zirc fittings? - swingarm pivot maintenance

[madEG]

Wow!

I just got a call from a buddy whose bike ('02 R6) came out of the shop. Per that bikes maintanance schedule, the shop wanted to grease the swingarm pivot, and since it didn't have a zirc fitting (that thing to inject grease into a pivot, or hinge area), they needed to remove the swingarm etc, to get at the pivot.

This obviously really boosted the charge for the man hours... almost three hours to do this part alone. (they said it showed minor wear)

Is this something that is an issue with the SV? Specifically the SK3?

How often do we need to lube the swingarm pivot? I suspect this may be based on how much poor weather riding one does... but is there some base numbers? I don't want to incur this expense if I don't have to, for say another couple years... if ever - but not at the expense of having the bike fall apart. :)

Thoughts?

Thanks,
-Matt

[Sid Squid]

I regrease the swingarm bearings every two years or so, I usually do it to a new bike as well, as many of them are quite sparingly greased when newly assembled and the relatively poor materials used in making a Japanese bike get corroded easily, making it hard to disassemble when they get a year or two old - I did the swingarm bearings on a 650 when it was only about 18 months old, I'm glad it wasn't left another winter, it could've been nasty.

The swingarm bearings are under a fair load, but they are sizeable and live in ideal conditions contained between seals, so there's no need to be excessive about maintenance, but greasing is much easier than replacement, and is a job that most could do, it's really just a matter of time - hence the expense your friend incurred - what's more important are the bearings in the suspension linkage, much smaller and under a greater load, fortunately they are easy to service and don't require you to remove the swingarm, I do these every year.

In a similar vein; I grease the steering head bearings every two years too.

You call them 'Zircs' ? We have a far better name: 'Grease Nipples.' Found on the average bike only in very recent times sadly, but they're getting more common, you could fit them to your bike if you like, but of course it'll have to come apart to do that.

[curium]

How do you support the bike with the swingarm off to grease the bearings?

Is rictus or anyone esle gonna do those maintenance demos at all? I'd quite like to see this done.

[wheelnut]

This is the reason I have slagged Pidcocks off. They were going to charge me £450 for my last service 7500miles because the swing arm has to be removed :?

Im amazed how they can tell that it is seized over the phone :P

[madEG]

Sid, Thanks for your help! I'll see what I can do about maintaining these areas myself. Luckily, it does not rain much around here, so my almost 10K miles has been 99.9% in dry weather, so hopefully that area is not too badly full of crud.

You call them 'Zircs' ? We have a far better name: 'Grease Nipples.'

I didn't make the name. :) I like the label of nipples myself a little better, if I had to take a side... ;)

Thanks again.