I'm still a novice with bikes, although my 2002 VTR is the 4th bike I've owned (previous bikes 1998 FZR 600, 2000 Suzuki Bandit 600, 2002 Vstar 600). I'm no mechanic but I can pretty much work on anything. I've asked some silly questions here because this is my first bike where the suspension could be "tuned." Anyway from the first day I bought this bike and rode it to a friend's to store it seemed squirley. I trumped it up to simply not being used to it. I've searched extensively on this site and checked the suspension and tweaked it as best I could. Given I'm a big guy there's only so much tweaking that can be done. After getting the dampening and rebound to where I liked it I've put easily 1500+ miles on the bike. I never thought I'd be happy to get a nail in my tire but it possibly saved my life. Upon removing the rear wheel yesterday I found the source of the poor handling. Apparently the previous owner replaced the sprocket and one of the studs holding it on wasn't fully screwed in. It had cut a 1/2 inch gouge into it. How they didn't know baffles me. The gouge is so deep I can easily bend the tip of the swing arm back and forth. Can't wait to get the new swingarm and put it on so I can get back to riding.

 

Wow. Just. Wow. Glad you were able to find it before something worse happened.

 

thats incredible... How in this crazy world did the PO not notice something like that... grinding, screatching, everything else that could be a HUGE red flag that something is not ok...wow

 

Whoa! Glad you caught it in time and something bad didn't happen to you. I have an extra swingarm. PM me if you would like to buy it.

 

Wowww.... yea man, that could have end really bad, glad you are fine.

 

Frame that nail and hang it in your garage. It did potenially save your life.

 

Thanks CruxGNZ, usually when something goes wrong with my bike I hop on ebay and buy the needed part without thinking. I've been waiting 2 days and the guy still hasn't shipped it.

I'm still dumbfounded how the previous owner could have accomplished this without having an accident. The gouge is 1cm deep into the swingarm and the crack it caused is visible in front of the weld. Hopefully by next weekend I'll be back to riding.

 

Unbelievable, you are fortunate my friend! Time to count your blessings.

 

CBR900RR brace!!!!!

James

 

That would have to rate as the worst abuse of a bike that I have ever seen.

Some people don't deserve to own a bike.

If I was you I would be going over everything on your bike as the previous owner didn't understand the concept of maintenance.

Good luck, make sure that you grease the shock linkage bearings when you do the swinger.