stiff preload no issue...something else indeed...
 

so i got home yesterday. wiped down the rear shock and spray liberally with wd40...realized for the first time how crude that rear unit really is. just doesnt have the fit and finish i thought it had. anyways...dont think there is anything wrong with the rear shock...but sitting down looking at the bike i noticed the rear tag mount looked a little funny. started messing around and noticed there was a lot of movement from the exhaust. the whole thing could move a lot. thought that was weird, looked more closely and realized the all thread (which had a different thread pitch to begin with-temp fix, it was) had worked itself out of the mount and there was about an inch gap between the spacer i installed and the bar holding the can to the mount to the rear of the bike. yikes, that had to have been some of the funny/weird feelings/feedback i was getting from the rear of the bike.

so the issue of coming up with a plate hanger that was clean looking and functional, not to mention durable, reared its ugly head again. this time i figured i would reinstall the LED turn signals in the rear light since the clear lens lets them show through more distintly...still need to do a bright day test, but so far they look good. it also minimzed the amount of wires sticking out for now. took care of that, then managed to have somethig i could modify to hold the tag between the pipe cannisters. looks better than it did with the all-thread. not sure i can admit what i used yet, cause it really was a less than desirable piece that will undoubtedly need to be replaced soon enough, but with the tag lights run to it, should it fail it cant fall anywhere, just daggle a bit.

while i was admiring my work and pleased it only took a couple hours. went ahead and was wiping down the pipes leading up to the cans and noticed some noise, metal on metal kinda sound. come to find out, the secondary support that mounts around the pipe and over to the subframe bolt was loose. looks like a space that was part of the band aroudn the pipe broke and left some free space. so grabbed an allen wrench and tightened it up with the nut that was left on it. figured that too had some cause o the vibration, noise, feedback i was getting.

so it goes, it wasnt the rear shock at all, but a bunch of hard parts not firmly mounted thus translating lots of chatter, noise, harsh feedback, etc.

lessons learned.

repoe3

Repoe, maybe you should use some locktight on those to keep the problem from coming up again?

uh, the problem was not about loctite...when i said they worked themselves free, i mean it simply came out without rotation as the threads were chewed up not being the proper thread pitch,poor design on my part. in fact, all the problems i found had nothing to do with a bolt working itself loose through rotation. it is all rather funny until someone gets hurt ;)

repoe3

There is a definnite correlation between the demise of your bikes usual prime state of conditioning and the "ramp up" of domestic activity you have recently embarked on. In laymens terms, Your girlfriend is having a direct impact on your bikes conditioning!!!!:D

i blame my own lack of patience more than anything else, really. hell, both bikes are sitting pretty inside a garage thanks to her being in my life. being able to work on the bikes inside a garage is, well, refreshing. i mean i can actually work when the sun goes down. before i had to tace home and burn what little daylight was left. and no limitation on rides either.

just gotta finalize the B&B weekend trip i have been promising.

repoe3

Sorry Repoe, should have read closer.

no problam-o, i wasnt vary clear on what happened.

repoe3