Loud rattle in the clutch handgrip area...

[jimmbomb]

hey gang... when I'm riding in any gear at all rev levels... and I take my hand off the handlegrip on the shifter side ...
the thing rattles loud.. a plastic sounding knocking rattle that extends into the headset.
i put pressure back on the grip and it stops ...
has anyone else encountered this??
09 Stella.. very annoying!!!!
and has anyone.heard of a fix for this noise??
thanks for reading.

[double-o-soul]

Seems like it would be easy enough to fix?
First thing I thought of was that the handle itself is too loose... did you try tightening the screw and bolt that holds the handles inside the headset?
If that's not it, unscrew the headset and look inside.
There's a pretty easy tutorial over at vespamaintenance or whatever name it was.

Oh and don't over tighten the handlebar you need it to move

[Robbie]

Although not LOUD, I can hear the same sound under the same circumstances.
If you remove the top cover at the handlebar you will find the throttle tube and shift tube each ride within nylon bushings.
So, it'll become obvious there isn't much you can with that area of free play.
I do however, spray a bit of silicone spray into the bushing area and found it makes the shift and throttle effort considerably less.
Doesn't do much for the rattle though.
At the same time, I re-routed some of the harnesses by disconnecting at their respective connectors and giving the wires a looser path to follow to prevent them from rattling againast the cover.
While doing this, move the headset full right to full left to be certain you are not intruducing a lack of free play situation.
You will note the high beam/horn harness cover jacket slides across part of the casting the shift tube rides within.
After repositioning some of the harnesses I applied a bit of silicone grease to that area so the jacket wont bind on the collar.

Lastly, when you re-install the the cover there is a bit of 'slop' at the screw holes, allowing you to shift the cover slightly to the left or right.
I found that the cover will add to the racket if it is too close to the left or right......try to get at least a matchbook covers worth of clearance on the left while tightening the cover back down.
I also found the throttle grip flange, on mine, touches the cover a bit on the right once I established clearance on the left.
A bit of silicone spray at the rubber flange is all it needed to return freely.

All of this reduced, but will not eliminate the rattle you described......makes it drive nicer though.

Unfortunatly, the somewhat imbalanced nature of a two stroke does reverberate through the entire chassis and as you found out, you end up being the vibration damper as well as the operator, heh, heh.

I don't know if the info is useful, but maybe it'll make it more tolerable.

Good lucl!
Rob

[Robbie]

Although not LOUD, I can hear the same sound under the same circumstances.
If you remove the top cover at the handlebar you will find the throttle tube and shift tube each ride within nylon bushings.
So, it'll become obvious there isn't much you can do with that area of free play.
I do however, spray a bit of silicone spray into the bushing area and found it makes the shift and throttle effort considerably less.
Doesn't do much for the rattle though.
At the same time, I re-routed some of the harnesses by disconnecting at their respective connectors and giving the wires a looser path to follow to prevent them from rattling againast the cover.
While doing this, move the headset full right to full left to be certain you are not intruducing a lack of free play situation.
You will note the high beam/horn harness cover jacket slides across part of the casting the shift tube rides within.
After repositioning some of the harnesses I applied a bit of silicone grease to that area so the jacket wont bind on the collar.

Lastly, when you re-install the the cover there is a bit of 'slop' at the screw holes, allowing you to shift the cover slightly to the left or right.
I found that the cover will add to the racket if it is too close to the left or right......try to get at least a matchbook covers worth of clearance on the left while tightening the cover back down.
I also found the throttle grip flange, on mine, touches the cover a bit on the right once I established clearance on the left.
A bit of silicone spray at the rubber flange is all it needed to return freely.

All of this reduced, but will not eliminate the rattle you described......makes it drive nicer though.

Unfortunatly, the somewhat imbalanced nature of a two stroke does reverberate through the entire chassis and as you found out, you end up being the vibration damper as well as the operator, heh, heh.

I don't know if the info is useful, but maybe it'll make it more tolerable.

Good lucl!
Rob

[jimmbomb]

Thanks for your replies, guyz.... I guess I need go get inside that headset and have a look around..