[Yotrepo]

Hey All,

First time poster, long time lurker.  Got a 2013 B5 last year (first bike ever) and am having a blast 16 months and 2,500 miles in.  The bike is my semi-daily commuter and does great bobbing past the meanest drivers in the country, Bostonians in rush hour. 

Bike gets a lot of bumps over bad pavement, but then I think that our roads are nothing compared to India's, and I know that it can take it.  I spent a year there, which is where I fell in love with the Bullet.  Bike has held up well (the electric start is inconsistent but I love kickstarting it anyway). 

The reason I am posting - I've been very good about regular checks and maintenance, but a noise has started to creep a couple weeks ago.  Can anyone help diagnose it?  Check out this video I made.  It is the high pitched squeal/squeak you can hear.  Seems to come from gearbox.

https://vimeo.com/138262952

Disclaimer -  I am a total noob at bikes and not a wrench at all, but enjoying learning.  I have changed the oil on this without issue thanks to all the help here, but have taken it in for anything needing a trained eye (two so far, got a rear tire flat last year and took it in for beginning of season service this year, where I think the only thing they tweaked was to clean the sparkplugs).

Thanks for any and all of your help!

--Peter

[toodles]

Check the bolts holding on your gas tank and your exhaust.  To me it just sounds like something loosened up a bit.  I would invest in some loctite  .

[heloego]

+1.
That sounds like a high-pitched rattle, not a squeal. Very doubtful it's directly related to the UCE.
The one time I heard that on my C5 it was the front axle pinch bolt some idiot (yours truly) hadn't cinched down. 
Definitely check the tank bolts and go over every bit of hardware using a nut and/or washers to make sure.
If not already done, get a tube of blue thread lock from any local hardware or auto store and use use use it.

[Yotrepo]

Thanks everyone.  I will check first thing in the morning.  Hopefully clear it up for some worry free Labor Day riding.  The tarmac is as angry as the drivers, so there's plenty of reason for things to have loosened.   

I'll keep you updated...

[Arizoni]

That rear fuel tank bolt and nut get tightened to a little over 30 lb/ft of torque.  That's quite a lot but that's what the book says.

While your checking it, take a good look at the cylinder head steady. 
It's the metal strap that connects the cylinder head to the bolt that holds the fuel tank.

If that head steady is cracked or broken it might make some noise.
If broken or loose, it will also make the whole motorcycle vibrate worse than it normally does.

[longstrokeclassic]

If the silencer heat shield tang breaks off then the front rolled edge of the shield can vibrate against the header pipe causing a high pitched rattle.

[SteveThackery]

Yep, that is definitely a vibration-induced squeak.

What happens is that the vibrations makes two metal items rub against each other to produce the squeak.  Think, for example, of a silencer not tightened properly onto the downpipe (I'm not suggesting that as the cause - just a way of visualising it).  Basically it tends to happen wherever one part is fastened to another.  Sometimes it's where one part simple rests against another.

Unfortunately this means there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of possible places that this can happen.  I would get someone to hold the throttle for you while you try to home in on it with your keen sense of hearing.

There are some tricks you can use to help eliminate various areas.  When the squeak is squeaking, press with your boot against the silencer (push it firmly inwards towards the wheel).  If the squeak is coming from anywhere on the exhaust system it will make it change or disappear.

Do something similar with the back swing arm, wheel, mudguard, seat, etc.  With the tank, use two hands and lift it firmly upwards.  First the back end, then the front end.  It won't be long before you can home in on the cause (or at lease eliminate significant areas of the bike).

[no bs]

your noise sounds like mine. try the tank mount fasteners and check for improvement.