It's not only limited to touring models. My softail has the clatter. Never have heard the whine but would not care about that one. Really hate the clatter though. In my case, if I run the shift points up and don't give the engine a chance to lug, I will never hear it. It is however a pain in the *** to always have to be up in rpms in such a long stroke engine. Goes against nature somewhat.
Ron

 

Makes ya feel like your riding a crotch rocket with the RPM's wound up like that. I know I've heard about other models making the clatter noise, butthe clatter isprobably not as noticeable without all that faring work the touring bikes have, especially the Ultra Clatters. Whatall the 96's have in common is a poorly designed compensator, and chain tensioner, as well as poor engine tuning.

 

The ironey of this whole situation is when the bike is cold there is no noise to speak of so you would think all the great brain trust at HD could narrow the cause of this noise problem down to what makes the noise when temp increases and then come up with a simple fix...
Still waiting and getting more frustrated everyday.

 

Don't worry all, they'll improve the system...it may take awhile though! It's too competitive out there. They can't afford to ignore it!!

 

That's the way my Ultra Clatter is, runs great until things warm up and then all hell breaks loose, e.g. primary clatter, vibration, no neutral, extreme valve train noise (lifters tapping), overheating. Typically, when noise/s gets worse with increasedheat there is a clearance problem. Checking piston to cylinder clearance is a good start with these 07's. I can't wait until someone disassembles one of these things and starts checking clearances. Nothing can run this hot and make this much noise and stay together for any length of time.

 

Same here..Bike is great until it gets good and warm them the clatter starts and it gets worse as the bike gets warmer.

 

Good luck with them "comming around". Until someone or something forces them to own up to the problems they will ignore them. In the Corporate bylaws in most corporations EVERYTHING comes second to profit and shareholder value. The corporate machine's only purpose is to make money....period.

 

Well said and point well taken. It's the all american dollar that talks these days, no more mister nice guy companies, i.e.get their money and move on and forget about the customers, just make a good speach when dissatisfiedcustomers call customer service, that'sthe big corpoartion moto these days.But from the looks ofMOCO's stocks this negative publicity may betaking effect on their profit. When somethingadverselyeffects their hip pockets they'llwake up, and correct this mess.Honda's frame issue took an accident to wake them up, probably will take the same for MOCO.

 

I have the same issue with the RKC. Until it is well warmed up, it's wonderfull to ride but after about 15-20 minutes, the noises start. It leads me to believe that anyone stating that theirs does not have the noise either isn't getting it hot enough or doesn't hear the noises others hear for some reasons.

I have spoken at length to a few potential customers at the dealer looking at baggers and explained this to them that they will not hear anything untill it is warmed up. They were wondering if the dealer would allow them to take it far enough to get it hot on a test ride. I can only imagine what their answer would be there.

All we can do here is to discourage sales to customers and maybe they will see the bottom line profit and do something about the noises.

 

PROFIT...Thank god for that! It keeps me and many others in this country and throughout the world employed! Like I said, the MOCO will improve the drivetrain, give them time.