I got a good chuckle out of this comment.

 

With windshield on the engine noise is amplified, pull windshield off and the bike sounds quieter.

 

One thing most folks agree on, if you ride a harley they gona make a racket. Got to love it.
Kinda like what my grama use to tell me about the good book. Some things you just have to trust cause you aint gona understand em.

 

I did this the other day and I noticed the same thing, i have an 2009 RK It was an accident when I did it but, I started it during the fuel pump cycle and there was way less chatter during warmup, once my bike is warm its quiet anyway so there was no difference there. One thing that made a big difference was downloading a richer map once i did that I noticed my lifters and rocker boxes were noticeably quieter, but the startup thing may have to do with the ECU and how it delivers A/F during the fuel pump cycle and after when the engine is first started.

 

It’s valve train noise and it's normal for an air-cooled engines that have loose tolerances for heat expansion.

 

If you're running synthetic oil, switch to conventional with some Lucas stabilizer. My 2007 makes half the noise now that it did when I was running Amsoil.

I'm curious what comments this will bring.

 

My '03 rattles but no where near as bad as the shovel or panheads I had in the past, just a quirk of the Harley, as long as it doesn't change I ride on!