3rd broken speed sensor rotor 34983-21E00, why?

Okay, I'm on my third one of these in 2 years and it starting to become an expensive problem. I'm trying to figure out why this part keeps breaking on me and whether it is the fault of the mechanics doing the work or if this part is just so poorly designed that it is going to break each time I have any work done that requires the front wheel to be removed. I had my bike MOT'd in Leicester this morning at a place I've not used before and they failed the bike on three things. Nice guys that they are they said if I paid them £95 in cash they would replace the front wheel bearings, adjust the front headlight, dismantle and regrease the rear brake lever (as the brake light was not instantly switching off) and then my bike would pass it's MOT and I could be on my way. At this point I was starting to worry about ever using this garage but knew that they'd been around for a while and given that I didn't have time to get the work done elsewhere and that I need the bike next week decided to just pay get everything sorted today. Of course, it wasn't going to be that simple. As they were replacing front wheel bearings the speed sensor rotor fell out in pieces (all four tabs!) and they claim it was due to incorrect installation by the last garage when changing the front tyre. After a bit of an argument with them and explaining that this has happened to me twice before and that on the last occasion (about a year ago) the guy I normally use said it was because people aren't careful enough when removing or installing the front wheel. The guy at the garage today first argued that they had done work on lots of SVs and the speed sensor is catagorically not a common fault. After pointing out the problems I'd had and in the past and the number of threads I'd seen previously on here about this issue they did in fairness check this and backtracked on that point but stated that the issue with my speed sensor rotor was not their responsibility and but down to the last garage to install the front wheel and that the problems with the wheel bearings are likely to be related to this and to take the matter up with whoever did the work last time.

So, not a great morning. What should have been a straight forward MOT costing £30 has cost me £95 today and now I've got to source a speed sensor rotor and get that fitted which is probably going to cost me another £50 at least assuming it is just the plastic rotor. What annoys me is that I have no way of knowing whether this could have been avoided - whether the fault lies with the garage who replaced the tyre previously or the garage that's done the work today or if this part really is that prone to breaking - all I know is this morning the speedo was working and now it's not. In fairness the garage I used today have given me a letter stating that the issue was casued by the last garage so I can contact them and see if they will fix this for me which I think is extremely unlikely. I guess I'm just going to end up out of pocket as I can't see either garage admitting fault or helping in any way and I'm gonna end up paying for a new rotor and using another garage to fit it. What really annoyed me today was one of the guys (not even a mechanic and didn't see the work being carried out) raising his voice at me and stating that it was catagorically 100% absolutely not their fault and that I was being rude and unfair to even hint that they should accept any responsibility or liability for this problem. Is it just me that finds that dealing with a garage rarely goes as smoothly as it should and feels like when things do go wrong no one ever takes responsibility or knows how to handle the situation in a fair and honest manner? Or am I being unfair and the fault is really Suzuki's for a poorly designed part?

[CodeJACK]

Sounds like you got ripped by the MOT guys.

To remove the front wheel, you gotta be reeaaalllyyyy careful with the speed sensor bit. The cable must be detached to allow for slack and easy removal without breaking the part.

This happened to me too.

It cost 25 euro for a new one here.

[husky03]

it'll cost you £20.86 from robinsons, get a haynes and you'll stop getting bumped by the garages

Originally Posted by husky03

it'll cost you £20.86 from robinsons, get a haynes and you'll stop getting bumped by the garages

I have been weaning myself off using garages - got myself a haynes manual and have been doing the servicing myself and any jobs that come up that I feel comfortable at having a go at. But yesterday I had to take the bike for it's MOT and because they already had the bike there and said they could do the work that day I was just being lazy and thought I'd let them get on with it. I couldn't have done the front wheel bearings myself anyway as I don't have the equipment but not sure they really needed doing or if they were having me on. I'd also like to know if anyone thinks their claim that the front wheel bearings were affected by the broken speed sensor rotor make any sense or again if they are just fobbing me off. In fact, here's the actual wording from the letter they gave me:

"We believe that when the front wheel was removed and re-installed to have a replacement tyre fitted that it was done incorrectly. The speedo drive was not located correctly onto the castellations in the wheel therefore leading to the prongs on the drive to snap. This in turn also affected the load on the front wheel bearings causing them to fail its MOT (excessive freeplay and rumble."

Maybe I'm just being overly suspicious of this garage becuase I've not used them before and these problems would have come up where ever I'd had the bike MOT'd.

[husky03]

load of $hite in my opinion-if the tabs break, they break, but the rotor stays connected to the drive itself, i can't see anyway this would effect the bearings-but thats not to say your bearings didn't need replacing in the first place just that there explantion is very shady.

Over tightening[Incorrect torque pressure] when replacing the front wheel can result in both damaged bearings and speedo drive.

i found that the notch it sits in on the fork leg made it offset imo so i put mine behind the notches on the fork leg and now it sits straight hope that makes sense

When I changed the front tyre and was installing the wheel back to the bike, I found out that one of four tooth was missing from the sensor. It wasn't on the floor so I thought it was froken with somebody else. I was wondering if speedo is still working, but it is working well. I don't understand how it can work, I would say that one of four "signals" is missing.
Has nobody else found out that you can still use the broken part

Manual says that front calipers must be taken out when taking wheel off. Maybe somebody last time didn't do it like that and I can imagine getting wheel back is not easy...

When mine went for the second time, I glued the rotors back on and it has worked fine for three months now
http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.p...ighlight=rotor

[husky03]

the teeth on the rotor only grip the grooves on the front wheel, aslong as there's one there your speedo will work