You didnt use a tooth brush and Q tips on your chain? Oh no.......
NOPE... Nothing this time around just sprayed it with PJ1 Blue Label. I use a grunge brush usually and only when required.
Yours was polished to a mirror finish.
What did you do with YOUR hour?
- Thread starter Coyote Chris
- Start date
NOPE... Nothing this time around just sprayed it with PJ1 Blue Label. I use a grunge brush usually and only when required.
Yours was polished to a mirror finish.
OP
OP
I have to admit that the Revzilla meathod is fast and easy and very efficient. Lots of folks like PJ1. I am using Motorex Road Strong and it is fine. I think revzilla is right. About any made for bikes chain lube will work.
https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/how-to-clean-and-lube-a-motorcycle-chain
junglejim
Site Supporter
See Chris, chain maintenance isn't so bad. You were worried about nothing. But now maybe your tool bag will get a little heavier if you carry a chain tool. I know you were looking for something else to fill up all those bags you carry.
I do pretty much the same drill on my bicycle chains as I do with the Yamaha XS650. I clean the chain with WD-40 and use those blue disposable Shop towels. A couple of passes with the WD-40 does the job. I then dry the chain thoroughly using the blue shop towels and a hair dryer. Then I apply the chain lube (I like the white Lithium variety). The wheel then gets spun very slowly while heat is applied to the chain with the hair dryer. The chain gets wiped down in the morning with a blue disposable shop towel.
Shaft drive is more convenient, but chains are a lot better now than they were in the 60s.
Shaft drive is more convenient, but chains are a lot better now than they were in the 60s.
OP
OP
WD 40 is mostly Kerosene so its fine, but way more expensive than real kerosene. I was shocked today to learn how much a new chain and sprockets would cost after 20k-30K.....$200 Plus you are going to have to learn how to use a chain staker...looks to be a two step process and not explained well in the breaker manuals...thankfully, there is youtube....
I always assumed WD-40 was cleaning solvent and light oil put into an aerosol can. Maybe its an urban myth but I read it was originally used in the aircraft industry to clean newly machined parts and keep them from rusting while they awaited the next process.
In regards to power loss with final drive, the numbers I've seen always state there is a 5% loss every time the drive changes direction. That comes to a 10% loss total but honestly having that 10% back would not make our NTs a raging sport bike!
In regards to power loss with final drive, the numbers I've seen always state there is a 5% loss every time the drive changes direction. That comes to a 10% loss total but honestly having that 10% back would not make our NTs a raging sport bike!
10% is only about 5HP at the rear wheel for the NT. Not going to do much.
NoNTnow
Guest
The weight savings of a chain or belt drive would probably do more...
The weight being unsprung weight it affects the rear suspension compliance and also the shaft jacking effects limits suspension compliance too.
Everything is a trade-off. How much do you dislike taking care of a chain? A belt drive sounds good but there are issues there too. So far the drive shaft works for me.
Brad
I got a kick out of this thread. I understand all sides of the conversation.
In the late 60’s and early 70’s all we had was chains. And with the way I rode they’d last maybe 6K-9Kmiles, occasionally snapping a master link when ridden too hard. More than once in those days I thought I’d blown a transmission because the engine was revving but I went nowhere. I thought that, until I noticed my chain slung in the dirt behind me.
I learned to hate chains. But, when a bike fits my 6’ frame, most of which is leg, in the way that the V-Strom fits me, I’ve found ways to deal with the more modern chains. At least for a while.
Dupont Wax Chain Lube was what I went with. I made my “Lube Tube” carrier that fit two cans of it in a 3” ABS pipe segment, capped and rigged behind the left saddlebag of the 650 Strom. When running to engineering projects in Ohio, Tennessee, or wherever, I’d stop about every 500 miles at mid-day or so and spray the links at the rear sprocket. It is a self-cleaning lube, so the old stuff and debris from the links would fall to a paper/diaper placed below the sprocket. When I’d finished the entire chain, I’d drink a coffee or Gatoraide while the lube set up. I’d then repeat the clean/lube process at the hotel de jour, or camp site that evening. With that plus kerosene cleaning at home once each season, my chains would last about 18K miles with replacements required for chain stretching after too many 12 – 14 hour days at 70+ mph. The sprockets were typically in great shape, no hooking or erosion visible, but I replaced them anyway as a preemptive measure.
