Kickstarter bearing on XR600R

[bork]

How many of you guys have changed this bearing in right side case? & if "yes" did you change it for the heck of it OR was it bad? Cant see why it would ever go bad .(unless water got in it & rusted)

[Thumpmeister]

I have seen these bearings go bad in the mid-80's xrs (on the dual carb bikes) because it seemed that they were prone to a weak bottom end...

The downfall on these bikes, is that they were prone to hard starting, so guys would kick the snot out of them hoping for them to start. Couple that with a few weak bearings in the bottom end, and you're gonna find chunks of bearings all over.

I know 600's can be cantankerous, but I have a feeling Honda beefed up the bottom end on these bikes after the dual carb models. But, on the afore mentioned note about the kicking, I CAN see these bearings going out, but it doesn't happen often.