Mechanical Quirks - The Dreaded Vulcan Tick.

One of the quirks I’ve experienced with my Vulcan is the dreaded Vulcan ‘tick’. This is the clicking noise that comes from the engine when the bike is started and idled cold. Once it warms to operating temperature, the ‘tick’ disappears. When this first happened to me, I changed the oil and to see if it would disappear, since it started shortly after the first oil change. It didn’t, so I took it to a dealer. The mechanic told me the valves were out of adjustment and that I needed to leave it so he could take care of it. I told him that it has automatically adjusting valves and that couldn’t be it. He gave me that “Oh, I guess I’m not going to fool you look,” and then said he didn’t know what it was. I went on the forum at the Vulcan Riders and Owners Club and found out this ‘tick’ is common. The apparent problem is with the Automatic Cam Chain Tensioners. Wouldn’t you know it, just as I’m building up some mileage on mine, (I’m up to 12,000 miles.) the tick appears to have stopped. It’s due for an oil change now so I’m going to use synthetic oil (Royal Purple, Amsoil or Mobil One) and see if the ‘tick’ stays away or returns. More news later.