Motorcycle General Discussion

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

My old Constellation weighed less than 400 pounds.

But it didn't have to comply with 2020 standards – no ABS at both ends, no fuel injection, no catalytic converters in an exhaust system that has to comply with strict noise levels etc. ect. And build quality of a sufficiently high standard to ensure as few claims as possible during the standard 3 year unlimited mileage warranty. Such is life !

I have not ridden a BurgerVan, or any modern "SuperScoooter" come to that. Mrs B was loaned a Honda Silver Wing 500 some years ago when her VTR1000 Firestorm was in for a service – said it was a hoot to rde. If it came to the choice of riding a scooter or giving up, I'd give the scooter a chance. The NC750S I had prior to the RE was the DCT auto version – a very impressive system. I went clutchless with that after I started having clutch related forearm tendonitis problems with a Moto Guzzi Breva 750. The RE has a "servo action" clutch – a centrifugal lock-up system that means a very light lever action but increases the pressure on the clutch plates as the revs rise. I have had no tendonitis problems riding it, but during a swap late last year while out with Mrs B to try each other's bikes, her Guzzi clutch had my left arm griping after 10 miles.

Hopefully your health will have improved to allow you to ride again when the current restrictions are lifted.

Nigel B.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

The worst thing about the old RE twins was the double sided 6" front brakes. I would like one of the automatic Honda NC750S, but funds are too low.

Its my arthritis in the hands that makes a clutch lever impossible on a motorcycle, the Burgman has brakes instead, I can pull the levers ok but not repetitively like a clutch.

Edited By old mart on 12/04/2020 14:19:11

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

Posted by mgnbuk on 12/04/2020 13:10:02:

Compare that to the traditional Brit bike with both the primary and final drive on the left.

But the typical traditional British gearbox was a 3 speed reduction + direct drive top gear to give 4 speeds overall. They had concentric input & output shafts so that when in top gear, the gearbox input shaft was locked to the output shaft directly & had to rotate in the same direction as the input. Road tests of the time often mention how the transmissions quietened when engaging direct drive & not using the reduction ratios.

The main reason was to reduce the load induced by the chain pull on the gearbox bearings. The Japanese used the indirect type so they could use a forward rotating engine and geared primary drive. Ducati, on their early V-twins (1970's-80's) with a backward rotating engine, gear primary drive, used a combination of the two, bit of a mess really, still used 6 "dog" (3 full height/3 half height) gears when the Brits had given up on that idea in the 1950's.

As for modern bikes being heavier and the excuses for that, electric starting, higher power outputs, balance shafts, ABS and so, the design challenge with a motorcycle is to keep the weight down. Technology has moved on since the last mass produced British motorcycle (Triumph accepted). The aim should be to include all the modern stuff in a package no heavier than the equivalent bike of, say, 50 years ago. Clearly a point missed by Triumph (Hinkley) with the present Bonneville model that I found disappointing. Having said that, they have done a pretty good job weight wise with the Street Triple. In fact many manufacturers have done remarkable things with bikes, Bikes that weigh similar to a 1970's Norton with 3 times the power

Suzuki Burgman scooters, I bought a 400cc model last year. two reasons, one being curiosity as to how well the CVT system works. And work it does, very well for what is a very unsophisticated system by modern standards.

The other reason for buying it was to get Mrs MC back on a bike, as a passenger. not got around to doing that yet and not in the immediate future due to C-19.

John

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

The transmission on the 400 Burgman can be improved greatly by changing the weights in the cvt and fitting a Dr Pulley clutch. I had to make special tools to dismantle the belt drive but it was well worth it. The bike now gets drive at lower revs with much less clutch slip. The torque of the fuel injected four valve 400cc engine is made better use of which is a great benefit in traffic and at road junctions.

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Posted by old mart on 12/04/2020 19:21:19:

The transmission on the 400 Burgman can be improved greatly by changing the weights in the cvt and fitting a Dr Pulley clutch. I had to make special tools to dismantle the belt drive but it was well worth it. The bike now gets drive at lower revs with much less clutch slip. The torque of the fuel injected four valve 400cc engine is made better use of which is a great benefit in traffic and at road junctions.

My son's 1st bike was a Gillera runner purejet 50cc. I had a Suzuki GSX1400 & a GSXR1000 at that time. He was my apprentice. 28mph. I had to follow him to work the 10 miles for the 1st few days.

