My First Issue

Well, I headed out to work on this beautiful sunny, windless morning taking the long windy route through the mountains. The 961 engine was running like a finely tuned clock! 15 or 16 miles into the ride my rear wheel started pitching left and right. I thought I had a flat tire, so I stopped to inspect it - perfectly fine. Started off again and it continued. Stopped again and checked the chain tension - it was pretty loose. I had no idea how I could tighten it up because I was not carrying a 36mm socket with me. I went to use the adjuster screws anyway and they did move the chain! That was too freaky. I started off one more time and the wobble continued accompanied with a scraping sound. :shock:

At this point I knew I was doing some kind of damage by riding so I parked 'er by the side of a long, sparsely traveled highway and walked 3 miles back to the nearest establishment where I could use their phone and call a towing company. The friendly folks at the restaurant were kind enough to drive me back to my bike. There I stood for another 2 hours waiting for the tow vehicle. Eventually I discovered where the scraping was coming from - it was the wheel bearing rubbing against the swingarm on the axle locknut side (right side).

I have not figured out yet if this problem was self inflicted or not. But before I left this morning I re-adjusted the chain and used the manual spec for torquing the locknut. I just hope the damage is to the wheel bearing or, worst case, the axle. In any case, I won't be riding the 961 for a while. Glad to have a back up bike! :roll:

Damn, I hate to hear these things.
On the positive side, you stopped before anything serious happened - to you.
Please keep us up to date on the cause of the problem.

Having a spare ride is always a plus for a Norton owner.

BritTwit said:

Damn, I hate to hear these things.
On the positive side, you stopped before anything serious happened - to you.
Please keep us up to date on the cause of the problem.

Having a spare ride is always a plus for a Norton owner.

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Thanks, man.

Make sure you didn't loose the circlips that hold the bearings in place on the carbon fiber wheels. If you did , the wheel could move off of the bearings. It sounds like this has happened to you . Take off the rear wheel and inspect this closely. Nothing else makes sense ! This only applies to the carbon fiber wheels. No circlips on the Talon Hubs only on the BST carbon. After reading trough your post again I see that you were able to move the wheel with the chain adjuster. Was it tightened to 110NM ? I think that's the spec for the rear axle nut . Was it loose when you checked it again ?

TonyA said:

Make sure you didn't loose the circlips that hold the bearings in place on the carbon fiber wheels. If you did , the wheel could move off of the bearings. It sounds like this has happened to you . Take off the rear wheel and inspect this closely. Nothing else makes sense ! This only applies to the carbon fiber wheels. No circlips on the Talon Hubs only on the BST carbon. After reading trough your post again I see that you were able to move the wheel with the chain adjuster. Was it tightened to 110NM ? I think that's the spec for the rear axle nut . Was it loose when you checked it again ?

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The circlips would only come off had I removed the wheel, right? I didn't do that (I will now, of course). Yes, the locknut was tightened to the 110Nm and that's my concern. Is it correct?

The newest service manual I have states the rear axle nut is tightened to 100Nm . And the circlips never need to come off unless you are removing the bearings from the wheel hub .

TonyA said:

The newest service manual I have states the rear axle nut is tightened to 100Nm . And the circlips never need to come off unless you are removing the bearings from the wheel hub .

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Thanks for the info. Yes, Kev repeated the same. I know I got the torque reading up to 109 Nm and I bet it was enough to snap something. :cry:

Hey, could you look at the exploded diagram of the BST rear wheel and tell me if it shows the locknut on the left side? I know mine is phyically on the right (sprocket) side.

Thanks,
Peter

Wow, man. I'm so glad you didn't lock up and go down or else, like me, you'd be spending far to much time on the PC. Hope you get sorted out in a timely fashion.

Britfan60 said:

Wow, man. I'm so glad you didn't lock up and go down or else, like me, you'd be spending far to much time on the PC. Hope you get sorted out in a timely fashion.

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Thanks, man. I was pretty careful after feeling the first few tugs on the rear end. But I think I rode it too much after that. Hope the damage isn't severe enough to require a new BST hub or wheel! :shock:

contours said:

Britfan60 said:

Wow, man. I'm so glad you didn't lock up and go down or else, like me, you'd be spending far to much time on the PC. Hope you get sorted out in a timely fashion.

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Thanks, man. I was pretty careful after feeling the first few tugs on the rear end. But I think I rode it too much after that. Hope the damage isn't severe enough to require a new BST hub or wheel! :shock:

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Did you per chance take a look at the cush drive rubber in the hub? What year is your bike and how many miles do you have on it?

byjefsm said:

Did you per chance take a look at the cush drive rubber in the hub? What year is your bike and how many miles do you have on it?

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I will probably remove the wheel tonight. Do you think damage to the cush drive rubber could result in a severe wobble?

contours said:

TonyA said:

The newest service manual I have states the rear axle nut is tightened to 100Nm . And the circlips never need to come off unless you are removing the bearings from the wheel hub .

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Thanks for the info. Yes, Kev repeated the same. I know I got the torque reading up to 109 Nm and I bet it was enough to snap something. :cry:

Hey, could you look at the exploded diagram of the BST rear wheel and tell me if it shows the locknut on the left side? I know mine is phyically on the right (sprocket) side.

Thanks,
Peter

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The lock nut (Axle Nut) on the REAR wheel is on the R/H side (sprocket side) . The pictures may be confusing because the axle also has a hex on the end. Let us know what happened when you find out.

Yes, the diagram is very confusing. Quite possible it was the final twist to reach 109 N-m that did 'er in. Although, I was hearing a popping noise before I took the wrench to the locknut. I will have a look at it tonight. Hoping I won't cry myself to sleep later. :cry:

Alrighty. I removed the rear wheel and took a look tonight. I am mildy relieved because I am not at all sure it was my fault - as in over-tightening the axle locknut. The axle is pretty much intact, though I haven't checked out the threads closely yet. There was definitely enough play for the wobble I experienced, but as byjefsm pointed out the cush drive rubbers look very suspicious. As I said previously, there was some popping going on before I re-adjusted the chain that morning. Two of the rubbers are totally missing! And the right side spacer appears demolished. So once I get a look in daylight conditions I will check back with the Norton factory to see what they think. :|

Did you install the rubber dampers with the metal inlets?

Raphi said:

Did you install the rubber dampers with the metal inlets?

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I haven't done anything to this wheel. Last night was the first time I removed it. And I was under the impression that the BST hubs were better than the stock (Talon?) hubs because of the quality of the cush drive rubbers.

At this point I don't know for sure what happened here. I'll get a better look some time today and post photos.

I am one lucky sonuvabitch! Considering I was doing between 50 and 60 MPH when the first few tugs from the rear wheel occurred.

So based on a closer inspection in daylight I am changing my statement about what happened.

The circular gouge into the swingarm was cause by a single sprocket bolt that stood out more than the others.


The outer spacer is butchered.


The cush drive rubbers and circlip actually seem okay.


And the cause for the loose hub was this blown wheel bearing. :shock:


I am hoping for the best. I'll talk to Kev about how to approach the repair job.

Good thing you found this now. It could have been worse. So get some new parts and get it back on the road !!

TonyA said:

Good thing you found this now. It could have been worse. So get some new parts and get it back on the road !!

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Lucky my battery wouldn't charge the day I planned to take 'er on 190 mile highway ride to the British Motorcycle Meet last month. :shock:

Your photo of the wheel bearing components is very disturbing.
Has anyone ever seen this on a BST wheel before?
Can it be the result of an improperly sized spacer between the bearings?