I've read some posts about 5.th gear, what indications do I get if there is something wrong?
Now.. my 5.th gear gives me some jumpy movement when cruising at 60km/h, can't remember I had this on my Suzuki DR600 (in 1994).
Does there exist some "sound checklist", I'm not that familiar with engine-sounds, or their bad signs ?
Would be great with mp3 files with the sound of badly adjusted exhaust valves, sounds of different types of worn down ball bearings or other sounds.
Could be nice with an archive of bad engine sounds (and a reference).
(I'm struggling with my English here..puhh)
5.th gear and engine sounds
- Mezo
- Dashingly Handsome

- Posts: 6108
- Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:01 am
- What Bike or Bikes Do You Own?: Kymco agility 125 ;-)
- Previously Owned Bikes: Honda SS50, Suzuki TS50, Honda CB100, Honda CR125RZ, Yamaha YZ125, Kawasaki KX250, Suzuki TL1000S, Ducati 900SS, Ducati 900SL, a few Tenere`s.
- Location: Queensland Australia
- Contact:
Re: 5.th gear and engine sounds
If you go to youtube & search xt600 engine noise there are some results there,
but its difficult to record a moving bike (5th gear) sound.
Mezo.
but its difficult to record a moving bike (5th gear) sound.
Mezo.
"A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion"
-
metropolis2k
- No Gold Stars Yet

- Posts: 47
- Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:47 am
- What Bike or Bikes Do You Own?: BMW R1150GS
Yamaha XT600Z 55W - Previously Owned Bikes: Kawasaki ER-6
- Location: London
Re: 5.th gear and engine sounds
I can't help with any tips as to what is a good sound or not, or any indications of the degradation of 5th gear. To be honest the easiest this is probably just to open up the gearbox and have a look. The gearbox on mine looked in very good condition so I was happy enough with that.
To kick off your 'library of XT sounds' here's mine. Couldn't tell you whether it's healthy or not but it runs and rides fine!
[youtube]9BBLPJAgLDY[/youtube]
To kick off your 'library of XT sounds' here's mine. Couldn't tell you whether it's healthy or not but it runs and rides fine!
[youtube]9BBLPJAgLDY[/youtube]
Re: 5.th gear and engine sounds
I think it might be a little difficult to diagnose this relatively common problem with sound. I have seen a number of 5th gears with this problem (Action man has a "musseum" of these) Very easy to see.
If you were thinking of riding to Vladivostock and wanted to ensure you didnt have catastrophic failure
I would look inside. Do you know howmany km.s the bike has done? and what sort of km's they were? Long high speed rides in top gear with a decent load will bring it on.
- Jimmie
- On the ladder

- Posts: 106
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2011 10:20 am
- What Bike or Bikes Do You Own?: '85 Yamaha XT600Z
'93 Suzuki GSX600F - Location: Copenhagen, Denmark.
Re: 5.th gear and engine sounds
I'd say go down a gear or two if you're riding at about 60km/h, 5th is too high. Hence the you can "feel" the power strokes as a sort of jumpy movement.Troxx wrote:I've read some posts about 5.th gear, what indications do I get if there is something wrong?
Now.. my 5.th gear gives me some jumpy movement when cruising at 60km/h, can't remember I had this on my Suzuki DR600 (in 1994).
(I'm struggling with my English here..puhh)
Short shifting is probably the easiest way to kill the gearbox, a bit of rev's wont hurt anything but fuel economy.
Dit engelsk er da udmærket, og hvis det skulle være så er der nok et par stykker her inde der taler et skandinavisk sprog og kan hjælpe med oversættelse både den ene og den anden vej. Jeg er selv ikke særlig skarp til at skrive norsk, men jeg håber (og regner lidt med) at du kan læse dansk og/eller svensk.
- Troxx
- No Gold Stars Yet

- Posts: 33
- Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2012 2:58 pm
- What Bike or Bikes Do You Own?: Yamaha XT 600E - 4PT (1998-mod).
- Previously Owned Bikes: Yamaha XT600Z - 34L (Tenere) 1983-mod.
Suzuki DR600 (1986-mod.) - Location: Ålesund, Norway
- Contact:
Re: 5.th gear and engine sounds
I think jimmie is right about 60km/h and 5.th gear: yes I can feel the strokes... (question was asked some time ago, so I've got more feel for the bikes nature now). I think my 5.th gear is ok, btw milage: 53000km.
Thanks to metropolis2k for video with audio :-)
Just wait some time and I'll capture and publish some seconds of my bike sound.
(Jimmie: jag tok dit kommentar om mit engelsk som et kompliment, men det ar fortfarande en krevjande prosess at skriva engelsk för mej. Ang. dit norska så ar nok den mer hullat enn dit engelsk :-) men forfarande fullt forståeligt, godt forsök på norsk forresten. Du har inte "ord fel" i dit norsk, men stavefel, det er helst ordfelene i engelsk jag frykter. Tager jag fel nu jimmie.. Ni ar da dansk?).
Thanks to metropolis2k for video with audio :-)
Just wait some time and I'll capture and publish some seconds of my bike sound.
(Jimmie: jag tok dit kommentar om mit engelsk som et kompliment, men det ar fortfarande en krevjande prosess at skriva engelsk för mej. Ang. dit norska så ar nok den mer hullat enn dit engelsk :-) men forfarande fullt forståeligt, godt forsök på norsk forresten. Du har inte "ord fel" i dit norsk, men stavefel, det er helst ordfelene i engelsk jag frykter. Tager jag fel nu jimmie.. Ni ar da dansk?).
- Retro Rider
- No Gold Stars Yet

- Posts: 1
- Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:14 am
- What Bike or Bikes Do You Own?: xt 500 '79
xt 600 z '83 - Previously Owned Bikes: tt 600
- Location: Luanda, Angola
Re: 5.th gear and engine sounds
I was doing a long offroad trip through Namibia (5500km) and felt an occasional extra friction type of buzz. This would come and go every now and then at high speed - 120 - 140km/h. I have not looked at it yet (bike in the middle of a build up) but I'm pretty sure that's the 5th gear bearing...
-
marcm
- Halfway there

- Posts: 438
- Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2011 10:46 pm
- What Bike or Bikes Do You Own?: 34l tenere,it 175,rd 350lc,yz 465,250lc,yz 125 g 2 off,
- Previously Owned Bikes: a few...
- Location: UK
Re: 5.th gear and engine sounds
Mine could be heard and felt through the pegs and bars when shifted in to 3rd,4 developed a bit of a snatchiness to it and 5th was slightly noisy,on the return back up through France last November I tried to avoid using 3rd completely by taking some creative lines on roundabouts and keeping speed up,
£300 quid of parts over the winter cured it and I've sort of bonded with the bike now after a trip down to morocco this year so it here to stay now.
£300 quid of parts over the winter cured it and I've sort of bonded with the bike now after a trip down to morocco this year so it here to stay now.
