I only wanted to change the tyre. It was almost down to the built-in ridges, and I'd planned a 900 mile trip to Scotland for the weekend. It wouldn't last.

Ordered the tyre. Bog standard Bridgestone Exedra G548. Had it fitted, but had noticed a slight undulating in the bearing. So bought a new race, and advised to get one for the other side as well. This had felt fine, but apparently the strain on it caused by the problem in the other side would manifest itself before long. OK. But this was the double race. Honda only part. £25 or so. Ah well.

The bearings took some shifting. Very little room to get a drift in - the spacer was a close fit. 'Drift' is rather a grand term used by us home mechanics for a tatty old screwdriver with blade ground down to provide a decent edge. Anyway - slowly it came out - then got stuck - must have hit one side harder than the other. Tapped it back in again, and tried again - with fewer taps on each side this time.

Took off the cush drive plate and cleaned the components. The 5 rubbers each house lumps of metal which locate the pins on the drive plate. These were in all sorts of weird positions - some had come out of the back of the rubber, some were a bit proud at the top. I cleaned them all up, and re-seated them. lightly greased the locating pins on the drive plate too. The manual doesn't say to do this, but if theres a bit of movement, I'd rather the pins were able to slide a bit than the metal be displaced from the rubber cush.

Put it all back together again - rubber O ring was not replaced like Haynes demands. It looks fine. Local dealer says that they never replace them.

Result - wheel goes round. It helps. Also, the 'slop' on acceleration and on over-run has all but disappeared and the drive is much smoother than before. It can only be as a result of reseating the metal in the rubber housings. Magic.