[mpgo4th]

Hello all and thanks for providing this forum. I have 17 miles on my new 500s and since mile one there has been a light rattle from under the bike on acceleration. It does this in gear or in neutral. It sounds identical to the rattle you hear when an exhaust heat shield is loose and rattling. I drives me nuts so today I removed the seat and as many covers as I could.Checked all exhaust fasteners and shields, everything tight. Grabbed a light and started revving the motor while looking for the noise. It seems to be coming from the left side engine cover/oil filter area. It could be a chain in the case rattling or something else vibrating in there. Has anyone else had this noise or is it normal for this machine?

[NMKawierider]

There has been some tensioner issues with some 500s in the past. You would have to pull the valve cover and check for play in the cam chain for that. Otherwise it is also common for some to have oscillating or vibrating heat shields even with all fasteners tight. Get someone to hold the throttle up enough to make the noise and you start applying pressure to each. If you find one that the noise stops on...you found it. The addition of a hose clamp helps many times. 

[mpgo4th]

That's exactly what it was. My dealer is awesome. I stopped by this morning and they fired up another one and we both checked it, no noise. I explained to them what it sounded like and said I'd keep riding it and see if it goes away or gets worse. They told me to bring it back and they would look at it immediately because they wanted to make sure it was right. I picked it up on my lunch break and ran it by the shop. The mechanic stopped what he was doing and took all of the plastics and covers off of my bike and let me help with the diagnoses. We both gave it gas and checked everything on the motor for vibration. He tightened all of the heat shield clamps even though they were tight and bent and pulled the shields and heat guards away from anything they were near. We don't know what the culprit was but with all of the fooling around with the exhaust system the noise is all but gone. I'm hyper sensitive to noises so I'd say its about 90% fixed. Anyone else riding or if you had a helmet on would never hear it. I asked if it was normal and he said not really common but it happens. He said he's heard a lot worse rattles on new bikes.