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Are these bends / dents normal on swingarm?

4K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  baz666 
#1 ·
Hey everyone! Just got this 2008 Ninja 650r few weeks ago, driven about 300 miles on it so far. Just got a new set of tires and took the rear wheel off, and noticed my rear swing arm looks dented and bent pretty bad. Really scared me at first knowing Ive looked over the bike time and time again and never noticed it before ever taking the wheel off. After looking at some replacement swing arms online i noticed similar bends on other swing arms.
I personally have never wrecked or seriously dropped the bike before, almost dropped it once but caught it luckily.
The bike has ridden fine so far and no strange tire wear or anything, not going to ride it again until i figure out if i need a new swing arm or not.
Just wanted to make a quick post and see if this is normal or not. I tried searching for the same thing but didn't really come up with anything i was looking for. If this has already been answered i apologize. Thanks! -Paul




 
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#6 ·
Yea that was another concern, but for a minute there I was thinking I'd need a new swingarm so I wasn't worried.

What's the best way for me the tackle that? Get the rust sanded out and maybe get that area coated in trucked liner or something that real tough and rust resistant?

Thanks!
 
#7 ·
I wish I had a picture of the dent on the outside of the left side of the swingarm on my 2010 ER6n.
It's just ahead of the rear sprocket, about 1.5 inches in diameter.
The bike is currently at home where I live in northern Thailand (one of the world's great NON-radar mountainous riding regions).
I'm in DC for a couple of months working.
I bought the bike with about 32,000 easy miles on it, previously owned by a retired Irish road racing mechanic who babied it. He'd bought it with about 5,000 miles on it and said it came that way. Hard to believe it's part of a manufacturing process but also difficult to see how anyone could do that without chipping the paint. It's an almost perfectly round dent. Weird. Is it some manufacturing process defect?
The engine is a champ, pulls hard and sounds great, even with the stock exhaust. We did remove the pollution plumbing. We also dropped the front end about 2 inches, raising the forks through the yokes and replacing the one-piece handle bar with a set of drop bars. Then we took out the stock fork internals and replaced them with a set of Bitubo emulators and progressive springs, adjustable to 15 positions, currently set up at 10 of 15, 15 being the hardest. I put a set of Pirelli Diablo Rosso's on it since Angels weren't available in Thailand for that bike.
I never liked the ER6n handling with the stock set-up. The front end felt far too high and vague. Now it corners so smooth and steady, I can put a knee down. But dive into the corner too quick and the back end begins to shimmy. When I get back in mid-August, I plan to replace the cheap plastic shock with a YYS unit. The ER6n is a popular bike in Thailand since they're assembled there and a few friends have the YYS and their bikes definitely handle much better when pushed hard through corners. The stock shock is plastic and in Thailand's hot climate it heats up very quickly and you're down the spring. There is also a Kawi dealer package that replaces the rear swing arm with the Versys unit, giving the bike even more road contact and stability. The price differences are crazy. I want to replace the rear side panels and tail section plastic due to scuffing and weather wear. Total cost in Thailand, about $35, new from the dealer. In the US, about 8 times that. Ridiculous.
Anyway, great forum. I've only been on a couple times and learned a lot. I'd like to change the front 2-pot caliper and I've heard there's a Tokico 4-four set up that bolts right on. If anyone's done it, I'd love to hear about it.
And if you ever want to ride in the amazing mountains of northern Thailand, drop me a line at baz666@yahoo.com and I'll steer you to the right places to go and where to rent a good, well-maintained bike. As my old Uncle used to say: "Kid, you wanna ride hot p*ssy, better start by riding a hot bike. The rest will come easy."
 
#8 ·
I wish I had a picture of the dent on the outside of the left side of the swingarm on my 2010 ER6n.
It's just ahead of the rear sprocket, about 1.5 inches in diameter.
The bike is currently at home where I live in northern Thailand (one of the world's great NON-radar mountainous riding regions).
I'm in DC for a couple of months working.
I bought the bike with about 32,000 easy miles on it, previously owned by a retired Irish road racing mechanic who babied it. He'd bought it with about 5,000 miles on it and said it came that way. Hard to believe it's part of a manufacturing process but also difficult to see how anyone could do that without chipping the paint. It's an almost perfectly round dent. Weird. Is it some manufacturing process defect?
The engine is a champ, pulls hard and sounds great, even with the stock exhaust. We did remove the pollution plumbing. We also dropped the front end about 2 inches, raising the forks through the yokes and replacing the one-piece handle bar with a set of drop bars. Then we took out the stock fork internals and replaced them with a set of Bitubo emulators and progressive springs, adjustable to 15 positions, currently set up at 10 of 15, 15 being the hardest. I put a set of Pirelli Diablo Rosso's on it since Angels weren't available in Thailand for that bike.
I never liked the ER6n handling with the stock set-up. The front end felt far too high and vague. Now it corners so smooth and steady, I can put a knee down. But dive into the corner too quick and the back end begins to shimmy. When I get back in mid-August, I plan to replace the cheap plastic shock with a YYS unit. The ER6n is a popular bike in Thailand since they're assembled there and a few friends have the YYS and their bikes definitely handle much better when pushed hard through corners. The stock shock is plastic and in Thailand's hot climate it heats up very quickly and you're down the spring. There is also a Kawi dealer package that replaces the rear swing arm with the Versys unit, giving the bike even more road contact and stability. The price differences are crazy. I want to replace the rear side panels and tail section plastic due to scuffing and weather wear. Total cost in Thailand, about $35, new from the dealer. In the US, about 8 times that. Ridiculous.
Anyway, great forum. I've only been on a couple times and learned a lot. I'd like to change the front 2-pot caliper and I've heard there's a Tokico 4-four set up that bolts right on. If anyone's done it, I'd love to hear about it.
And if you ever want to ride in the amazing mountains of northern Thailand, drop me a line at baz666@yahoo.com and I'll steer you to the right places to go and where to rent a good, well-maintained bike. As my old Uncle used to say: "Kid, you wanna ride hot p*ssy, better start by riding a hot bike. The rest will come easy."
 
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