The rear hugger.

Pauldaytona was my inspiration.  I used a rubber grill mat from ALDI supermarket for the rubber.

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I had the GRiSO swingarm pin and the bearings out and the suspension con rod linkages apart for greasing. When putting them back again last night I was thinking about protection, particularly in relation to swingarm bearings and after seeing photographs of those bearings completely destroyed by corrosion. Previously I had thought I would add a rubber flap to protect the shock – which is what I did on the V11 a lot of years ago and it did the job fine – or maybe put a rubber tube around the shock.

But now having seen the exposed swingarm pin and how vulnerable the bearings might be to water ingress, I think that protection of those bearings is really the main concern here (rather than the shock) and particularly when the bike is used in areas that have a lot of rain.

I've seen people asking how the tapered bearings get so dry of grease and so badly corroded... could it be too enthusiastic power washing, for example? It seems to me that it's likely to just be rain water and dirt flung onto the pin by the back tyre that's getting into the bearings. Correct me if I'm missing something, but I think that the swingarm pin / chassis is not adequately sealed. There is a gap between the pin and the chassis holes where the pin enters, on both sides. When the pin is being drenched, water will enter through those gaps.

Does anyone else have thoughts/observations on this as an area of water ingress? There are seals on the pin between the bearing taper ends and the inside of the chassis holes but they are by no means a tight fit between bearing and chassis to provide a watertight seal. They freely move along the pin. I suppose they would act as drip rings, preventing water creeping straight on to the bearing. Why isn't a seal used in the chassis itself where the pin enters, to keep out water? Or a tube to encode the swingarm pin?

Thoughts?

There is a seal that sits on a register in the frame that seals around the spindle.

Pete

That's good to know: thanks for the info on this. Is it a very thin (narrow) seal? Must be, I suppose. I did wonder what was at the hole edge but couldn't see well enough and it felt like it was just hard steel edge (and parts catalogue doesn't show anything, but maybe it's not a replaceable part). Maybe as a culprit the power-washing and solvent cleaning suggestion from someone was more along the right lines, re the photo of wrecked bearings (from Stelvio – and your man at bunga-bunga has shown pic of dry bearings). Dear knows what factors are at play in other people's situations, but as the question came to mind when I was assembling the pieces, thanks for the illumination.

Rain water ingress may not be such a worry now (as there is a chassis seal) however I'll put in a protector flap anyway and it will shield the shock a bit. I'm not mad keen on the look of a full hugger.

For interest, here is the photo that I refer to, of a wrecked swingarm (carc) bearing. You can see why it prompted concern!
Photo from Baldrick's workshop (England).
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For interest & education: I can't get at here again now, so this is the best photo I have of the area. I wonder is the black just inside the steel ring a frame-fitted seal (or just a dark hole)?

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Item 8 is your seals .  Use a plethora of a waterproof grease

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Hi Pete – I'll speak with you later about those seals. They are ones I referred to first (and said they could act as drip rings) that sit loose on the pin and don't seem to seal anything. When the roller bearings are in, on my bike those seals flop about in the gap between the bearing end and the frame – unless tightening the pin and ring-bush pulls the bearings in to squeeze the seals against the frame (where you say there is a register). That's what would make sense as the purpose of the seals being there: it just seemed like quite a big gap that has to be squeezed up. Well it's all academic now anyway. I'm interested for interest sake, but don't want to prolong discussion here.

I've attached a flap made from thin but strong plastic sheet, cut to size, heated to shape it and glued it. After bike is reassembled and I see how it works with weight on the back and swingarm movement I'll give it a final trim if necessary – or make another one. The plastic 'hinge' bend will move with arm. It should be rigid enough to keep shape but it won't break anything or jam... it will just deform or tear if something gets in there or it's pushed out of place.

Lots of materials could be used.
I have sheet of rubber from a car inner tube on V.11
The other material I considered today was closed cell foam: which like the plastic sheet can be shaped, is weightless and poses no risk. There are different thicknesses from very thin to thick.

Here are a couple of photos of a quick first go using a piece of fairly thick foam sheet, before I decided on using the plastic.

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The sheet plastic

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Glued to top of mudguard

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It's wet today, just for a change (haha). This is why splash guard will be useful.

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