LOL!...this came up on another decently long post awhile back. I have that same sound once in awhile on my '06. I have no speedo drive due to a Vapor instrument panel replacement. I have freshly serviced bearings, pivot bearings, etc. It does it usually when I'm slowing down, and it does it long enough so that you can apply the brakes to test if it's coming from that area. It's not. It's been doing it for nearly 3 years. It's not ear-splitting noise by any means, but it's noticeable. It's just not always consistent. It has a subtle tea kettle whistle kind of thing going on. I can't get it to do it at all while the bike is raised on a bike stand. Whatever it is, it's obviously not very important or something would have failed by now. It's more of a curiosity now. If it were really consistent or loud, it would bother me.

 

Yeah, it seems like there are few of us. I'm in a period when it is gone, just like that, but it'll for sure come back to annoy me.

 

Probably the wind over fork protector/fender.

 

Me on the 06 and larry0071 (thread starter) on the 09

 

OK, EMS...I see the pics, but I can't for the life of me hear the whistle sound he's talking about.

 

I never heard it either..... lol I think he has a whistling noise in his ear.

 

For the OP, maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, but it seems drilled discs make a whizzing sort of sound under braking, depending on the type and pattern. My Zephyr with double drilled discs makes a really interesting sound. Same I heard on a Suzuki Marauder I rode for a day years ago. I don't get the same sound on my KLX, but the almost random pattern of slotting on it was done to eliminate the whizzing sound the drilled rotors made.

So if your bike has a drilled rotor, which I believe it does, the sound may simply be the sound made by the rotor under braking. I've heard it was the kind of sound made as there were expanding gasses in the holes under the heat and friction of braking, I think I also heard it was due to the sound of the pads dragging on the drilled rotorl regardless, it is likely simply that sound you hear. No big problem though.

Again, I could be right, I could be wrong... but I kind of doubt it.

 

Mark, I can't swear to what everybody else is having, but it sounds pretty similar for most of us. I know the difference between this weird noise and a rotor/pad sound. And, you can gently or forcefully apply the front and rear brakes in an effort to change the noise or get it to stop without no change in the noise at all. It's a funny noise, and I keep going back to the subtle tea kettle whistle...not as loud and shrill but like what it would sound like if you put a silencer on it.

 

Maybe you guys ran over some of the kids in my class... some of them kind of whistle like a tea kettle whenever my back is turned...

 

Actually if it is when putting on the brakes, on my Zephyr it sounds the same no matter how hard the brakes are on, but it is only when the brakes are on. It changes slightly as you slow down, of course, and as said it is on or off with the brakes.

If it happens without I'd be looking at whatever could have that kind of effect having wind blow over the surface, stick a bit of tape on it and see if it quits. I don't know about the 250, but back when drilled discs started being put on OEM, there was some noise issue not related to braking, but related to the hole patterns. That was why Kawasaki went to the irregular pattern of drilled rotors, to cut chances of noise.

But without coming down to Abilene and riding the snot out of your bike in the middle of the winter - which I'd love to do, but cant afford to do - I have no clue.