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I recently took my '12 Yamaha R6 completely apart when I repainted it. When I put it back together I didn't realize but I'd forgotten a washer on the swingarm axle which was causing some movement of the swingarm, I've since corrected that error but road the motorcycle for about a week before fixing it.

At the same time I fixed that I replaced the chain and front and rear sprockets. But now I notice if I spin the rear wheel, there is a very subtle wobble. I can only tell because if I watch the chain when I spin the wheel I can see the chain moving in a slight wobble pattern.

I'm worried that perhaps the week that I rode the motorcycle with the missing swing arm axle washer may have caused the axle to be bent?

When I repainted the motorcycle, I had the rims powder coated. Could it maybe be if the rims were not balanced well when I had them put back together? I had to take them to a shop to have the rubber and bar rings removed before I gave them to the powder coater. I also had the shop put them back together when it was done but I don't know if they balanced them or not.

Or what else could it be be?

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    It sounds to me as though you didn't torque the sprocket correctly when installing. I'm not sure If torquing it correctly is going to solve your issue. Two things: first, the wobble in the sprocket will cause wear on your new chain; second, if it was the axle which was bent, the tire would lean, but wouldn't wobble. If the wheel had an issue, the whole thing would wobble. I don't think the missing swing arm washer has caused your issues.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Jun 17, 2015 at 10:32
  • If you have a rear race stand on the bike and can leave it running and in gear you will be able to detect if the wheel giving the wobble or the sprocket is giving the wobble. Do you have a race stand to perform this test with?
    – DucatiKiller
    Dec 8, 2015 at 12:35

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I have seen a similar issue many times in the past where the rim is fine but the sprocket is of poor quality and actually not 'flat'. By flat I mean, if you lay it on it's side on a flat surface there will be a gap to the flat surface between the sprocket and the surface, of some sort.

To validate if you are having this issue; remove the sprocket, place on a flat surface and see if you can get a feeler gauge of a particular thickness between the sprocket and the flat surface, if you can't and have a gap then obviously the sprocket is the issue.

Hope this was of some assistance.

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  • I've seen the same thing a few times.
    – Ppoggio
    Dec 26, 2015 at 18:32

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