rear tire moving while clutch engaged

[skeggo]

Hello all, I am a "new to me" ouner of a '79 XS11 Special. Had it for a few weeks now. This forum has been a great help in learning about the bike - thanks for the great info.

I have a question, probably a stupid one, but here goes. I put the bike up on the center stand to check the back tire. The bike is sortof fighting me to stay straight and thought perhaps the swingarm bearings might be loose. They do not seem to be.

So, still up on the center stand, I started the bike. Holding in the clutch I put it in first gear. The rear tire started to move but after 15 seconds or so it stopped (I am still holding the clutch in at this point).

Question is, is this normal or is my clutch out of adjustment?

I then slowly let the clutch out. I believe my rear tire is out of round as I can see an uneven pattern when it is turning (does not appear to be the rear rim thank goodness - the tires are old and I will be replacing them). I did notice an odd noise coming from the shaft itself. I will be replacing the shaft lube this weekend, might be empty for all I know.

Sorry for the length of my first post. It needs a bit of work, but this bike is fun to drive.

Skeggo

'79 XS1100 Special

[DiverRay]

The tire movement sounds normal, the shaft noise may be from the "middle gear". I would change the oil in both the middle and final drive gears, and pull the final drive and grease the shaft splines when you put on the new tire.
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36
This is the link for the spline lube, and I would do this every tire change. The oil change for the middle and final drive is in the same area, so it should be easy to find. I use synthetic gear oil, and I've had NO problems with my bike over the last 60K miles.

[AlanB]

Hi Skeggo,

Clutch sounds fine, tyre sounds shot!

Carry on and change the tyres and all the fluids and filters; there are a couple of pieces in here somewhere about what to lok for and what to do on one of these bikes which has been sitting. either try a search, or wait for one of the guys who knows their way round the site to point you in the right direction!

Good luck!

AlanB