You will like this one - repairing rear suspension link

I bought this link from ebay from timemachinebikes07. The pictures that you see are after I have put new bearings and dust seals on it. It was second hand so wasn't anything other than what I expected. The bearing really needed replacing and the pins needed rubbing down because of rust but not complaining. It came with the 2 link plates and new bolts and only cost me £34. Excellent service from them and can't fault them. I found the old bearing cages quite hard to knock out of the link and suspension but a lot easier to install with a bit of grease put on there before knocking them in with a light hammer and 18mm socket. I washed the bearings out with petrol to get whatever grease was in there before fitting them. I used caged bearings instead of the ones that were the same as the ones originally on there. Once I had the bearings in there I packed them full of marine grease until I literally could not get anymore in to them. I also bought upgraded replacement suspension links from Spooky from RSVR.NET Forums and some teflon washers that go between the plates and linkage to stop rubbing and also protect the seals

Uprated Suspension Link Plates - RSVR.NET Forums

Suspension linkage..help! - RSVR.NET Forums - Page 1

You will notice the upgrade link plates are a lot thicker on the down link. You can see this when you put the old one on top of the new one and you can see how much thicker the new one is. You can also see all the rubbing on the old plates which should not happen now with the washers. I have since found out, after all the trouble I have had with my link breaking, that the old plates have broken on people whilst out riding so I think that this is a worthy upgrade. You can see how the washers work when fitted

You can see the bolt that I use instead of the old one. Its just a lot easier to get on and off without having to remove the exhaust.

The main bit of kit I needed to do all of this was my centre stand that lifts the bike up at the swing arm pivot bolt and my rear paddock stand. After all the problems that I have had and having now done lots of research, I think that this is a good way forward and the way to go. The link plates and washers from Spooky are an upgrade from your standard links that can fail and the only reason why the original rear aprilia OEM link fails is through corrosion. It would be a worthwhile investment, if you don't already have one to buy a centre stand that can lift the bike at the swing arm pivot bolt and a paddock stand. I have since found out that you can take the link plates off and link in about 5 minutes without even having to remove the wheel with them. With regular maintenance, which is now easy and not using abrasive cleaners and jet washers on your linkage you linkage should never need replacing or probably even the bearings and should never fail on you as the only reason for it failing is purely through corrosion and lack of maintenance.

Well this is the bike back on the road. The rear tire is shot in the middle and my carbon hugger is well knackered from where that crap link from Soups failed on me at 110mph but at least this is a good start and I now feel like I am getting somewhere.

Would like to Thank Spooky and timemachinebikes07

Nicely done. Great looking bike

Cheers m8. It nearly went down the road when that link from Soupys broke.

Found a picture of broken OEM aprilia link plates

Thanks for this forum thread.....to be blunt, its a life saver

Reading across all the related threads, suggests that my newly acquired low mileage 2003 RSV does not suffer the side plate issue but DOES need regular suspension maintenance.
I have just rebuilt the rear suspension on my 1993 Ducati over winter and serviced it on my 650 Trailie last autumn, so not unfamiliar with what needs doing.
Going to get spooky's teflon/PTFE washers and use simply bearings for the needle rollers and the nitrile seals. Here's the questions on the latter:
Bearings lists three alternatives: Simply Bearings Ltd
I am tempted to go with the mid price £4.36 ex. VAT variety
The nitrile seals list two equivalents: Simply Bearings Ltd
Guess either will do.

Thanks again to all the posters across the threads on the different sites

It is a life saver. I bought this bike when it was less than a year old and it was still under warranty. My rear link failed on me at 13 months, 1 month outside of warranty because the bloke before me had been using a pressure washer and abrasive cleaning products on it. I didn't even know about this problem back then. It was because of this that I ended up looking for a replacement link that I thought would be better and was conned in to the link from Soupys. They are still selling them on their web site as strong as OEM part if not stronger. Completely contradictory and breaking the law both in US and EU.

Any road, learnt my lesson and I think that this is a really good way to go and Spooky is the man. He PM'ed me on a number of occasions with advice and and help. I think if you are really serious about these bikes a centre stand that will lift the bike up at swing arm pivot bolt is a worthwhile investment as you will then have no problems keeping the set up well serviced. Once I had the thing all bolted back on and the wheel back on and everything was together I thought that I would try to see how long it takes to take the link out and plates with the wheel still on. It literally only takes about 5 minutes, so thats what I will be doing at least once a year now.

I didn't get the bearing from simply bearing I got them from a local bearing man near me and my bearing were £7.50 each. Vitol seals are much better than Nitrile. If you can get them they will last much longer and are less affected by grease and oils but nothing wrong with Nitrile. Thats what I used as the bearing man didn't have any vitol seals on the shelf at the time.

I like the idea of the washers too. A great idea. Looking forward to seeing how they hold up

Any road, hope post was some help

You really should replace the two triangle plates with some offered by the aftermarket. The originals are a flawed design that have had numerous failures causing injury and worse.

I will check my plates when I inspect the bearings, but the bike is last of the Gen 1's (2003). I thought these plates were ok

I was just looking at the pictures in the first two posts. Those show the flawed 04 and later plates and one of the after market beefed up plates (5th picture).

EDIT: I'm guilty of not reading the entire thread. I see where you say you have an 03 RSV. No problem with those plates.

Well the bikes is up on stands with no linkages now.
One pair of bearing seals missing on the rear lower and sad looking bearings in there!
Exceedingly minor scuffing on rear of the dog bone and the matching area of the plates.

Glad I went in there as it seems not been touched in its 10 years (last two of which were more or less sat in a kitchen!)
So to the local bearing man in the morning I think for bearings and see about Vitol seals.

Just knock the old bearing out and get rid of them if they are knackered. They might need a bit of force to get them out. But the new ones will go back in a lot easier with some grease in there. You should only need a light hammer to knock them back in. The sides of the bearings can be damaged if you hit them too hard so you don't really want to be smacking them with with lots of force.

Think, good job you checked them now I suppose. The bearing pins can be cleaned up with fine abrasive paper if they are a bit rusty too

Old bearings out,
I sprayed them with penetrative oil, left for 30 minutes - a decent hammer and long socket quickly shifted them.
dog bone, link plates and bearing case sat on my desk for the morning. I will see if I can source all locally.

I found using a threaded rod couple of washers, sockets and nuts did the trick

I will be using a threaded rod and assorted gubbins to put the new ones in - thanks

New bearings in the dog bone using bolt, washers and nut approach.
Using ROCOL Sapphire Aqua 2 grease.
My bearings man only had four in so have to wait for tomorrow for the swing arm fitting.
Have to wait for Spookys washers anyway before I refit.
Will fully pack with the grease before putting in the bushes and fitting the seals. Weekend should see it complete.

Spooky's washers arrived this morning. This evening saw it all greased, and loctite'd together,,,,,,30 mile run and all seems well.

Good you got it back together. If you used caged bearings I would recommend servicing more often than the manual recommends. Full complement can handle greater load than caged.

kzmille - thanks for that - bike wont be doing huge mileage and summer only. So I can check them over the winter to see if any wear issues.