Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Rear fender HELP!

I just picked up an 03 America and have been spending some time going over it with the fine tooth comb...taking it apart and such.

Since I plan to lower it in short order, I was sizing up the rear end. I stood directly behind the bike and noticed that the wheel seems to be sitting towards the drive side quite a bit. At first I thought it was just the lean that was throwing the view off, but I had my lady sit the bike upright and same thing. After a better look, I found some very slight scars on the tire where it has rubbed the bolts on the inside of the fender strut. Dropping a ruler down the side of the fender, it is much closer on the drive side.

Thinking it might be the fender struts, I loosened it up and tried adjusting it. No luck. I cant imagine the wheel is that far out of dish, but the fender look to be square??

Any ideas?

Mine also looked crooked. I discovered the index marks that you use to adjust the rear wheel were off and when I lined it up according to the marks it made the wheel crooked.

I now align the wheel using a different system and the wheel is no longer crooked.

If the chain and both sprockets line up and there is no strange wobble or noises when you ride it, then it has to be something with the fender. As to the scars on the tire, check how far the 2 bolts on the chrome supports protrude beyond the weld nuts on the inside. A sissy bar or a luggage rack or both require 2 additional chrome supports over the fender supports and also longer bolts. If the previous owner removed those parts and reinstalled the same long bolts, riding 2 up or hitting a bad bump with a soft shock setting would allow those bolts to contact the rear tire. I have an 03 TA - don't ask how I know these things....

Thanks guys, I will check both of those things today and get back!

Well, I pulled the fender did some more measuring and it seems to be that the wheel IS out of dish. Dropping a straight edge from various points on the frame, and measuring from rim to swingarm shows the rim to be sitting 13mm closer to the drive side. So @6mm off.

Oddly enough looking at the underside of the fender, there is a clean "stripe" that runs pretty darn close to 6mm off center. Not very scientific, but seems to confirm the other measurements.

Deon: I did check the bolts going through the bag mounts, and they were protruding a bit past the threaded nut on the fender. Looking at the tire closer though it seems that the welded nuts were hitting too.

PO said nothing has ever been done to the wheel aside from tire changes, and owned the bike from new...so who knows.

Looks like I have a trip to the dealer in my future.

Regarding the index marks on the indicators, I noticed my right one is more accurate if it's reversed. Place the indents on the inside instead of the outside. This is to accomodate the difference in axle size between the solid axle diameter and threaded diameter portion of the axle(they're different) This keeps the adjuster from bending or deforming. (If you remove the chrome adjuster, you'll notice that the hole size is different between the indent side and the non indent side).

The index marks are only a reference point, I measure the axle in the swingarm adjuster grove with round feeler gauges (1/4 inch long sockets) to keep things square.

the one bad thing on our bikes is anything to do with the rear wheel, pain to change and adjusters are junk

Frank

Something worth looking into is whether the rear spokes have been retuned incorrectly. The rim can be offset an inch or two if the spokes are incorrectly adjusted.
There is the appearance of an offset anyway because the engine is mounted some 2 inches to the right to get the chain past the rear tire.
Also, the fender braces may not be exactly straight. This could be damage from a minor accident or simply because it is very difficult to stamp them perfectly straight.

May want to check rear axle assembly, sequence of spacers, etc. Make sure rear caliper bracket is seated properly in the notch. Bike Bandit's diagram may help.

I agree with checking the sequence of parts, but you'll need to look at 2 diagrams - the rear brake and the final drive.
As to the bolts and weld nuts hitting the tire, disregarding the possibly offset rim, has this bike been lowered?? I have standard length Progressives on mine, and I can lay my hand across the back tire with the back of my hand just touching the edge of the fender. That's a lot of clearance, Clarence..

When you do figure it out, please let us know.... that's an odd one.

Deeper and deeper.

I have completely disassembled the entire rear end of this bike. I can find nothing out of place. All of the axle spacers are in the correct positions, final drive is all sorted correctly. Brake assembly is correct. All according to my shop manual.

I even had the swing arm off to make sure all those parts were in order. I am trying to address anything that may have been touched during a chain, sprocket or tire replacement.

I am back to leaning towards the rim offset being incorrect.

For grins, could someone with an America take a quick measurement? If you measure from the edge of the rim straight out to the swing arm, are you getting a variance comparing the drive and non-drive side?

This picture gives you an idea

Mine is about 5/16 (8mm) closer to the brake side. Never studied it before, swingarm doesn't look symmetrical. Can't tell in the dark garage.
I guess you've checked chain alignment? Different ways of doing it, I use this.

wow...I'm 13mm closer to the chain side.

I have only sighted the chain line with a straight edge, but if it truly is the rim offset, the chain line wouldn't be affected. I cant find a spec for the rim offset to be sure.

Man this is really bugging me. I just cant see how it would be that far off unless done on purpose.

Well, after some phone time with the local dealer they told me to lay a straight edge across the outside of the brake rotor and then measure to the outer edge of the rim. They told me that would be a more accurate way to compare with another bike. Unfortunately they only had new BA's in house with the new wheels.

Here's what I got: 38mm

just went out to check mine for ya! I got 49mm.

What size Avon did they put on when the tire was changed?

Gents

Dont know if this helps just been to measure rim to disk as stated from dealer the mesurement I gat was 38 mm My bike is an 06 model. Also noticed my chain is shiny on the inside of links and backside of sprocket so I will have to do some adjusting myself looks like the marks an tentioners are slightly out

Sounds to me that you have a dodgy rear tyre, looking at the rear of my bike I can see more of the chain & sprocket than in your earlier picture, and if you study the picture carefully you will notice that the tyre does not look quite right. So I would go for the dodgy tyre theory or maybe it is not seating on the rimm correctly

It still (to me) looks like you just need to true up the tire by either tightening or looseninf the adjustment screws. My rear looked similar when I had it apart changing to spoked rims and then back together. All I did was eyeball it on the jack stand and then tighten her down. Of course the adjustment lines didnt match up, but the rear is as true as its gonna get. Other than that, I dont know what to say. Can you take a pic similar to what you recently took, but I would like to see the whole tire in the swing arm without the fender on. Good luck, bro!
Jeff

So almost a month later and several hands and fingers in the pot...it was the ****** tire!

Bixer10 a BIG thanks!! After your comment, I started taking some more measurements regarding the tire on the rim...seems the tire is the culprit.

Even though it is round, balanced, and seated correctly the tread sits 6-7mm towards the drive side. I took the entire bike to a place here in Denver called Woody's Wheel Works to have them throw an experienced eye on it. These guys are by all accounts wheel experts and have apparently been around forever and seen it all...but it even stumped Woody. He told me he has seen tires with all sorts of deformations, but never one that had a consistent tread offset. Go figure. We threw on a new Dunlop D404 and problem solved!

Time to start cutting!