I always balanced my wheels with the cush drive, sprocket carrier with sprocket and brake rotor in place. I figure they're all a part of the wheel and they probably have an impact on balance.
My sprocket carrier was loose by the first time I took the rear wheel off to change tires on my Gen2. Second tire change, the carrier was falling out under it's own weight. I used Sensei cush drive rubbers purchased from MPS. That definitely made a very positive difference in the response of the drive. The Sensei rubbers made seating the sprocket carrier very difficult. I placed a piece of wood over the carrier and stood on it and that didn't even press the carrier in all the way. I pounded it with a rubber mallet a little too. I'm pretty sure torquing the axle pressed the carrier in all the way eventually. Guess I better have a look at that. Come to think of it, I did have a lot of wear on the inside surface of my front sprocket teeth. It was probably chain misalignment from the sprocket carrier not being fully seated. Thanks for the reminder. I'll be checking on that soon.
This tutorial might be helpful at least to show what I mean by the sprocket carrier not fully seating. It's the last pic and I see I later made the comment that there should be no gap between the carrier and the wheel hub.
Rear Wheel Inspection Gen2 Hayabusa 1. Test the condition of the cush drive rubbers by turning the sprocket forward and back by hand. This may be done with the rear wheel installed. If there is any movement in either direction, the cush drive rubbers should be replaced. 2. Remove the...
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And this too might be interesting to have a read and look. I bet that sprocket wear was from the super tight Sensei dampers I put in.
@JeffSyh , I think you nailed it back a few years. Probably the cush drive.
I pulled the stock countershaft sprocket off my 08 and noticed it had wear all the way around on the side that faces the motor. The side that faces out doesn't look like it was touched by the chain at all. I had this kind of wear on the rear sprocket of my other bike but the front had no side...
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