[Flip]

This is quite interesting to read as I too have some movement in the rear wheel Cush drive and plan to refresh them soonish.

But like you I feel the motor and gearbox generally pretty smooth- snicking into first without a clonk and easily finding neutral at a standstill so tomorrow afternoon I will measure any ‘slop’ in the same way you have for a comparison.

Just for fun I will also do the same measurement on my similarly aged Yamaha Thundercat which has less than a third of the miles that of my Monster but always has its signature ‘clonk’ into first gear despite its featherlight clutch and very Japanesely smooth four cylinders.