But all that gets old after a while. Especially since it’s so unnecessary. If I could get the “fit” of the Strom with the drive train of the NT, along with the mpg of either, I’d be in moto-heaven. But I’m not about to spend $15K - $25K for a Beemer, a big ST, or FJR. I’d rather spend half that on the bike and the rest of that same money on gas, oil, tires, and travel.
Then again, perhaps the truth is that I’m still in sticker shock from when the Triumph/BSA 650’s went up in price to $1,750 for a brand new one.
Anyway, that’s why I’m back with my second NT. It may not fit me as well as the Strom, with a bit of pressure on my old wrists that isn’t ideal. And the NT has its own quirks with the underwhelming pannier system and jigsaw puzzle plastic works. But it works. It works well. And there’s no darn chain!
Ride well.
In the late 60’s and early 70’s all we had was chains. And with the way I rode they’d last maybe 6K-9Kmiles, occasionally snapping a master link when ridden too hard. More than once in those days I thought I’d blown a transmission because the engine was revving but I went nowhere. I thought that, until I noticed my chain slung in the dirt behind me.
I learned to hate chains. But, when a bike fits my 6’ frame, most of which is leg, in the way that the V-Strom fits me, I’ve found ways to deal with the more modern chains. At least for a while.
Dupont Wax Chain Lube was what I went with. I made my “Lube Tube” carrier that fit two cans of it in a 3” ABS pipe segment, capped and rigged behind the left saddlebag of the 650 Strom. When running to engineering projects in Ohio, Tennessee, or wherever, I’d stop about every 500 miles at mid-day or so and spray the links at the rear sprocket. It is a self-cleaning lube, so the old stuff and debris from the links would fall to a paper/diaper placed below the sprocket. When I’d finished the entire chain, I’d drink a coffee or Gatoraide while the lube set up. I’d then repeat the clean/lube process at the hotel de jour, or camp site that evening. With that plus kerosene cleaning at home once each season, my chains would last about 18K miles with replacements required for chain stretching after too many 12 – 14 hour days at 70+ mph. The sprockets were typically in great shape, no hooking or erosion visible, but I replaced them anyway as a preemptive measure.
But all that gets old after a while. Especially since it’s so unnecessary. If I could get the “fit” of the Strom with the drive train of the NT, along with the mpg of either, I’d be in moto-heaven. But I’m not about to spend $15K - $25K for a Beemer, a big ST, or FJR. I’d rather spend half that on the bike and the rest of that same money on gas, oil, tires, and travel.
Then again, perhaps the truth is that I’m still in sticker shock from when the Triumph/BSA 650’s went up in price to $1,750 for a brand new one.
Anyway, that’s why I’m back with my second NT. It may not fit me as well as the Strom, with a bit of pressure on my old wrists that isn’t ideal. And the NT has its own quirks with the underwhelming pannier system and jigsaw puzzle plastic works. But it works. It works well. And there’s no darn chain!
Ride well.
Your second one? What happened to the first one?
A set of 1" or so handlebar riser spacers and pulling the bars back a bit will help with the pressures on the wrist and alleviate some of the numbness in the hands. Such as these - KEMIMOTO 7/8" Handlebar Risers 30mm
Hello Bruce,
The first one: http://www.nt-owners.org/forums/sho...-have-to-replace-totaled-NT&p=59195#post59195
I guess the underlying truth is that over the years I learned that I'm an "operator", not a mechanic. Not that I can't do the work. I was an engineer and was a mechanic on nuclear submarines before I finished college. But I resent time spent wrenching on a machine instead of running it. As a result of that preference, I've typically traded bikes at somewhere between 50Kmiles and 75Kmiles, sometimes sooner if bewitched by a new one or angered by an old one.
