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Houston, we have a problem. R1 Owners please read!

ALANRIDER7

ALANRIDER7

MeowMeowMeow
Joined
Feb 6, 2003
Location
The Back Of Beyond
Moto(s)
GSXR
I have to get the word out there to all 2004 R1 owners.

One of my customers with a 1 month old 2004 R1 (1200 miles)complained about a squeak in the rear suspension as he bounced up and down on the rear end. He brought it in and I did a complete teardown and found all the pivots were dry. I mean BONE DRY. As in no grease. None.

What's worse is that the needle bearing cage on one of the pivots had started to self destruct. This is a brand new bike. I was thinking that someone ran out of grease on the assembly line and maybe a number of bikes could have been put together dry. It's only a theory, but it does explain how this could happen to an 11K sportbike. I'm getting in touch with Yamaha and I will post any more news as I get it.

My camera totally blows. I gotta get something better. More pix later.

1222466-dcp_0036.jpg
 
So it's the swingarm pivot AND the shock linkages that needed greasing? what a pain!
 
Thanks for the heads up, that sucks to hear. Hopefully it's just an anomoly and not something widespread.

I love my 02 :p
 
That's why I have always ridden Red!!!!!

Ahahahahahhaha Now What JEFF? HOoli and his hoopty ass R weezzies......hahahahaahhahaah

:laughing my ass off......

but seriously that sucks......those Mother Fers at Yami better start sending out the I'm sorry Checks
 
I've seen plenty of new bikes with just the bare minimum of (what looks like piss poor) grease right off the assembly line. One thing I like to do when I get a new bike is to tear it down before I ride it. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's perfect. I don't know how fast the assembly lines go, but if the swingarm guy runs out of grease and couldn't get any right away, it's possible several bikes were put together regardless. I'll have to give the VIN to my guy at Yamaha and maybe they can do some sort of inquiry.

I was shocked to see broken pieces of a brand new needle bearing cage fall out onto the bench. It looked like someone had hit it with a hammer. Fucked up.
 
Roundboy said:
That's why I have always ridden Red!!!!!

Ahahahahahhaha Now What JEFF? HOoli and his hoopty ass R weezzies......hahahahaahhahaah

:laughing my ass off......

but seriously that sucks......those Mother Fers at Yami better start sending out the I'm sorry Checks
Click to expand...

Yah, because the 1000rr hasn't had ANY problems. :rolleyes :rolleyes

Thanks for the heads up Alan. Is there anyway to visually inspect it without tearing the bike down?
 
Unfortunately not. They buried everything inside the swingarm body and that undertail exhaust doesn't help either. The only way to remove the top shock mount is getting to it under the tank. Those engineers certainly didn't give ease of maintenance a priority. You have to remove the entire rear half of the exhaust, the coolant reservior, right peg/brake lever assembly among other things.

1222523-dcp_0041.jpg
 
thanks for posting this info, but finding "one" yamaha R1 with this problem is hardly a case for a recall level concern (and yet another sticky post), don't you think?? :confused
 
I have a call in to my guy at Yamaha. I'm not saying issue a recall. It could be just this one bike and this one only.

But, the question still remains, why wasn't grease put on the pivots???? This was bone dry. Period. If this one made it down the line, it's possible there are others.

They did not see fit to put grease fittings on the pivots either. I love the fact that my ZX6R has them and greasing the rear end takes about 2 minutes instead of 4 hours.
 
uh oh...

Alan,
So the suspension gets bouncy??? well, you know my bike well and I haven't complained about this issue and I have almost 4000miles on it.

How, specifically, is the bike acting when this is a problem? thanks for posting the issue.

ALANRIDER7 said:
I have a call in to my guy at Yamaha. I'm not saying issue a recall. It could be just this one bike and this one only.

But, the question still remains, why wasn't grease put on the pivots???? This was bone dry. Period. If this one made it down the line, it's possible there are others.

They did not see fit to put grease fittings on the pivots either. I love the fact that my ZX6R has them and greasing the rear end takes about 2 minutes instead of 4 hours.
Click to expand...
 
He said the rear end felt like it was "tightening up." It almost pitched him out of the seat on a sharp edged bump. Then it started squeaking.
 
So Alan, can I schedule a drop-by? :teeth Honestly, I'm not that worried, I go through all my bikes, haven't heard anything yet out of the ordinary...but that doesn't mean all is well. I've rebuilt enough bikes that I could do it, just need shop space and the tools (hint hint).

Oh, and Roundboy, the 1000RR hasn't had any problems because it's just too slow and porky...and at least I have a bike, so E.M.A. hater!

:twofinger x 10
 
faz said:
thanks for posting this info, but finding "one" yamaha R1 with this problem is hardly a case for a recall level concern (and yet another sticky post), don't you think?? :confused
Click to expand...

Recall maybe a bit over the top, but a sticky is warranted. Personally checking these might be a pain, but a good idea all the same.

I wouldnt be at all suprised if many of the R1s have similar pivot points.
I believe that Yamaha has a coporate dislike for grease. :laughing (only partial sarcasm here)
For instance the FJRs are plagued with a good many having equally dry drive shaft splines. Common occurance is for new owners to have to lube their own bikes, something that shouldn't be a concern on a brand new bike.
One of my intended maintainance tasks is to check all of the pivot points on my FJR, assuming it ever gets fixed.
bash.gif
 
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