Some people are experiencing problems with the cam chain tensioner. It manifests itself as an intermittent knocking sound. There are videos of this on u tube. (unfortunately I cant get my computer to copy a link) If you get this issue take it up with Honda and DO NOT accept an explanation "that's normal" or "they all do that". They should know about it. Remember the warranty expires in a year so if you only put like 1500 miles on in that time you might develop the problem after it expires. CRF Only sells a replacement tensioner for $90 which presumably has been redesigned to fix the problem. But I don't know that only speculating. Any further info or experience you may have please post. Thanks!
That's the vid I saw. I think he did another one where he lowsides. And another one where he has 20,000 klicks on the bike and its running good. I put 14,000 miles on my 1982 XL250. It ran perfectly when I sold it just the muffler was worn out. It had the original tires too!
ive got 35,000km on my bike, and at 10,000km i took my engine apart to put in the 305cc big bore. altho my tensioner did not make that noise, i did notice however that when i was putting my cam chain tensioner back in ( dry, no oil) it was getting stuck, just slightly. so perhaps pre-oiling (which is what i did after) would solve this problem. this might also explain why some "new" bikes are making that noise, because the oil hasn't had time to infiltrate the tensioner yet. just my 2 cent.
Mine has a bit of a knocking sound at certain amounts of load (or lack of load) cruising. Gas it and it goes away, let off the gas to decelerate and it goes away. Just shift and run a different RPM and it goes away. Does not sound like in the vid when though, that sounded like a slapping chain to me right off the bat. Idling mine has never made any odd noises. Thought about taking it in but all the Honda dealers (especially the one I got it from) are far enough away that it is a hassle. Shoot I've had brand new cars that ended up needing a repair that was probably covered and I just did it myself to save the hassle of getting it and myself to and from the dealer........ Another option I've found over on the ADVriders forum is this manual tensioner http://www.kriegercamchaintensioners.com/ He makes one for the CRF250L that guys have had good luck with, there is a thread on it over there (I don't happen to have the link dug up though). It is just not listed on his site. I keep thinking I should just get one from him and have it waiting on the shelf for a good day to do it. That "Tokyo Mods" one over at CRFs only is also a manually adjusted one, for 3 times the price. It is nice looking though....
'Blasts from' is about to get tensioner #3 fitted under warranty This does seem odd as having watched a few videos he mostly plods about, and seems to maintain it fastidiously
