Ok, so I'm back, sorta.

Only rode 2 days last year, following my down the same day as Little Horse. Leg still has scar tissue, still gets tight.

Rode the Hawk 2 days last year. The second day, it decided to shut down while riding. I was cruising on the interstate at about 75MPH (15/43 gearing), so not racing it.

Now it has a tapping sound in the front cylinder.

Bike is a 2000, has 42K on it, has not had the valves inspected/adjusted (not sure if that matters)

I've checked the MCCTs, they are good.

Any help is appreciated.

Erik

BTW, I read the Shithawk thread, I miss riding my SuperHawk.

 

Well the "ticking sound" in my Shithawk (I'm the one who bought it) was the cct comming out and first the chain slacking, then the valves bending, then the cam loab smacking the lifter being there was huge valve gap! If yours has the MCCT's then I wouldn't think it would be the same issue unless something really went wrong internally. I'd pull the valve cover and check the clearances. That'll give you an idea if it's serious or not.

 

It just shut down while you were riding? Did it start back up? Do you remember any noises when it shut down? Sounds like something electrical... does it run strange aside from the tappa tappa?

 

Take a piece of ~1/4" tubing ~2 ft long. Put one end at your ear and the other end near the exhaust flange on the front head. Listen for an exhaust leak.

 

Also check where your pipes connect to the header, I had a tapping sound I thought was from my front cylinder but it ended up brig an exhaust leak.

 

RCVT and aja, thanks for the advice, I'll have to try that.

It idles fines. It will run up the RPMs, but somewhere near 4k, it makes a consistent tapping sound, not at idle at all.

When it shut down, it just started losing power. I pulled over and called for a ride.

My friend has been busy, and I have no money to take it to the shop. So it's just waiting.

 

If it sat for that long you might want to also listen to the carbs. It would fit with the bike loosing power that they are gummed up and you could have a slide sticking.

Also the noise starting at 4K kind of points to it also as that is right around when the slides really start working.

I didn't need to do my first valve adjustment until almost 60K but you might want to check them just to be on the safe side.