Drive cover off 1st job. Swap the rollers. Remove a spacer. 44mph. So removed the ECU & cut the corner 1/4" in from the edge. This was a circular to the uk dealers to derestrict the uk bike only. The rest of the world had no restriction. This cut breaks a wire inside the resin case & wooshka away she goes. Regular 50+ after that. Super reliable little scooter. He was 16 then. Now he is 32 & never bothered with bikes. Just car mad.

Steve.

[colin branniganParticipant @colinbrannigan54160]

As Royal Enfield was being discussed here is my 1954 Meteor 700cc, has been taxed and insured since first of March but stands waiting for the lock down to ease, along with my other machines.

Colin

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

Although somewhat true I suspect most of the arguments cited in favour of the British style motorcycle gearbox with primary drive, clutch, and final drive on the same side are largely rationalisations after the fact.

In the separate gearbox era keeping both drives on the same side means the same gearbox can be used on a variety of machines pretty much regardless of crankcase width, engine placement in the frame rear wheel assembly width et al. A crossover arrangement pretty much fixes the width between final drive and primary drive which, for practical purposes, requires the gearbox to be designed to suit one frame and one engine. In principle a certain amount of messing around with shaft lenghts whilst retaining the same gears is possible but it still needs a fair degree of sophistication in design and production technology.

British machinery has a fairly linear evolution from simple beginnings the time, and funding, was never right for a switch over given the relatively limited benefits from a technology that still worked fine. That said if BSA-Triumph and Norton-AMC had remained viable companies able to invest in new-new designs it seems pretty certain that designs to replace the Trident and Commando would have had crossover gearboxes. The old units having reached the end of their development life. Certainly the Triumph 5 speed derived gear cluster in my Norton Commander Rotary struggles to handle the wankel engine power and torque.

I really don't see why the short final drive sprocket and chain life is tolerated on modern motorcycles. Like far too many aspects it betrays a total contempt for the customer who has to use the thing.

OK my Norton got new sprockets and final drive chain at 90,000 miles. But that was more because it all had to come apart when re-working by Richard Negus into Supreme Commander specification with running gear able to utilise modern tyres of a size more in keeping with rotary power and performance. Including moving the engine over for chain clearance. Being totally enclosed with lubricating oil in the cases both chain and sprocket were entirely serviceable although clearly not factory fresh. Probably good for another 60,000 miles but why store up potential trouble.

Weight, and often height, really don't get the attention they deserve from designers. Much as I like my Yamaha GTS1000A she is, in all honesty, one fat lady at just over 610 lb wet. It doesn't seem unreasonably difficult to sweat off 150 lb or so by proper re-design. The defenestrated and hopelessly gutless 100 bhp EXUP motor could use putting back to its proper 150 odd hp too. Switching between Norton and Yamaha frequently catches me out when I forget that the Yamaha needs to drop two gears and have its neck wrung to match the rotary time over distance. Going the other way tends to get "interesting" if I forget that most of the time riding the rotarys torque curve is amply sufficient.

Clive

Edited By Clive Foster on 12/04/2020 20:43:22

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

It is a shame that for cosmetic and styling reasons, rear chains on bikes are exposed to the elements. That, and the greater power have never been compensated by the use of o ring chains. The last bike I had which got ridden decent distances was a Suzuki GS500E, and when the original DID o ring chain wore out, I bought two DID standard non o ring chains and some spring links. I used to lubricate a cleaned chain with PJ1 blue label, run it on connected to the dirty one and had a clean chain in five minutes and not even have to adjust it. The modest power of the bike was not going to strain a spring link.

The Burgman 400's may be belt drive, but the engine actually has two chains, the cam chain and a little chain driving the oil pump.

I notice a mention of Gilera scooters, I had a Runner 180 two stroke which was correctly described in one of the magazines as "mad as a box of ferrets", they were right.

Edited By old mart on 12/04/2020 21:23:23

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

I really hope that future development of the Interceptor involves some significant weight reduction, it has been mentioned….

I don't see that there is much scope to reduce the weight – it is the sum of it's parts. Items such as mudguards, (minimalist) chain guard, airbox & side panels are plastic. Wire wheels can be heavier than cast – but not always – the RE does at least have (anodised) aluminium rims. Tyre sizes are pretty minimalist for a modern bike, likewise the single front disc arrangement. The engine/gearbox unit may be "overbuilt" – but the bottom end was apparently designed to allow it to be taken out to around 850cc & double the power output of the current 650, but that is unlikely to be reworked to loose weight as a 650. The silencers are noticably weighty items, but current noise & emission requirements tend to drive that. Where do you see that weight could be removed and current legislation still complied with ?

