Those seals on the bearings aren't perfect. They don't seal tight. They just hold grease in. Often you can even remove those seals, repack the bearing and then reinstall the seals if your are careful with them. But they are so inexpensive, I don't spend time on them.
I picked up new FAG Bearings (From South Korea. Stock bearings came from France.) today at a local shop. Less than $17 for a pair. Good light press fit into the wheel hub. (.005") They feel smooth as silk. I disassembled the cush drive just to inspect it. I have seen these assembled dry at the factory and then they lock up with rust as they age. One problem, the cheesy shallow headed grade 2 fasteners holding the plate in it were stuck with red Loctite. That was stupid. Red is appropriate for the grade 5 fasteners on the brake disks. But not on this application. Ruined all six heads removing them. :-(
I bought new grade 5 (metric 8.8) hex headed fasteners to replace them at $.25 a pop at the corner Ace Hardware. Blue Loctite was used for re-installation. At least the cush drive hub had been oiled when built. But I prefer to use lithium grease there. Sticks around longer. I burnish a light coating of silicone dielectric grease all over the rubber wedges too. Allows them to move more freely against the steel plates and preserves the rubber. It all went back together very well.
I just got home from the test ride. It felt great!
One other thing I did, which I haven't done in ten years, was to use a Bondo file to take the edge off the flat spot on my rear tire. I put the bike up on the work stand, started it, then ran it in third gear at a fast idle of 2000 rpm to get the rear wheel moving well. You hold the Bondo file firmly against the tire and save off tiny bits to take the edge off the flat area and give the tire a rounder profile again. Took about 3 minutes and worked like a dream. I haven't done this since I wore a flat spot into a Dunlop Sport Elite on the rear of old Mille' GT back in '92 from three back to back freeway tours to Rallies! I had forgotten how well it worked! This is something I saw written up in Motorcyclist back in the 80's.
Now at least the bike handles well again while I use up the rest of the tire!
No other surprises in the job.
The new rear brake pads are on the way from Eish. That'll be an easy fix when they get here. The V11S is back on the road running like a champ again, the weather's beautiful and all is right with the world.
Not a bad day!