I bought my 02 in early August with only 5600 miles. Now I'm at 72xx and she doesn't feel as smooth as when I first got it. By smooth I mean the way the engine feels. I started to notice this buzzing noise at around 4k RPM. It sounds like intake noise to me and it seems to have started about the same time that the bike started to not feel as smooth. It sounds like someone buzzing a brass horn (for you band nerds, im guilty too) for the others its kinda like a pirate saying ARRRRGGHHHHH only higher pitched. Maybe like a pirate with no *****. However you want to describe it, I notice it on acceleration around 4k and pretty much any where on decel. Is this normal? Is the bike trying to tell me something?

The bike is bone stock except for a TM, windscreen, and steering damper. This weekend I replace the air filter and pushed the intake flapper under the snorkel to see if there would be any difference. No change there.

I did an oil change when I first got the bike. I replaced the filter and filled it to 3.7 qts. This seemed to be to high because it was pretty fair over the line on the sightglass. When replacing the air filter I noticed some oil in the airbox and this screamed to me that the oil was definitely overfilled. I ended up draining quite a bit out of it to get the oil level to the top line on the sightglass. I'm hoping that maybe it was overfilled and there is still some oil in the intake some where. If that is the case hopefully it will work itself out. Could this be my problem?

 

Doubtful, i have been running about 4 1/4 quarts in mine for over 20k miles now (its on one wheel a lot ) and have never had an issue.

 

Believe it or not, but after this post the bike actually felt a bit smoother. Its still not what it was and the intake noise is still there, but it felt a little better. Maybe it was just the rider...