Holy crap! I can't believe this thread still has legs. :lol: Ha! I noticed these minor defects after picking up my 08 last year. The first time I went over the bike, I started noticing that a lot of the cast aluminium parts did not have near the finish quality that my 04 had. Even the swing arm. I'd be very surprised if these parts did not hold up structurally as good as the old ones. Shouldn't be a problem. I do think Yamaha's quality control may have slipped some in certain areas on these bikes.
GP