Rubber dampers

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Aug 17, 2015
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Following picture shows the third set of rubber dampers and I have to change them again now with 18'000+ miles on the clock.
Rubber dampers

Does anybody know about similar problems and how to prevent this?
 
I have not seen this yet .. This would be a good question for the factory. Maybe a misalignment .? We should ask Richard-7 if his Dad had the cush drive rubbers go out . His bike had enough miles to ask.
 
I had this issue on mine at around 4,000 miles. Was replaced under warranty within a couple of weeks as new wheels were located in SoCal. Got new wheel and tire.

Was told by the factory that some productions of the dampers were not up to spec for rubber quality.

I noticed the issue on my bike as small pieces of rubber were visible protruding from the space between the wheel and spacer.
 
You notice it when holding the rear wheel with one hand and moving the drive sprocket back and forth. If you notice a backlash you can estimate the grade of ware of the dampers.
When driving you can feel during acceleration a certain jerkiness of the bike...
I hope I could explain.
Raphi, Switzerland
 
DBono said:
I had this issue on mine at around 4,000 miles. Was replaced under warranty within a couple of weeks as new wheels were located in SoCal. Got new wheel and tire.

Was told by the factory that some productions of the dampers were not up to spec for rubber quality.

I noticed the issue on my bike as small pieces of rubber were visible protruding from the space between the wheel and spacer.
How many miles you did with the new dampers by now?
I hope, I have now good quality ones ...
 
I'll check the bikes at home for this and report back. Thanks for the heads up. This is great info.. :mrgreen:
 
DBono said:
I had this issue on mine at around 4,000 miles. Was replaced under warranty within a couple of weeks as new wheels were located in SoCal. Got new wheel and tire.

Was told by the factory that some productions of the dampers were not up to spec for rubber quality.

I noticed the issue on my bike as small pieces of rubber were visible protruding from the space between the wheel and spacer.

Hello Dbono , Nice to see you back on the forum . How many miles have you done on the new cush drive rubbers and are they still good ? Thanks , Tony

Oh I see same question by Raphi...
 
DBono said:
I've got about 7,000 miles (3,000 miles more) and no issues since.

Maybe I had a bad second set when changed first time at about 12'000 miles. That is to say this second set (stock dampers from Norton) lasted less then 4'000 miles and looked even worse than the ones in above picture when changed. The ones in above picture were thus the third set of dampers and I made a bit more than 2'000 miles with them. This last set was not from Norton, but a prototype from SBN. Now I let mount stock dampers again and hope they last longer...
Raphi
 
I have never had mine off yet. If they last at least 20,000 miles this will be equal to a Xring chain and sprockets life.? Or what can you expect to get out of a chain and sprockets these days with good maintenance ? Then replacing them with a new chain and sprockets doesn't seem so bad. BUT if the sprocket carrier stubs do not insert deep enough into the rubber damper this will keep happening. I think the rubber dampers should be twice as long as they are with a correspondingly longer sprocket carrier stubs to work in them. That engine makes a lot of torque and give them a workout. And I suspect if the bike is ridden gently they will last longer .. This cries for an upgrade !!! Especially for those with a heavy right wrist....
 
Hello Raphi , Is it possible that the sprocket carrier stubs are not fully engaged into the rubber dampers ? For example is the bearing in the wheel hub not fully driven into the hub ? This might cause the sprocket carrier not to fully engage the buffers. ?
 
Just checked SE107 with 15,000 miles. Little bit sloppy. Nothing too bad. Thanks for the heads up on this issue.
 
TonyA said:
Hello Raphi , Is it possible that the sprocket carrier stubs are not fully engaged into the rubber dampers ? For example is the bearing in the wheel hub not fully driven into the hub ? This might cause the sprocket carrier not to fully engage the buffers. ?
Don't think that this is the case. There is not much space between sprocket carrier and where the dampers are...
Maybe it is a problem when aggressive liquid (from lubrication or cleaning?) gets in contact with the rubber. I don't know. Let's hope that is - like DBono said - just some sets of dampers that are of bad quality...
 
I have this same problem. Spoke to the factory in the UK and they advise the material has been updated to improve life of the dampers, but most likely failure is due to over tightening of the chain. I'm waiting on new dampers via South Bay Norton.
 
failed dampers destroyed the wheel hub on mine. I'm waiting on a complete wheel and hub assembky with an updated design. I believe the washers are inferior material and can't handle the torque. High grade (aircraft) neoprene would most likely be the solution.
 
As stated previously, I have a damaged rear hub from a failure just like this. I have sharp aluminum hub material now protruding into the space where the rubber washers reside. It is now a rubber washer blender/eater.

Norton first said they would replace the whole wheel assembly, but after waiting several weeks for it, I've just been told (today) the factory has rejected the warranty claim. The bike is 18 mos into the warranty with only 3500 miles on the odometer.

It's clear Norton is aware of this issue with the Talon hubs because it was discussed with me at length when I called to discuss rubber pieces coming out of the hub.

The bike has been down for almost a month now and this is an unacceptable position Norton has taken on the warranty claim. More to follow.
 
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