Got hit by car. Weird sound in back wheel

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Eckhoff

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Aug 31, 2015
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Location
Oslo, Norway
So after two years of riding I got hit by a car. Speed was about 20-25 km/h (15 mph).

The car hit my back wheel on the right side, and the bike landed on the left side on the ground. Bent handle bar, gear shifter, and scratched exhaust among a few other things.

I also noticed a weird sound from my back wheel, please look at the attached video. Anyone have an idea of what it could be? Streamable Video
(The insurance guy who’s gonna make a valuation of the damage cost haven’t looked at the bike yet)
 
Sounds like maybe your plastic wheel insert (Rear Brake: part # 3, plate cover ; no longer available 2006 Yamaha V-MAX 1200 (VMX12V) Rear Brake | Ron Ayers
or your Driveshaft: part #30, housing cover $23.57 2006 Yamaha V-MAX 1200 (VMX12V) Drive Shaft | Ron Ayers
cracked, and is hitting one of the gears.

That, or something in the bearings has been tweaked, and is binding. Being able to disassemble it, and see where the origin of the binding or rubbing is happening is going to be key to seeing about the ability to fix it. I wouldn't touch anything until the insurance adjuster has looked at it.

The sound seems to happen when the valve stem reaches a 6 o'clock position and persists for about 90 degrees, until the 3 o'clock position, wheel turning counter-clockwise observing from the left side.

Who knows, you might be able to throw a new (used, replacement) swingarm & final drive assembly onto it and discover that whatever it is/was, that fixes it. I would be interested to see about frame alignment.

Expect that your bike is going to be totalled. Try to get it classified as a 'rebuildable wreck.' Here in the USA, that means that if you repair it the bike can be returned to the road, you have to get an inspection of the bike before it can be classified as safe to return to the road, and you have to show receipts for what was needing to be replaced. It then gets a 'rebuilt' title which may require the assignment of a new VIN, and the title is marked as being a 'rebuilt' vehicle. Of course that cuts the value down greatly, but if you're just planning to ride it, and not sell it, so-what? The other thing to-do is to find a bike with a title but a blown engine, and do an engine swap.
 
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So after two years of riding I got hit by a car. Speed was about 20-25 km/h (15 mph).

The car hit my back wheel on the right side, and the bike landed on the left side on the ground. Bent handle bar, gear shifter, and scratched exhaust among a few other things.

I also noticed a weird sound from my back wheel, please look at the attached video. Anyone have an idea of what it could be? Streamable Video
(The insurance guy who’s gonna make a valuation of the damage cost haven’t looked at the bike yet)
Bike will be totalled. If you decide to keep it insurance will pay you less by $1000. You can later reregister it. I just did in CA. Any questions - pm me. If your bike old, just get rid of it and buy newer.
 
So after two years of riding I got hit by a car. Speed was about 20-25 km/h (15 mph).

The car hit my back wheel on the right side, and the bike landed on the left side on the ground. Bent handle bar, gear shifter, and scratched exhaust among a few other things.

I also noticed a weird sound from my back wheel, please look at the attached video. Anyone have an idea of what it could be? Streamable Video
(The insurance guy who’s gonna make a valuation of the damage cost haven’t looked at the bike yet)
That's in the pumpkin not good
 
I`ve spent a _lot_ of time investigating that exact sound when rolling my bike backwards. It`s the sound of the pins you see below moving sideways in the damper bushes in the rear wheel.

s-l500.jpg

damper_medium1FK2536400-01_c1b0.jpg

If I hear that sound, combined with the fact the wheel was hit on an angle, you probably have a bent rear axle or so. Can you see the wheel moving from side to side if you stand behind it and rotate the wheel? The best way you can see that is by checking the space between the swingarm and the tire as you rotate the wheel.

Edit: This was mine. Sounds familiar? Replaced the rear axle and it`s fine now.
 
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Well, maybe all you need are new bushings for the cush drive in the rear wheel.

From the side, with a grip on-top of the wheel/tire, try wiggling the wheel back and forth, side to side. If your cush drive bushings are worn, you should be able to see movement apparent. This will work best with the wheel off the ground. Hopefully you have a centerstand, or a bikestand if your centerstand is missing.

This can also reveal worn wheel bearings. Of course, in a 'worst-case scenario,' where someone working-on the bike failed to properly torque the rear axle castellated nut, the wheel would also wobble. The presence or absence of that wobble allows you to rule-in/rule-out those possible causes of it.

I have a question for Rempage R1: what was the source of your bent axle? What was the cause of it bending? I'm no mechanical engineer, but the size of the axle and its alloy, It would take a considerable blow to bend the axle.

From the O.P.'s description of the force of impact, it doesn't sound like the blow was substantial enough to bend an axle. I would expect that a wheel would be cracked or bent from a sufficient force which could cause an axle to be bent. He doesn't say if he was stationary and the car was moving. It sounds like both bike and car may-have been moving slowly (per his self-report of '15 MPH') and that the car grazed him with enough force to knock him to the ground. I'd expect that to be something like traffic coming to a light, and the car tries to squeeze-in next-to the bike, as they're about to come-to a rolling stop, and, the car impacts the bike with a glancing blow. In the absence of the O.P. providing us with particulars, it's all academic anyway.

A bent axle is very easy to ascertain. Rolling a clean axle on a piece of glass, with the hex head off the side, will quickly reveal any 'hop' in the axle.

One of the things that my friend does on the Hyabusas entering the shop for work, is to regularly-replace the cush drive components in the rear wheel hub. These are frequently-worn to where they need replacement. It's like replacing a chain and sprockets, replace the cush drive pieces too. Here's one of the bikes at my friend's shop typically getting work done, like that, among other things this is receiving a full titanium exhaust, $2,000 for that, before installation.

When you're building big-bore Hyabusas running on NOS, things like cush drives are 'expendables.' One of their recent Hyabusa builds sporting a huge turbo turned 585 RWHP on a Dynojet dynamometer they use at another shop. That might-bend your axle! Just out-of-frame to the left of this view is the NOS licensed filling station.

Hyabusa-titanium exhaust.jpg
 
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I'll have to look.
I have a wheel. I think bearings are still good. I would give you a good deal.(75.00) plus shipping.
 
I was half way through a roudabout when the car hit the tyre me on my right side. My speed was about 18 mph and her speed must have been about 20. I can clearly see that the full circle of the side of my rear tyre had been in contact with her bumper at least for one spin maybe more, so it almost looks like we had the same speed for a short while before she pushed me over.

The insurance guy offered me $ 4000 for the damages based on my list of damaged items. (This is a 86 mod Vmax and usually sells for about $ 6800 here in Norway). I thought the offer was pretty good.

I changed the gear shift lever and tested the bike to see but didn’t really notice anything weird from the rear wheel. I’m thinking maybe I should just try to change the bushings first and see if the sound goes away.

@RempageR1 Man that is really the exact same sound! Guess I’m gonna change the rear axle as well.
 
@RempageR1 Man that is really the exact same sound! Guess I’m gonna change the rear axle as well.

I rolled the axle on a flat surface, that way I found out. If you want to validate on your bike, remove the plastic covers between the wheel and the pumpkin and install the wheel. That way, you can see what`s going on.
 
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