Hi all.

I noticed the other day that my bike has developed a squeaking sound as I pushed it forwards gently getting it out of my garden. Closer inspection revealed that the right hand side of the tyre is slightly flattened where it has been rubbing against the inside of the swing arm.

I am assuming that there is meant to be a spacer of some sort and size inserted to effectively move the tyre over slightly so that this does not happen, but I am wondering if there is any way of telling if there is currently a spacer in there or not without having to remove the wheel?

Also, how would I tell what size spacer I need?

Many thanks in advance.

You got that right it's a 1.5mm spacer between the wheel and the drive.

Cheers Rick.

Suppose I'll have to take the wheel off today and check if it's there.

You don't need to take the wheel right out even to put the spacer in.

Even if I fitted my rear wheel without spacer (flat steel between brake disc and wheel) the tire wouldn't rub.

What size tire are you running?

Ya, you need a spacer.

I put a 140 on the rear, and went without the spacer too. The tire just barely rubs, nothing serious, but I don't like taking chances.

There are two size spacers, a thick and a thin. The thick one is for later bikes if memory serves.

So, I installed the thin spacer and Dremmeled the left leg of the center stand to obtain proper clearance. 

Wish there was a slightly thinner spacer so I could achieve equal clearance on both sides.

Why don't you make such a spacer from sheet material of the desired thickness?  Should be easy to do since you have the original spacer as a pattern.

Mossy1200 wrote:Even if I fitted my rear wheel without spacer (flat steel between brake disc and wheel) the tire wouldn't rub.

What size tire are you running?

130/90-17 which I believe is the original size which is why I'm suspecting the lack of a spacer. Not had chance to look at it today as been busily working on a bike for a friend.

I'm using a 160/60ZR18 tyre on a three spoke wheel where a 130/90-17 used to go and no spacer was required or desired to align the wheel close to stock - of course this is only information as your situation is slightly dimensionally different. There's no rubbing, but it's about 3mm away from the Monolever swingarm.

Just thought I would post an update.

Not used the K much over the last couple of months but got back on it a few weeks ago as I had a few journeys to do into heavily congested areas at awkward times of day and thought using 'Kylie' would be a damn site easier than using my Discovery. It was after doing this that I had a really good look at the rear tyre as it didn't feel quite right in some situations and found that the tread level had got very low and there were a couple of cracks in the sidewall that I hadn't seen previously on my regular checks.

This then made up my mind that it was not getting used at all until I had some new rubber fitted to it. Sadly, not working at the moment, funding for it was a little tight and so to make sure that I wouldn't be tempted to pop out on it, I removed the rear wheel and dropped it off at my local tyre fitters. They ordered in the right size tyre for it and I picked it up a couple of days later when I had the cash. I am now the owner of a nice new Continental Conti-Go tyre which does not even come close to rubbing the swing arm for the final drive!

I must say though, I was not massively keen on the tread pattern at first but having now ridden it for almost 200 miles I can say that it certainly performs a lot better than the old one did. So far I have covered approx four and a half thousand miles (approximately 7,200km for those who use the wrong way of measuring!) on it and am loving it so much that in a couple of weeks time myself and a friend are visiting North Wales for the day whilst we do a 'Bike Safe' course and have promised myself to get some pictures sorted.

Then at some point I should really get a new front tyre too.

I had a 130/90 BT45 on the rear. 8 valve monolever.

A few weeks ago having looked at the available space decided the new rear BT45 would be a 140 but a 140/80 as there is no 140/90.

Looking at what is left after fitting the 140/80 I reckon a 150 would fit but with NIL clearance. Spacer is fitted etc etc. Question is should I try it next time out?