Thanks for the riser link, too. I dug through the garage the other day and I have bar risers and will probably put them on, if they fit. Heck, they may even be left over from the NT that I sold in 2012 and replaced with a Strom for awhile. If I recall correctly from the previous NT, the hydraulic line for the front brake was the most limiting component in achieving the bar height adjustment.
Ride well. See ya out there.
The first one: http://www.nt-owners.org/forums/sho...-have-to-replace-totaled-NT&p=59195#post59195
I guess the underlying truth is that over the years I learned that I'm an "operator", not a mechanic. Not that I can't do the work. I was an engineer and was a mechanic on nuclear submarines before I finished college. But I resent time spent wrenching on a machine instead of running it. As a result of that preference, I've typically traded bikes at somewhere between 50Kmiles and 75Kmiles, sometimes sooner if bewitched by a new one or angered by an old one.
Thanks for the riser link, too. I dug through the garage the other day and I have bar risers and will probably put them on, if they fit. Heck, they may even be left over from the NT that I sold in 2012 and replaced with a Strom for awhile. If I recall correctly from the previous NT, the hydraulic line for the front brake was the most limiting component in achieving the bar height adjustment.
Ride well. See ya out there.
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Phil Tarman
Site Supporter
Lou, on the NT, the most limiting component to height adjustments is the clutch cable. But the cable to a TransAlp is something like 2" longer. With a 1" riser, the standard cable works fine if you re-route it just a tad.
Thanks, Phil. Good info. Always great to hear from one of the greats, too.
Love this forum. Big help getting back into the groove with the NT. And often entertaining to boot!
Ride well.
Love this forum. Big help getting back into the groove with the NT. And often entertaining to boot!
Ride well.
Lou there is a drive belt kit available for the VStrom. Some clever person in Europe worked it all out and sells them in kit form.
From memory you get around 40,000 kilometres (24,000 mikes) from a belt with almost zero maintenance.
When I had my VStrom I was seriously considering the belt kit as I loved the Vstom and it fitted my 6 foot 1 inch frame very well.
I love the NT too but the six speed VStrom with excellent fuel economy (always above 60Mpg and up to 80Mpg) is always a draw card, excpept for that chain.
Seagrass
From memory you get around 40,000 kilometres (24,000 mikes) from a belt with almost zero maintenance.
When I had my VStrom I was seriously considering the belt kit as I loved the Vstom and it fitted my 6 foot 1 inch frame very well.
I love the NT too but the six speed VStrom with excellent fuel economy (always above 60Mpg and up to 80Mpg) is always a draw card, excpept for that chain.
Seagrass
Hmm. Belt drive on a Strom? Not as good as shaft, but for street running it would be an improvement in maintenance time required.
An improvement, at least until the chip-seal road repairs show up. You know, sharp little rocks drowned in hot tar that get into the works and tear up the belt.
I replaced three belts on a Harley FLHT one year while working in Idaho where they use that road surface extensively. But for most of the 120K miles I put on Harleys, the belt was the least impacting of my too-frequent mechanical problems.
DirtFlier's technical perception is noted, but Seagrass and I are of the same mind, I think. The shaft drive of the NT is a most welcome relief from chain maintenance.
An improvement, at least until the chip-seal road repairs show up. You know, sharp little rocks drowned in hot tar that get into the works and tear up the belt.
I replaced three belts on a Harley FLHT one year while working in Idaho where they use that road surface extensively. But for most of the 120K miles I put on Harleys, the belt was the least impacting of my too-frequent mechanical problems.
DirtFlier's technical perception is noted, but Seagrass and I are of the same mind, I think. The shaft drive of the NT is a most welcome relief from chain maintenance.
OP
OP