2003 V11 Sport
Sunny day, on a weekend ritual ride with my girlfriend. 80 miles to our favorite pie place, following the Gallatin river towards Yellowstone park. On the way back, I started to feel a slight rhythmic vibration from the rear end. I slow down a bit, flip over the visor, try to isolate any sounds. Pull over and check the driveshaft for any slop in the joints or the connection. Decide to limp it home, very. slowly.
Get about five blocks from home, when the vibration turns really bad. Pull over immediately, and start checking everything again. Thats when I spot this:
Bearing race has completely collapsed. We walk the five blocks home, get the truck and park it at my shop.
New bearings in without a problem, but I'm concerned about why it happened with only 8,000 miles on the odometer. I've never seen a wheel bearing (especially on a street bike) fail with so few miles. I'm worried (looking at how the bearing is preloaded from the rear caliper mount. The area contacting the bearing appears to be greater than the inside race, and possibly contacting the outer seal.
Has anyone else had anything like this happen on their V11 sport?
Also, does anyone know where you can buy a center stand for these bikes nowadays? I find myself having to do ridiculous things to lift and support the rear of this bike: