Suspension Linkage

RPMDAKAR

Active member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Messages
490
Reaction score
5
Location
Bewdley, England
May be teaching granny to suck eggs here, but having purchased Kouba Links from the USA I set about fitting said items and to my horror found that after 11 years of neglect by the previous owner and incompetence by the M/Cycle shop who serviced said bike, both the bushes needed to refit the new links were shagged beyond recognition. Call my local friendly BMW dealer only to be told they are no longer available from BMW, Now I ask you, this is an 11 year old machine FFS, ordered s/hand usable bushes from Motorworks, went back to the bike to clean everything up only to notice the bottom bolt that secures the linkage to the frame had snapped, so my couple of hours quick fix now turned into a complete nightmare, found a complete linkage for a reasonable figure, collected it from Stoke on Trent whilst out working, got it home and all the fekin rollers fell out when I removed the bushes. Said bushes were in good order so I managed to complete the job at 8-30 pm. Motorworks postage took 3 days to arrive after ordering. Bike had done 70,000 hard neglected and unloved miles, but I recommend a look at these if you have GS or Dakar F650. Would post pics but its witchcraft to me!
 
It is only the inner bush of the needle roller which is NLA, the outer is a stock bearing.
They are close enough to a stock bush that a decent bearing factor can have a stock bush machined to length for you at a sensible price - some may even have one which will fit in stock.
Most machine shops could probably do it too, but their prices are not always sensible!
 
I know this is 6 months old, but I only joined the ranks of 650 owners today and I'm wading through for any snippets of wisdom. :aidan

My old Morini had phosphor bronze bushes for the swingarm to run in, not roller bearings and bushes. The bush had a helix machined into it on the inside and a grease nipple each side, so you could grease the bush regularly (6 mnths give it a squirt). The helix allowed the grease to go right through the bush so the entire surface supporting the pivot was greased. Those bushes lasted all the 187,000 miles I did on her - and how ever long after with the new owner.

Just a thought - machining fixed bushes to fit shouldn't be that hard - and damned sight easier than making recesses for bearings at manufacturing stage. So why do they insist on using bearigs? Could they be replaced with phosphor bronze bushes as a fit and forget solution?
 
11 years and parts not available???

Hmmm I find that very strange...

OEM requirements for spares are normally, life of vehicle +10years.

I dont believe BMW is any different.

could be the dealer has a MOL and he dosent want surplus stock on his shelves

Mart
 
Don't worry Simon, the F650GS's with the linkages are totally different to you 'new' 650 Xcountry .... which doesn't have the said linkages :D

The linkages of the F650 range are prone to neglect, water ingress, corrosion and problems. The right hand side swing arm bearings often come out looking like rusty nails :eek:

Meanwhile the G650 range are much better, no linkages ... :thumb

:beerjug:
 
I know this is 6 months old, but I only joined the ranks of 650 owners today and I'm wading through for any snippets of wisdom. :aidan

My old Morini had phosphor bronze bushes for the swingarm to run in, not roller bearings and bushes. The bush had a helix machined into it on the inside and a grease nipple each side, so you could grease the bush regularly (6 mnths give it a squirt). The helix allowed the grease to go right through the bush so the entire surface supporting the pivot was greased. Those bushes lasted all the 187,000 miles I did on her - and how ever long after with the new owner.

Just a thought - machining fixed bushes to fit shouldn't be that hard - and damned sight easier than making recesses for bearings at manufacturing stage. So why do they insist on using bearigs? Could they be replaced with phosphor bronze bushes as a fit and forget solution?

That is very good question, I have been wondering that for some time. Most needle rollers tehse day are teh cheaper non-crowded ones, so the otal atual conatct area that is taking al the forces is quite small. On a plain bush it must be much greater? Use a selflubricatig one like oilite and there is no need for lubing either. For swing arms and suspension bushes there is such a small range of rotation, I would hazard guess that the actual rollers do not rotate more than half a turn in total?
On my CCM GP450 the linkage bushes are all nylon, but caged needle roller for the swing arm, it is those that I muse about replacing with a plain bush...
 
Hmmmmmmm, some sensible logic there, but it really beggars belief the a Company like BMW should resort to inferior (cheaper) methods on such a flagship machine, after all they won some amazing Kudos with the PD bikes. My OP was just a reminder that there are numpty's out there who blindly think all is well, an example being this bike, I bought it off a guy who regularly took off on the Continent, doing stella mileage on his own! All my purchases get a going over, no matter who or what was responsible for the maintenance. My 1200GS is a classic example!
 


Back
Top Bottom