Odd Part Failure After 43,500km - Shift arm

[mikeherdes]

After 43,500km without any issues whatsoever I've had something break on my FZ8.... fortunately less than a km from home. I was riding down a straight road getting up to speed and after reaching third gear I couldn't shift anymore and my shift peddle felt very loose. I couldn't downshift either, so I pulled the clutch in and shut the engine off. The problem was pretty obvious once I was off the bike, the nut or flange connecting the shift rod to the shift arm had broken off.

Yamaha has replaced both the bolt and the shift arm part numbers. See parts (13 & 22 in the picture)



For those with high millage this would be a good thing to watch out for - this kind of failure would have been a lot worse in a corner. I'll post actual pictures tonight.

 

[Teslank]

yikes! just need to check if the bolt is loose then, before it breaks off, are you hard on your shifting?

 

[shadowman]

This happened to my bike back in the summer (approx. 20k on the odometer). Unfortunately, I was about 120km from home. I put it into 3rd by hand, rode the clutch to get moving and managed to get to the next town (approx.20km), with only having to stop a couple of times. I got some zip ties and jerry-rigged it together to get me the rest of the way home, shifting gently along the way.
The threaded sleeve on part 13 had broken off... it looks like it is simply swaged into part 13. I stuck it back in the hole and welded it from the back side. No problems since. I'm sure it's more solid now, than when it was new.