'91 K75RT Where did my wheel bolts go?-

While riding my 1991 K75RT I suddenly had a shimmy and a clunking sound last week. The shimmy was like the start of a tank slapper. Thankfully, I was riding slowly when this happened. I stopped the bike and checked the tire pressure, thinking it could have been a flat. While doing that I noticed my rear wheel was loose. I checked the wheel bolts and two were missing and the other two were loose enough I could turn them with my fingers.

This is my ninth season riding this bike and I've never had this happen. I'm assuming that for some reason the bolts worked themselves loose. I don't suspect vandalism. I had new tires put on 16,000 kms ago so I feel the wheel was properly bolted onto the bike.

Has anyone heard of this as an issue, or had a similar experience?

Walter,

I would suggest that the wheel bolts were never properly torqued. They were probably just snugged up and the tech forgot to torque them. I guess you don't have the rear hub cap on your bike. That might have kept the two from disappearing.

I would agree, either not properly torqued or....'de-torqued' by a passerby...

Have you ever applied any lube to the bolts' threads?
Doing so invalidates the spec'ed thread torque.