I managed to talk my gf into letting me head out for a "nowhere" two-day ride in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec (southeast of Montreal). I set off Sat mid-morning for a long anticipated little getaway alone with my beloved VTR when disaster (of sorts) struck just one hour into the ride. While heading down the road, I suddenly heard an unfamiliar but evidently non-welcome mechanical jingle while easing out of a long right-hander. Fearing a CCT failure, I quickly pulled in the clutch and had the engine die almost immediately. I pulled over to the side of the road and attempted to shift the bike over in neutral, something it refused to do (multiple questions!!!!!!). I then attempted to start it and had nothing (more questions). I did a quick inspection and found the source of the problem.... the bearing in the rear wheel sprocket carrier gave out, causing the carrier to slide over to the left and contact the swingarm. I had identified this bearing as a potential trouble spot a little while back but thought I could finish out the year with it. Oh well. With my head cleared somewhat, I pulled the clutch lever in and the engine fired up right away (no CCT failure... WHEW!!!!!!). Anyhow, so I am now looking at having the carrier machined and re-built (got slightly damaged in the process so I will have it machined and get a sleeve put in, all set up for a more durable ceramic hybrid bearing which should last just this side of forever). I will put it back together with the stock rear wheel in the meantime so I can keep riding. A sucked out way to end what could have been a great weekend ride, but, then again, it could have been MUCH worse....

 

How many miles on the bike? Any reason you can think of why this happened?

In many years of owning bikes, some very old, this is a new one on me.

 

i had to replace the same bearing before i hit 10,000 miles.
it apparently held moisture and it rusted, bike was stored outside.

 

I had the same bearing go out as well. It was the only one out of the three on the rear wheel.

 

I haven`t yet had a chance to pull it apart so I can`t say what exactly went wrong. However, I just finished ordering a ceramic hybrid bearing to replace it (6204). That, and a machined sleeve, should take care of everything.

 

You were lucky really. This is what happened when my rear wheel moved in a similar way. You can see the gap between the carrier and the hub in the first pic. Not good.