I bought my 08 R3touring in aug of last year with only 4500miles on it. The rear tire was REALLY squared off and about illegal. The bike came with a new Metz tire but I wanted to go to a larger tire (wider). Anyway,,,,no takers on the tire, so I mounted it and will proceed to demolish it in short order.
Now, the rest of the story....I had some spare time in the shop last week and was looking at the "bevel box" AKA final drive and said to myself, "well it's so easy to get at now, might as well do it"........and goooood that it did. I had to take a block of wood and hammer to separate the box from the control arm. The rust was unbelieveable....I think the dealer prep guy just put a smear of grease on the trannny side and then slid the assy together,,,there was NO sign of lube on the box coupler side. I'm assuming that this service is supposed to be done when they uncrate and assemble the bikes after shipping........but that leaves a LOT of room for error. FYI that pan in the last pic is the rust that came out of the final drive end,,,,I had just as much cleanup on the tranny side. I know some of you have said,,,,do it every time you take the rear tire off,,,,,and I'm a believer now!!!!
PS...this bike only has 7k on it now...barely broke in