Please could all owners do me a favour.

[Beamish]

As you may or not know I had a bit if bother with my rear sprocket carrier setup from new. After all the items were replaced by bm there is still play in the carrier i.e you can rock the sprocket carrier in a fwd rear motion in the direction of wheel travel without the wheel moving. I am not alone with this issue and am informed that this is normal. The issue I have is some 2012 bikes do not have play and some have up to 4mm of play. On a bike with 12000 hard riding miles you might expect such movement but the bikes I know about have 1600 miles. I am not happy with the std it's supposed to be like that answer as with 4mm of play the Cush rubbers will be destroyed in no time. This is what I am after from you guys / gals if that's ok:

1. Is there play in your sprocket carrier?

2. What year and what mileage?

That's it. One of the forum members is bypassing UK customer services and asking Germany direct and I am continuing to approach UK tech dept.
all I want is some limits! At what point is the play unacceptable? If you have 4mm of play, do you set up your chain tension with the sprocket carrier fully rear or fully fwd? I have different dealers saying different things which is even more worrying! Thanks for you help.

 

[phil]

I will check mine (again) tonight and let you know tomorrow..

Phil

 

[Beamish]

Thanks Phil.

 

[Ducky]

I'll be changing my sprockets soon so will inspect the cush drive setup then.

 

[phil]

Although I will check and report back, I do remember when I put a new rear on couple of months ago that the cush drive rubbers were still in very good condition and it all felt tight (11k).

 

[Beamish]

Is yours a pre 2012 bike? Don't really understand why we are getting such a variation (11k tight as a drum, 1.6K slack as a wizards sleeve!)

 

[Beamish]

I'll be changing my sprockets soon so will inspect the cush drive setup then.

Many thanks ducky

 

[BIKERFRENZY]

my 2012 built wk 46 230 mile bike has no ftee play, I can get about 1mm if I try to rotate the sprocket in the opposite direction to the wheel but thats against the rubber, no movement in any other direction. It must be the cush rubbers?

 

[cally1066]

My 2012 sproket moves around a little

 

[Monstatom]

My 2010 has no play at all @ 6000 miles.

 

[Beamish]

My 2012 sproket moves around a little

What mileage and roughly how much pls?

 

[Beamish]

My 2010 has no play at all @ 6000 miles.

That is the reason I am so interested, why would it change on a later model?

 

[Beamish]

my 2012 built wk 46 230 mile bike has no ftee play, I can get about 1mm if I try to rotate the sprocket in the opposite direction to the wheel but thats against the rubber, no movement in any other direction. It must be the cush rubbers?

That is exactly how I would expect the cush drive to feel like. Mine has about 100 mileson it since new rebuild and already there is play before the drive comes into play.

 

[phil]

Is yours a pre 2012 bike? Don't really understand why we are getting such a variation (11k tight as a drum, 1.6K slack as a wizards sleeve!)

March 2010 mate...

 

[Godzilla]

I will check mine when I can. I do know that when I take the rear wheel off then the cush drive drops out really easily.

 

[Beamish]

Right then....... I emailed Steve Hicken ( buildbase BMW) and he kindly gave me the number of his chief mech Stuart. They have run std wheel BMs for two seasons and he reckons his bikes have up to 8mm of play and it is not a problem in the slightest. He assures me that he wouldn't change the Cush drive rubbers until after 10mm! It seems like this isn't an issue, well not one that superstock teams running a racing season are worried about. It has totally put my mind at ease but I will still await BMWs take on what is considered a serviceable amount of play. I hope this information helps others on the forum with similar worries.

 

[Malky]

2012 model, under two hundred miles on the clock, no free play at all, although as said previously, cush drive just falls out when you take the rear wheel off!

 

[Shft_Ctrl]

My 2011 had 3500 miles on it when the cush rubbers AND sprocket carrier were replaced due to (IIRC) 8, maybe 9mm of rotational movement (at the sprocket teeth) and 1-2mm of lateral play (could be pulled away from the wheel towards the swingarm). You could also twist the sprocket diagonally. When the dealer suggested I check their Demo bike, it was pretty much the same...the service manager's face dropped a little! IMO, they don't come out the factory like this so to develop 8mm+ of movement from spec is not right.

 

[Beamish]

The carrier houses the bearing so your first carrier may have had a failed bearing also. Lateral movement is not acceptable I am just talking about the fwd and aft. I await BMWs answer with interest.

 

[babarr46]

2010 25000 hard miles 6mm fwd/rear free play cush drive rubbers are sweet, i use white grease to pack them out a bit . no lateral play at all.