Pointy swing arm side play.

Interesting topic this. Pulled my minitwin apart for a frame and swinging arm refresh, bearings, paint etc. The problem of the lateral play looks like a tolerance stack up. With the swing arm out of the bike there was about 1.2mm of lateral play. There are tolerances in manufacturing, so you have to ensure you cater for max and min variation. Suzuki have to ensure that the swing arm could never bind up, eg longest swing arm tube, shortest bearing spacer and needle bearing top hats. I cant see that an over torque of the swing arm spindle could fix the problem. I think in reality you dont notice the problem when riding the bike, I have raced this bike for 5 years with no issues, however I have reduced the bearing spacer by 1mm to remove the majority of the free play whilst it was apart.

[Bibio]

so how come other manufacturers have no play in their swingarms...

i'm pretty sure that the play is responsible for the head shaking.

Good question, its been a while since ive taken something else apart. Most of us who race sv650's dont suffer headshake, and dont even bother with a steering damper so im not quite sure why you have a problem.

[Bibio]

the pointy is known for shaking its head when you give it the beans. there is a lovely long sweeping corner in the Borders just outside Peebles which has a nice dip in it, before i took the play out the swingarm the bike would wallow and shake its head after i took the play out there was no wallow or headshake. same goes for cracking the throttle wide open, bike would give a little headshake then settle. after the play was removed i get none.

yes your right the sv does not need a steering damper.

[Bias]

It's interesting that this topic should come to the top of the tree as I've just had this problem on both my Bandit and the SV.

I had the frame on the Bandit powder coated and after putting the swinging arm back in I just happened to lean on the SA from the side (no shock or linkages were attached) and I heard a clunk as the whole SA slid sideways on the pivot. The gap was 1.25 mm. I made a stainless shim to take up the gap and after tightening it all up again it was sweet as a nut. Then again I've never had a hint of headshake on the Bandit on track days or my weekend honing around Wales.

I have since checked the SV and there is definitely the same side to side movement. When I put the ZX6R shock in I will sort out the gap but I really cant see why Suzuki make the swinging arm this way, and since this is now my track bike I'd rather like to get it sorted.

I have also checked the wifes CBF600 and there's not a hint of movement !?!?!

[yorkie_chris]

I've never noticed this problem on a curvy, that might be wear related?

[CodeJACK]

Anyone got an shims still spare?

[andrewsmith]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I've never noticed this problem on a curvy, that might be wear related?

The curvy was very tight. I think it was 0.05 on mine from memory

[yorkie_chris]

How did you measure?

[andrewsmith]

Feeler gauge