At 205kg dry, it is around (a very noticable) 30kg lighter than the NC750S DCT it replaced. It is lighter than Mrs. B's V7 Special & than the current Triumph & Kawasaki W800 equivalents so not really very heavy in the current scheme of things ?.

my 1954 Meteor 700cc, has been taxed and insured since first of March

That looks very nice – you don't see many early RE twins around & more is the pity . Original REs still don't appear to attract the the interest (or premium prices) of the other, more mainstream, British bikes for some reason I cannot fathom. In many areas they seem to be more advanced then the mainstream oposition, but maybe because thay were built in smaller quantities & are therefore rarer ? Surely your bike qualifies for the rolling 40 year old Road Tax & MoT exemption if re-classified as "Historic" ?

I really don't see why the short final drive sprocket and chain life is tolerated on modern motorcycles. Like far too many aspects it betrays a total contempt for the customer who has to use the thing.

Quite agree. And you can add to that totally inadequate chain & mudguarding as well. I also have a number of MZ motorcycles, which have probably the simplest yet very effective chain guard systems ever produced – two rubber tubes & a thermoset plastic (Bakelite) rear sprocket cover. While not up to the standards of the oil bath Norton Rotary arrangement, still very good & cheap to produce as well.

Strange bike the Norton Rotary – Allen Jefferies loaned me their demonstrator Commander when my K100RT was in for warranty work, propably early 1989. That bike was rather unresponsive at low revs, but went like stink when the revs rose. And stink it did, burning that Rotella diesel engine oil. A few years later I had a Yamaha XJ900F – the donor bike for the Norton's front suspension, wheels & instruments IIRC. The XJ was a better bike than both the Norton or the BMW IMO, but suffered for having two cylinders too many for me – it took me four different "fours" to figure out I really prefer twins !

Nigel B.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

I get 20,000 miles out of an X-ring chain and sprockets on my 105hp Honda VFR800. I'm pretty happy with that. And it almost never needs adjusting after bed-in. 

The rubber belt drive on my Harley seems to last forever but only about 70 ponies going through that.

But RE could have put the primary chain on the left and the rear chain on the right so the more shapely engine cam timing cover was on the right in the conventional manner. Plenty of bikes do that including Harley Sportster from 1957 to present and the old 1942 WLA military Harley too.

 

Edited By Hopper on 13/04/2020 11:39:54

[colin branniganParticipant @colinbrannigan54160]

Surely your bike qualifies for the rolling 40 year old Road Tax & MoT exemption if re-classified as "Historic" ?

Hi Nigel,

It does qualify under the forty year rule but although it costs nothing to tax it still has to be taxed, I saved this bike from the scrappy and only two things missing were the carb and the inner chain case which I made.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Well done that man!

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

I saved this bike from the scrappy and only two things missing were the carb and the inner chain case which I made.

A lot of work in that rebuild Colin.

Must have been very satisfying to get it back on the road.

I get 20,000 miles out of an X-ring chain and sprockets on my 105hp Honda VFR800

Mrs B had 24000 on her second VTR1000 (110hp IIRC) when that went a couple of years ago & still on it's original chain and sprockets. Scott Oiler fitted to that from new. Is your VFR800 the first generation or the V-Tec ?

I hate cleaning chain snot off the back of the bike – one of the reasons I bought a 3D printer was to knock up an additional guard to fit on the end of the swing arm & cover more of the rear sprocket. FreeCad training is progressing – doesn't look quite so scary after a few YouTube tutorials.

Nigel B.

[Tim HammondParticipant @timhammond72264]

Posted

get 20,by Hopper on 13/04/2020 11:35:38:

I

The rubber belt drive on my Harley seems to last forever but only about 70 ponies going through that.

Edited By Hopper on 13/04/2020 11:39:54

I owned a Harley 883 Sportster Custom and the belt on that broke at 30,000 miles, no sign of anything amiss, it just broke. I started the engine one afternoon, pulled the clutch, engaged 1st gear, went to pull away and discovered that I now had a gearbox full of neutrals. Came home on the back of a tow truck. New belt was around £180, and I never really trusted the final drive after that. The rear pulley was manufactured from aluminium alloy with a hard chrome plating on the teeth, this plating wore off over time requiring replacement of the complete pulley (£200+). The original pulley lasted 32,000 miles, its replacement was in worse condition after 5,000 miles. And spare a thought for the owners of the Big Twins – they have to have a complete stripdown of the primary transmission to replace the final drive belt. At least with the Sportster with its crossover gearbox, a new belt could be fitted in about a half an hour.

