what are symptoms of a bad lower bearing?

 

. . . how about this: What symptoms are YOU having?

 

What bearing are you talking about?

Do you mean lower engine bearing such as the main bearing?
If so, the oil light flickering or coming on. a knock that knocks several times when you first start the bike, the bike may run hotter than normal and once it is hot, will knock at the upper rpms.

 

See, I thought he was talknig about fork bearings.

 

ya, I wasnt sure either. It could be any bearing.. Definately need some clarification on this one.

 

sorry, i meant lower main/crankshaft bearings. the first reply asked for my symptoms but it's such a hard set of symptoms to describe i opted to leave that out at first. as best as i can describe there are 3 things that i can put into words:
1: seemingly excessive whole-bike vibration over the entire rpm range. yes, it's a 929, yes it's going to vibrate almost to the point your hands go numb after a few hours. still, it doesn't feel right.
2: at idle there is a random "kick," almost as if someone is taking a hard-rubber mallet and thwacking the bike. it is totally random, but relatively frequent several in a 30 sec period.
3: at speed (~6k rpm) it feels like a "rolling rattle," and the best way i can describe this would be to imagine 4 bad links grouped together in your drive chain, so that every rotation around the engine sprocket you feel this little rattle. this happens at a frequency of ~1 per 5 seconds. (it's not the chain i can pull in the clutch and it goes away)

again, this is the best i can describe what i feel, so take it with a grain of salt...

i hope to sync the starter valves next week (doubt that will resolve anything) and hopefully get a compression test done while she's open.

any input/tests/ideas will be appreciated.

 

I have two out of the three symptoms that you described. Mine is a 01 929rr w/ 13,300 on it. The vibration is there, symptom #1 Sometimes it is so bad the pegs and gas tank resonate from the vibration.
I also can relate to symptom #2 the random kick or surge, when bike is first started cold. It will actually make an internal knock and idle will surge for a milli second. It will do it in succession randomly.
I actually changed all the plugs to Denso irdiums, Changed the air filter w/ a oem, changed CCT, replaced fuel filter oem, and bought the carbtune sync tool and did the starter valve sync, with no change. Looks if we both rowing our boats with one oar.

 

damn. Trajiks9 have you done a compression test? maybe we're lucky and it's some bad rings or stuck valves? i REALLY don't want to split the cases this winter...

 

Packdog,
No I did not do a compression test as of yet. I spoke to alot of different people and they say not to worry about it. If the bike is not burning oil, consuming xtra amounts of gas, and has power not to worry. Like you said in the above post definately something is not right at least that's how I feel also. I also asked a mechanic at my local honda powerhouse and he said it's normal for these bikes to do this, I'm not convinced though.
Are you able to ride your bike at this point or is it grounded? If so what part of Mass. do you live in? My buddies and I are planning on a Norhtern NH ride on the Kancamagus Highway this Sunday weather permitting. I hope someone chims in w/ a good response. Best of Luck

 

Check the oil filter, and oil screen if you have one. If you find metal that's large and round it is bearing... if you find black gritty stuff it is cam chain guide - Small bits of metal can be anything