Early vs late R111 transmission / drivetrain comparison experiment.

[wzuccarello]

Bought a 2005 with 11K miles last year.
Runs and shifts great but I noticed the drive train makes slight clunky noises when cruising at lower speeds and lower rpms and in different gears. Like 35-40 in 3rd. Small quick + or - changes in throttle causes a light clunk noise. Does it in all gears at lower rpms.
Recently I acquired a 2018 Roadster with 7500 miles. It makes no clunks at all.
I decided to measure drive train runout of both bikes for comparison.
With engines off and in 1st gear I gently rolled them to and fro lightly a few times to get the feel and not push hard enough to move the crankshaft.
Then I marked the kickstand on the floor to show the fore and aft travel allowed by the drive train slack.
The '05 measured 2.25" runout.
The '18 measured 7/8".
I don't know if that's normal for the somewhat notorious 05 era transmission or is it a warning of issues?
Anyone want to check theirs and chime in?

 

[Ward]

If that's the same in all gears, it sounds more like a final drive/driveshaft/universal joint issue. A friend of mine with had this on an '05 trike. The additional load of the trike caused the universal joint to fail. I'd be tempted to take the bevel boxout and inspect the drive shaft & UJ ?

 

[cootertwo]

I have 2, 05's and 1, 2013 and there is a difference in the two. I'm too lazy to go measure at the moment, but will watch to see if any others test their bike. To me, the 2013 shifts a lot smoother than the 05's. Don't know why, just so...... And that bit of "slop" will bite you on the ass in corners, just like a loose chain on a chain drive bike. Taking up the slop while at a lean can be exciting.

 

[TURBO200R4]

i would think that replacing (if still available ) with new the rubber cushion in the wheel would be of great benefit with curing the slack and clunk.
i think that it is about time on mine starting to get a little clunky.

 

[Sparky59]

Back around the last turn of the century everything in the drivetrain was some sort of metal, iron, mild steel, bronze, etc.
eventually there would be wear and chatter.... today there is rubber and polyurathene,etc.
Wear is wear, but the trans is different between years....early 2 gear dogs were 8 in number, the replacement gears were 6 dogs in number.....so Yes there will be a measured difference in trans gear slack, Plus u-joint slack, final drive rubber isolater, and metal gear final drive wear slack...