NC30 Rear wheel alignment

[tigerclaw]

I have just fitted the undertray of the tyga rear seat to my bike and the numberplate holder is not lining up with my rear wheel (when looking from the rear of the bike wheel is sitting to the left of the numberplate holder). While I had the motor out (about 2 months ago) I ran a long threaded rod through the front engine mounts and created a long sort of triangulation to measure if my subframe was straight (I had read they sometimes get bent in a fall).. my subframe is 100% straight. So the misaligning thing makes me thing my wheel is offset to the one side (ie closer to the swingarm than it should be). So two questions

1) Is the wheel actually set off to the one side slightly (ie what I am seeing is standard?)
2) What distance should the face of the wheels hub (the bit the wheel bolts flush against) be from the swingarm?

And if all is well and good I may move the numberplate holder to the left to visually make everything look a little happier

Thanks

[gepe]

What makes you think that if your subframe is straight that the swingarm is also straight?

When checking the alignment of the front and rear wheel of my rvf I noticed that my front wheel is off by 5 mm to the left.
Honda knew about these production tolerances, they describe a method to grind down the hub of the rear wheel or use spacers in case front and rear wheel don't align. Also, the swing arm has possibilities to adjust it to the left/right by a few mm (with spacers).

Some BMW bikes have the rear wheel offset to one side by purpose to compensate for the moment that the rotating engines masses great but this shouldnt be necessary for the VFR/RVF.

Maybe it is possible to use a spirit level to put the bike in a absolutely horizontal position and then position the spirit level at a point on the subframe identical on the left and right side and measure the distance to the rear rim?

[tigerclaw]

Thanks Gepe, I will give that a crack... my father followed me in a car while I was riding the bike and he said the front and rear wheel look true while the bike is riding. I hope my issue is an optical illusion / just how the bike is positioned and hopefully the rear swingarm is straight (also those swingarms are supposedly over engineered so if it was skew I assume it would probably be in its pivot point and not in the actual swingarm)

[tygapaul]

Oviously with 20 years of use and abuse, suspicion always lies with accident damage etc. with the subframe being the prime suspect. How about you undo the four bolts that hold the subframe onto the bike and then just pull it into position and nip up the bolts again in the new position? It might not seem much but by the time you get to the rear of the bike, will mean a considerable movement. Also, if the number plate looks twisted as well as on one side, you could try drilling out the holes (especially the rear two) on the Tyga rear fender and twist the rear fender slightly the other way so that the numberplate holder moves to the side you want it to go. Again a small movement at the bolt hole (say 1mm. could equate to 5 mm at the tip of the number plate holder.

[tigerclaw]

Grand thanks Paul, the bike was leaning slightly to one side on its paddock stand and this was playing with my eyes a bit, when the bike is properly upright its only slightly off so what u are suggesting will definately work. I was actually more concerned that someone had modified the suspension to fit a bigger wheel or something but when I ride it the wheel run true (visually) so I think I'm being overly concerned