I was looking through the maintenance manual and it seems to indicate, among other things, that the swing arm has to be removed every 7500 miles to inspect and replace, if necessary, the chain guides. Am I mistaken about that?? Removing the swing arm every 7500 miles would be a HUGE pain in the ass IMO!

You must be kidding... that would be a alot of work to pull that all apart.... in all my years of working on bikes and it's been over 40.. i never bother with a swingarm or the steering bearings... unless of coarse it was one of my motorcross bikes.

and never had one issue !!

Did you guys notice that the chain slider is coated with graphite as a anti-wear coating? It's probably a good idea to do a visual on that thing when you're servicing the chain and reapply the graphite as it wears away.

It will be a bit messy to apply but I'm going to use Dry Slide dry film lubricant on mine. It's a aerosol carrier for the graphite and once the carrier evaporates it will leave a coating of graphite on the chain guide to protect the rubber and hopefully extend its life.

The owners manual simply states to inspect the chain guide for wear at 7500 mile intervals. It does say to remove the swingarm to do this inspection in the service manual but I won't be removing mine until replacement time is due.

Fowvay....sheesh...graphite?Just lube yer chain once every 5,000 miles...she'll be fine!

Once every 5,000 miles? I do mine every 400-500 miles but I ride in a lot of rain!

Grn, it's not for the chain, it's for the rubber slider. This is independent of the chain maintenance.

It was tongue-in-cheek What I actually meant was...lubing the chain(yes Coot...WAY before 5K )will keep the rubber swingarm slide nice and slippery.No need to do anything to make that part more friction free.(Unless,of course,you WANT to).All I know is on my 07....I NEVER applied any type of lubricant to it...the chain did it all for me.51,000 miles....no wear.

The concept of regular chain maintenance should far and above keep that deal in tip top shape.That's kinda what I was gettin at.

And while we're on the subject of chain maintenance....to all the zx14R owners...IF you begin to hear a pretty good clunking noise on low speed (parking lot type)driving,or hitting the gas at speed(read..."lofting the frontend ")...and hearing that noise....you might want to check your chain adjustment.Mine began doing that at just around 400 miles or so.A quick mild readjustment took care of it.It was hitting the bottom of the swingarm...apparently when the shock compressed.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 2/28/2012 @ 2:46 AM *

I re-read the manual and it does in fact state that the swing arm should be removed to inspect the chain guides and the inspection interval for those guides in shown to be every 7500 miles. See pages 2-4 and 2-33 in the manual.

Amazing! This might be a deal-breaker for me. I've been talking to a local dealership about buying one, but if they won't throw in this inspection for free, at least for the first three or so, then I might back out.

that swingarm will out live everybody on this forum and the ones that will be joining in the next 5 to 10 years.

i lube my chain every 500 miles and then i always know when was that last time it was done .... the mileage is rounded off like 1500/2500/3000 etc.

and will lube before a 200 mile round or longer road trip.

but it would been nice for the 14,699.00 if they would of included some grease fittings on the ends. ds.

* Last updated by: mark43 on 2/29/2012 @ 10:57 AM *

What the heck is a 'chain guide'?.......Ummm...okay...I see the pic there...but it's pointing at the swingarm at the side/front.The chain guide is that rubber deal up top?Tell ya one thing...I'm not pullin my swingarm off ever if I don't have to.EVER.There's no zerks in there cause the bearings are sealed needles.Yes?PFFFT!!!They're saying that so you'll look at those bearings in there and inspect em(which in itself is probably an okay thing to do).Never heard of a correctly tightened pivot shaft failing.... Hell...you can easily check that rubber slider without removing anything.Flashlight,clean rag...don't see a problem?If it WAS failing...the bearings that is...I would think if you're visually inspecting stuff around there every time you clean and lube and adjust your chain you'd 'probably' notice some odd wear on your rear sprocket or something?Maybe some metal flakes from misalignment?Vibration probably?I would think so anyway.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 2/28/2012 @ 1:48 PM *

Mark,

It has nothing to do with the arm falling apart and I'm not in the least worried about that. I never said that I was and I have no idea what you're going on about.

I do know that the manual says to remove it every 7500 miles to check the chain guides. That was in my original post. Did you read it?

I THINK...if I'm not mistaken,that way back a while ago...I was looking at that deal myself on my 07.It slips into a pre-cut groove or something on the top part of the swingarm.I don't actually know HOW you would replace it...squeeze it in there somehow with a special tool or something?Mine was fine even at 51,000.It looked to me like the slider thing was able to be lifted up and out of some sort of cut in the arm.Tell ya one thing...if it IS that rubber bumper up top there...they sure left out servicing it.....don't ya think?If ya didn't know what it really was....No pics or anything showing the removal and install....OKAY...are they saying if it's damaged or worn that you buy a NEW SWINGARM?No way.That piece comes off there...I lifted the rearmost part of it up...just a bit to see how it was fastened.It IS removable...I think .

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 2/28/2012 @ 1:52 PM *

Keep eye on the rubber chain guide... and no need to remove the swingarm to inspect.. and hope the rubber guide last a long time.

I have never had to check or adjust a steering stem on any road bike.... and the manual would say to do but i don't as long as the handlebars turn freely.

Just check tq on steering stem nut... and good to go... should not be a deal breaker... check on insurance that might be.. they wanted to charge me 1300 dollars a year are they crazy !

* Last updated by: mark43 on 2/29/2012 @ 11:01 AM *

Now HERE's something I'd be more concerned about....(not that the chain guide isn't important...it is).

Can't imagine what kind of crash THIS would create leaned over at 140

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 2/28/2012 @ 3:02 PM *

GRN... what year bike.. was the rider hurt... part covered under warranty...and is that part of the shock mounting system.

I think that's an 07 Diablo Black.Way back when they had the frame warnings.Not to worry....all models after 07 were carefully assembled.The engine mounting bolts at the rear there were overtightened at the factory(s).THAT is the result of the frame being overly stressed.

No one was hurt..there was no crash..but....he said it 'suddenly' dropped in the rear and the tire slammed into the underside...and stayed that way till he got her stopped.No telling what may have happened if the stress would have been in a curve.This was a straight line failure.

Sounds like an excuse to get you into the dealer

You may be right!

I ended up talking to the dealer tech about this & he said that they don't do the swingarm removal on the 7500 mile service unless the customer requests it and that it adds about $80 to the cost of the service. He said that the chain guides can be fully inspected using lights & a mirror. That sounds reasonable to me. I looked at one of the bikes on the floor & it's easy to see the chain guides on them.

False alarm I guess.