2002 Yamaha XVS11 Transmission and drivetrain Problems

“While commuting to work I noticed a very loud whining sound coming from the drive shaft area during decelleration on my 2002 v-star 1100. After further inspection and research I learned it was my middle drive that had actually dismembered itself, causing a broken part to rattle around inside the assembly, which many other Yamaha owners have experienced according to an online forum. Thankfully I was not injured but some individuals voiced that this can cause the rear wheel to completely lock up going at any rate of speed.”

“Was driving in town around 30mph ,,,all of a sudden I heard and developed a whine (sounded like tire whine)., could only hear it during deceleration. Noise gradually got louder. Loud crunch was heard when nut holding u-joint to middle gear dislodged and busted speedo pickup. I am a technical mechanic for a car big car company ....so as soon as I could take it back to my shop ,,,, I started a diagnosed of the problem....it took 10 to 15 minutes to find that the noise was coming from the drive pinion shaft (middle shaft) .. …”

“When starting and shutting off the motorcycle, there tends to be a loud clunk. This has been going on since I purchased this bike from a private owner in 2010. I have all of the service documentation for this bike from the previous owner, all maintenance was performed on schedule. Just recently, I had an issue where the bike would not turn over at all. The starter motor would just spin and whine, and the engine would not turn over. I removed the starter motor and looked at it, and inside, there are 4 brushes. One brush was completely destroyed and worn to nothing. …”

“Middle drive shaft snapped off where the nut goes on. This is very dangerous and has happened on many of these bikes. The back wheel can lock up and put the motorcycle into a skid causing an accident that could easily result in death. I was driving down the road and noticed a loud noise coming from the engine area of the motorcycle. The drive train was skipping and locking up. Upon inspection I seen that the drive shaft had snapped off. I plan on contacting Yamaha to see what they plan to do about this. This was poor design because the have made a stronger drive shaft to replace it.”

“Product is 2002 Yamaha vstar 1100 motorcycle (xvs1100) purchased in 2002. After several years of riding, middle drive shaft assembly is in the process of failing, which could cause injury or death. Many enthusiasts of this model report failure of assembly which is a known manufacturing defect. Have not replaced the assembly yet.”