Noticing that my 959 feels a bit snatchy through the gears particularly around town and lower speeds. I thought the throttle play was the issue,spacers have helped the lurching issue but still chain feels really slack. I checked it and it's spot on at 41mm from the swingarm, but noticed the Knocking when rotating the rear wheel. The rear sprocket is moving around 1mm in each direction,you can hear the clunk clunk holding the rear wheel still and pulling the sprocket up and down,only a small amount but noticeable, maybe cush rubbers worn? but this Bike only has 3500 miles. Or maybe its totally normal and I have to live with it? engine is smooth as anything but the grabbyness is a bit of a pain.
Funny enough I've literally just taken my V2 rear sprocket off. It's a single sided swing arm so a bit different. There was some small play in the cush drives and sprocket. Done just over 1000 miles so I'm assuming normal.
I have 42000 miles on my MTS1200 and have nothing like your symptoms, Cush drive rubbers never needing replacement, so at 3500 miles they are very nee, unless very old , but the bike is relatively new.
I’d say the play is fairly normal. Did you check the chain tension in multiple places? You only need 1 tight link to cause issues, and the OEM chain is rubbish
I will check it again carefully Phill, just moved from an 848 which was much smoother in transmission, so I would not think this is normal.
I had Mike dawson of MD racing take a look and he suggests that the cush drives are a bit worn or loose,also the gear lever bolt seems worn,the lever has a lot of sideways movement . likewise the small ball joint on the end of the gearchange linkage. This all seems to add up to a horrible clunk in between gear selection and acceleration as well as throttling off, split seond delay and then there it is. It is quite a deal breaker at this point and really putting me off the bike which otherwise is a joy. ordered rubber bush set and linkage joint/bolt. Next question is how do you get the old rubber bushes out? I dont see an acces at the back like on the ST etc,so how can they be drifted out of their housings???
