The rubber dampers, when new, prevent the pulley to woble.
Bearings: most, if not all, can be replaced by better quality. In Europe most bearing made by SKF are used.

I've owned  the bike since new, and the squeak developed around 8,000 miles. I have been to the dealerships, and compared the pulley movement of a new bike to mine, and noticed the difference. I use the belt gauge to adjust with, but it does seem to be on the tight side. One theory I have is with wear, the cusions surface becomes smooth (ex. A drag slick on a preped drag strip) allowing enough friction during the cushion loading cycle  as the pulley rotates, causing the vibration we hear as a squeak. When the bearing gets sloppy, instead of the hub cusions just providing a direct physical transfer of energy, they try to hold hold the hub true with friction, which they loose at a point, and that release of energy becomes an audible vibration. So........ with that in mind, if some one replaced the pulley bearing before it got to that point, a squeak may never develop. The cushions in my bike have too much wear on them already to tell a differance with just a bearing replacement, I'll get some new ones and see if the squeak completely stops.  New cushions have a matte texture. At any rate, the bike did'nt have a squeak when new. If it did, how would Suzuki ever sell it, "It's just the character of the bike, you'll get used to it" ? Whoaaaaaaa, I think I'm comeing down from my two pot coffe high, today is now tomorrow, and I sould've went to bed yesterday because I have to work today.   I will exorcise the demons !!!!!!!!Muahhahahahah Caaaaant stop thinking, maybe if the pulley oscillates around its lateral axis during rotation, the squeak could be the belts shearing friction with the pulley surface. OK I think I feel a bottomless pit swallowing my sanity. I just thought of the Sponge Bob episode where he swallowed that pair of squeaking boots.

markbacon wrote on 01/24/08 at 12:01:02:


That is definatly something to look into, but if the inner race was'nt held still, would it spin on the spacer it rides on, leaving score marks? If thinking it would'nt spin because of the load, what about when engine brakeing? To add to the think tank, if the rear wheel is'nt aligned properly, would that cause the pulley load to be off center, causeing accelerated bearing, and cushion wear? If upon further research, the design is just plain under engineered, and the fix is'nt cost effective, I'll just take the muffler off. If a squeak squaks, and no one can hear it, is there still a squeak?

I concur with Greg with one additional comment! Had my rear wheel off for a flat. Put it all back together by the book, using the alignment marks and proper belt tension. Used the twist method for tension but still had a significant squeak. Checked how the belt was riding the raer pulley. It was pushed to the outside of the pulley. Made an alignment tool out of a two foot ruler, a couple of nails, and a spring type paper clip. Glued one nail to the end of the ruler and one to the paper clip. Used it to verify that the alignment marks are definitely off. Made both sides the same and no more squeak. Wasn't off very much but evidently enough to cause the belt to ride out against the pulley.

I think I saw a post where someone shimmed the wear of the pulley rubbers up with pieces of inner tube & got rid of some pulley wobble.

I had a used belt & put that on while I was fixing the rear flat, But, while I was in there, I did shim the rubbers with pieces of innertube. They fit snug & that really affected the wobble.

Aligning the rear wheel. Easiest tool Ive come up with was a string. Pull the front hub cover & poke the string in & roll the thing so it goes between belt & pulley. Run the string back to the rear pulley. Hold it tight & bring it touch the rear edge of the front pulley & make the rear line up on that straight string.

I have no squeek now. Is it the new (used) belt? Or is it the shimmed rear hub? I dunno,,