I have a squeak coming from the rear of the bike and increasing/decreasing with speed (not RPMs). It sounds to me like it's coming from the left (belt side) of the bike.

It's not a squeal, and it's not overly loud really. I can only faintly hear it under normal riding if I put my ear down. But I can hear it when riding next to a car or concrete barrier (something to reflect the sound back).

My first thought was brake drag. But the sound doesn't go away when applying the rear break.

I don't have a jack or a stand yet so I haven't put the rear in the air to spin the wheel and listen. So I was hoping to gather some ideas and do that this weekend.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

Belt/pulley rub, or pulley/belt guard rub most likely...

 

^^^ what he said. Also, check the bolts on the rear pulley and make sure they are tight. Have a riding buddy who had the bolts loosen up and before he caught it, it ruined the pulley and wheel..

 

Belt/Rear wheel alignment.

 

Seems to be the consensus then....

Will check it and let you know

 

The son's 09 NT had a squeak once.. the wrench at the dealership gave him a small can of belt dressing (looked like vasoline) to put very "sparingly" only on the edges "only" of the drive belt..

that fixed his squeaky noise....

 

thanks - i'm going to try and pick up a jack and get it in the air this weekend. I'm hoping it'll be obvious once I get it up

 

Well it was both.

I noticed the belt was running the left edge (looking from the rear) of the sprocket. When I pushed up on the belt right before the sprocket I could hear a light squeak. My guess is with my 200 lbs added on and some speed that was my issue.

So I used this opportunity to buy at belt deflection measurement tool, a wheel alignment tool and a nice new 1/2" drive torque wrench with a big ole' 36mm socket.

First I get the bike level up and measure the wheel alignment from the center of the swing-arm bolt to the center of the axle. The right side was more than 1/2" out of alignment forward from the left. So then comes the "do i move the left forward, or move the right side back?"

So I put the bike back on the jiffy stand and checked the belt deflection as per factory manual and it was within spec. This tells me the right side has to go back because the left side is correct based on the belt tension. I get the bike level again, remove the clip and loosen the axle nut. Start tightening the adjustment bolt on the right turning it about 1/2 a flat at a time and re-checking. A few turns later the right side is now measuring up damn near dead even (even re-measured the left and then right again to confirm).

Once that was done, I re-torqued the rear wheel down (love my new torque wrench) rolled the bike up and down the drive-way, rechecked belt deflection and took it for a ride around the block.

No squeak at all and what I perceived to be a smoother ride (though that may have been in my head). The belt is now running more towards the center of the sprocket as well.

 

Glad you got it sorted.