Good to go, or no?

[Valkorado]

Planning a trip to Jackson Hole, WY later this month (Yellowstone, Grand Teton).  As fate woild have it, I've recently noticed a slight chirp sound from the front end that I'm thinking is the timing belt.  It is most noticeable when at a stop light.  It is not the sound of the disengaged clutch, but sometimes engaging the clutch and/or revving the throttle slightly makes it go away.  The chirp is intermittent, and not always noticable but when it is apparent I don't like it much.  I plan to have the belt replaced, but hopefully not at the $hop.  Bike runs great, and I can not hear the chirp when riding at all.   Wondering if I'll need to address this befor departure, or if it can wait until I get a chance to have it checked out.  Again, no tools, no garage, not a mechanic.  Thanks.

[Valkorado]

BTW, 97 Tourer, about 24,750 miles.

[Valker]

A "chirp" is frequently used to describe the noise a Valk makes when one of the vacuum hoses is split.

[Earl in Pensacola]

My '97 Tourer also developed a "chirping" sound and it did turn out to be a little split in one of the vacuum lines.  Just to "test" it,  I wrapped black electricians tape around a couple fo the vacuum lines and did find that the rubber cap on the backside of one of the carb's had split.  The tape did the job for several weeks, that is until I could arrange to have all the hoses replaced.

[Michvalk]

It's likely NOT a belt. Could be a bad belt tensioner, or like Valker said, vacuum leak. I would look at the vacuum lines first, and if good, then the belt tensioners. Belts would make that noise if they slipped, and you would know right away buy the exploding noise of the engine

[Chrisj CMA]

If one of the timing belts or a tensioner was the culprit, I do agree the noise would be way more than momentary or intermittent. 

[Farther]

Maybe it's time to de-smog.

[Daniel Meyer]

Agree with the others...split vacuum line...probably right at the one of the manifolds.

[Patrick]

I believe the fellas are right about the vacuum lines,but, change the caps as well.

[Valkorado]

Thanks for the info. gents.  The bike was desmogged early this spring, are there still lines that may need replacement?  If so, where can I order them?

[Farther]

What de-smogging was done?  Where all the caps replaced and other parts checked for leaks?

[Valkorado]

Good question Farther, Misfit did the desmog for me so I'm guessing it was done right.  Not sure if the caps were replaced.  My bike is (was) a CA model so it had lots of extra emissions crap on the engine, Misfit yanked all that junk out.