So decided to clean the bike (Glad i did)

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I have neglected the bike abit .. Other than a basic service and a wash i have hardly touched it in 2 years (other than ride it of course) .

I used to be quite anal about keeping them clean and well looked after so i felt abit sorry for the aprilla and decided to give her some love .

The back end was looking scruffy and could do with a good clean and polish so....

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Once most of the back end was stripped i decided to fit the MPL slave cylinder i bought last year as the shorty levers were giving me sore hands after a long ride (the MPL slave reduces clutch pull by 30%)

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Once that was fitted i stripped of and degreased a few bits but it was getting late so decided to quickly strip the rear wheel and degrease the sprocket/carrier assembley .

Popper the sprocket off then unbolted it from the carrier then checked the mounting flange (big spyder spacer between sprocket and wheel and found this :(

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Lifted 4 of the 5 bolts out as they were just sitting there.. not even held by 1 thread and the last bolt had sheared leaving most of it inside the wheel so the only thing holding it on was 1 locator pin (very worn) and 2 threads of the broken bolt :(

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Not very happy since its probably been like that for at least a year or more given the state of the holes/wear . Very scary and will teach me to take more care and check the bike more often .

A top tip for you guys always check yer nuts (both sets ;) )
 
Nasty :( Has it done much damage to the sprocket carrier or the wheel hub? I'd be surprised if the bolt holes weren't oval and the threads in the hub a bit worn; if so it would be worth getting the hub heli-coiled (if not already), and definitely use a new set of bolts (a set of high tensile socket head bolts will be very cheap).

I'm going to check mine before I start using it in anger again, though I have the standard Brembo wheels rather than the lightweight Oz ones, and I believe the cush drive is a bit more robust on them. Grunty V twins put a lot of stress on these bits.
 
The holes are oval .. Not really bad but bad enough . Will finish degreasing it and see how it is . i suspect just a carrier and bolts but if i cant get that bolt out then it might be a new wheel
 
Would it not have been held on by the axel anyway? I don't reckon it would have been too devastating if it had completely gone. It would probably just start letting the sprocket slip and you'd lose power?
 
Yup wheel would not have fallen off .. lol but loosing power on a overtake or when banked over could have been pretty nasty :(
 
wazza300 said:
thats what you get when you buy italian
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Yeah, damn those Italians and their inability to stop an Englishman from not doing up bolts properly! :rolleyes:

Did you get the chain and sprockets changed by a garage in the past? If so I'd go and have a word with them about the lack lustre nature of their torquing! If it was you then ooops, better use some locite next time! :D
 
wazza300 said:
thats what you get when you buy italian
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Surely a joke?

I've had very similar and even worse problems on the two Japanese bikes I've owned.

I don't mean to be rude but every other post by you in this section is slating bikes as a result of your weird Italian build quality prejudice. It's not helping anyone.
 
arctine said:
I don't mean to be rude but every other post by you in this section is slating bikes as a result of your weird Italian build quality prejudice. It's not helping anyone.
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Yeah he's just trolling, I should know better and stop feeding him. I just feel the need to let others know the truth rather than let his ramblings be taken seriously by someone who doesn't know better.
 
Proper clean. Nice

Normal person that just uses bike to blasting around and dont really maintain them properly would have missed the knackered nut. Well spotted.
 
Wazza if you having nothing decent to say dont come in here please !!

It wasnt a grage but may have been the previous owner as he swapped the rear sprocket . Its all fixed now and back together . will check it in a month make sure its ok

And thanks Rusty ;)
 
Common issue on the RSV and Tuono is the sprocket carrier bolts coming loose and spinning freely. And some Ducati's suffer this too. However, there have only been a few reports of the bolts you refer to coming loose and shearing. Griff over at Aprilia Performance found a few whilst on his servicing trips up and down the country.

When refitting, use a small amount of thread locking compound on them. And yes - just shows you should really finger your nuts regularly!!. :D
 
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Draeger said:
Why?. You must have a few reasons for it?.
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there just tuned to performance too much which makes them fragile imo,japanese you can clock up thousands of abused miles without any pampering,but if you like italian fair play bikes and styling wise i think no one can beat them,but reliability wise they are let down
 
Hmmmm, okay.

I'd have to argue with that on the part of Aprilia. They have always been the "Italian Honda" as far as a perfect mix of reliability, performance and style goes. I'll let the Ducati boys argue their own corner on this but as far as RSV's and Tuono's go they are every bit as reliable as any Jap tackle you care to mention. And in many cases the finish on Ape's is superior to a lot of Jap stuff. My 2000 MY RSV Mille still looks like it has just came out the crate. I've had a few tiny, well known and documented issues with minor parts on it over the 8 years I've owned it but nothing that has been of any consequence or caused a massive hole in my bank balance. It's certainly not fragile by any manner of means. I ride the nuts off it with fast road use and on track and it's never let me down nor has it been off the road for any mechanical reason for any length of time ( Other than not having time to ride the damn thing laterly this year! ).

Also, ( whilst I'm blowing my own trumpet :cool: ), even to this day, there is very little on the road that will stay with a well sorted and well piloted RSV or Tuono even an early one like mine. They are ridiculously quick in 'real road' conditions as well as on the track ( Knockhill in my case ). I've owned and had my backside in the saddle of dozens of bikes over the years since I've been riding ( started in 1988 ) and the Mille remains to this day one of THE best handling bikes out there in my opinion.

It's a common misconception on the part of misinformed and inexperienced riders that Italian bikes are unreliable and made of chocolate. There are always a few individual cases where an Italian bike has been unreliable but I could cite just as many folk I know who have had serious issues with Jap and German bikes. I owned a K100RS at one point which despite being a great bike, ate batteries and starter relays like they were going out of fashion. This however, doesn't mean all BMW's are unreliable. You can't really blanket it down to point towards one country and their motorcycles. Sure, back in the 1970's through to the late 1980's, early 1990's it maybe rang a little truer but certainly not the last few years generations of Tricolour machinery can be tarred with that same brush. :cool:

Lastly, only 'real men' ride Italian twins. :D
 
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