new owner

[gilles]

I just bought a midnight special 1100\ 1981. I have a big problem when I'm on third gear at about 50 m.p.h, the bike start shaking and rattling. I went to see a mechanic and he can' t find the problem. where should I start?

[randy]

Have the wheels balanced.

HTH

Randy

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Gilles,

Welcome and congrats on your find. I hope you will take the time to search thru the Xsellent info available here, the tech tips especially, like what to look for in buying a used XS and such, and then also search the message base, there are hundreds of threads that don't show in the first page, and your question may have already been asked and answered!?

Okay, now aside from that fine suggestion by Randy about balancing the tires, you'll need to be a bit more specific and analytic in your descriptions and diagnostic techniques, cause YOU're the only one there, and so you have to be very descriptive for us to picture what's happening!!

Rattles can be anything from loose motor mounts, loose muffler /exhaust mounts which can vibrate at certain engine RPMS/ harmonics; the driveshaft ujoint going bad, steering head bearings bad or loosely adjusted, etc..

When you get a symptom, try different gears but same speed, drive train engaged and disengaged/clutch in and out, to see if it still occurs, which can help rule out certain components of the drive train. We want to be helpful, but also would like to NOT steer you in the wrong direction, so the more info the better. Good luck and hope this helps!
T.C.