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Hi there,
Been having some great rides on the SB66 recently including a fantastic 30 miler around the Isle of Purbeck yesterday with the boys.
However, my SB66 was really creaking yesterday and with all of the dusty trails its been experiencing recently. I wondered what other owners recommended maintenance wise? I know that I need to torque the pivot points as per the owners manual (to be honest this hasn't been done for a while). But should I also lubricate the suspension? If so what should I use for this?
Any advice would be very gratefully received.
Thanks
I just check / tighten my pivot points every 30-50 miles or so.
Strip and grease all the pivots, strip the switch bearing housing and regrease. The single best piece of advice I can give is to never, ever, ever point a hose at the switch unit, and take the o rings inside the switch and bin them. They are designed to keep dust out in Nevada, but end up keeping water inside here.
Love mine, a true do it all bike.
I just check / tighten my pivot points every 30-50 miles or so.
what, mid ride?
After 3 days of Morzie mud i disassembled the rear pivot points carefully tapped out all the bearings ,flipped off the bearing seals with a watch makers screwdriver flushed them out with degreaser then loads of water, then thoroughy dried (hair dryer is useful) regreased with Finish Line ceramic bearing grease then re assembled as per instructions in manual.
I did not have any creaking to start with but it was much improved afterwards, also a service of the rear shock was worth doing it had no mud in it but the small quantity of Fox fluid dries out fairly quickly (videos for that are on you tube).
As nobeer says they are a great bike very happy with mine.
Mine has just had the bearings replaced, and is now creaking like a b****rd. Might have to strip it down and check everything again - are there any particular points to look at that are prone to creaking?
If it's like the SB95 the small pivot bearings that sit in the switch link plates (that the lower part of the swingarm attaches to) are the ones that go most often. I replace them about once every 3 months. They must just get water running into them.
At the same time, I prise off the large switch bearing dust seals and run lube into them and rotate several times. The switch link should be rotatable by hand once assembled and fully tightened (before the swingarm is bolted on).
A few rides after a bearings replacement mine started doing this:
I eventually traced it to the lower dogbone bolt - those 'inner race extender' things (like a glorified washer, step 6 in the manual) needed grease on their inner surface. It's been fine ever since I sorted that out.