They are probably going to tell you to ride it and get it broken in a little bit... Unless it sounds really bad I wouldn't worry about it too much. There lots of bearings and gears that need to get broken in.

Besides it's under warranty if something should fail later.

 

Unfortunately it wasn't making the noise when I took it to the dealer this morning, so they didn't find anything wrong. The noise was pretty loud when I originally heard it, enough that I could hear it over the radio and wind while doing 65 on the highway. I heard it on all three rides I took yesterday, but not once on the three rides today. Maybe the gremlin is gone.

I can't say enough good things about Black Hills Harley Davidson in Rapid City though. I didn't buy my bike there and they treated me like I had. Checked all of my fluids, pulled the primary cover, and did a full inspection on the bike. They definitely have customer service down.