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember19781]

[This posting has been removed]

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

Posted by mgnbuk on 13/04/2020 11:05:44:

I really hope that future development of the Interceptor involves some significant weight reduction, it has been mentioned….

I don't see that there is much scope to reduce the weight – it is the sum of it's parts. Items such as mudguards, (minimalist) chain guard, airbox & side panels are plastic. Wire wheels can be heavier than cast – but not always – the RE does at least have (anodised) aluminium rims. Tyre sizes are pretty minimalist for a modern bike, likewise the single front disc arrangement. The engine/gearbox unit may be "overbuilt" – but the bottom end was apparently designed to allow it to be taken out to around 850cc & double the power output of the current 650, but that is unlikely to be reworked to loose weight as a 650. The silencers are noticably weighty items, but current noise & emission requirements tend to drive that. Where do you see that weight could be removed and current legislation still complied with ?

If the rumour is true (I would doubt it) about the engine, that it is capable of being stretched to 850cc and double the power then no wonder its so heavy!

There is always scope to reduce weight. The Interceptor is the RE companies first effort at designing a bike from scratch. A good effort I think that bodes well for the future. Triumph's (Hinkley) first efforts were some rather heavy and mechanically noisy bikes, they worked steadily to address these problems to become successful.

John

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

As far as I know, all the RE twins of yesteryear had chrome moly frames. I doubt if the new one has. Also, the front fork stanchions were available in three grades of steel with differing weights.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Tim Hammond on 13/04/2020 16:56:52:

Posted

get 20,by Hopper on 13/04/2020 11:35:38:

I

 

The rubber belt drive on my Harley seems to last forever but only about 70 ponies going through that.

 

Edited By Hopper on 13/04/2020 11:39:54

I owned a Harley 883 Sportster Custom and the belt on that broke at 30,000 miles, no sign of anything amiss, it just broke. I started the engine one afternoon, pulled the clutch, engaged 1st gear, went to pull away and discovered that I now had a gearbox full of neutrals. Came home on the back of a tow truck. New belt was around £180, and I never really trusted the final drive after that. The rear pulley was manufactured from aluminium alloy with a hard chrome plating on the teeth, this plating wore off over time requiring replacement of the complete pulley (£200+). The original pulley lasted 32,000 miles, its replacement was in worse condition after 5,000 miles. And spare a thought for the owners of the Big Twins – they have to have a complete stripdown of the primary transmission to replace the final drive belt. At least with the Sportster with its crossover gearbox, a new belt could be fitted in about a half an hour.

LOL I have a Big Twin (Evo Road King) so not looking forward to that job. But it has 50,000 miles on the original belt and sprockets with plenty left to go. Don't hear of many ever breaking like yours though. And usually seems to be on Sporties. Must be all that power. . 5,000 miles not much for the new pulley. Sounds like cheap Chinese aftermarket junk. Some terrible stuff out there for Harleys. Absolutely awful. But looks nice and shiny.

I think if I had one actually break on me, I would have to do the X-ring chain conversion bfore I could trust it again. My belt has a couple of rock holes in it but I've seen them ridden on dirt roads and looking like swiss cheese and still not break. The Kevlar strands seem to bend around the rocks and carry on. Obviouisly not yours though! Bad luck I guess. They say (whoever they are) that if a rock pierces the very edge the belt will tear across from that point.

But don't feel too bad. I have a buddy who makes a full time living out of rebuilding BMW bike gearboxes and final drive bevel units. And EXPENSIVE! Wow. And the bevel drives can last as little as 20,000 miles on the big heavy LTD models. Easily 600 Quid to get rebuilt. Special BMW-only bearings can cost hundreds. His own personal bike, an R1200S the bevel lasted only about 20,000 before it died. Makes me feel quite happy with my rubber belts and X-ring chains.

Edited By Hopper on 14/04/2020 05:11:38

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

There is always scope to reduce weight. The Interceptor is the RE companies first effort at designing a bike from scratch

The Himalayan was RE's first attempt to design a bike from scratch – the Interceptor was their first twin. They did learn form the Himalayan experience – a bike that seems to have been released onto the public before it was fully developed & tested, with rather public failures (now addressed). The Interceptor release was delayed to give more testing time as a result (something they also got flak for) but I for one am glad they took a more cautious approach & I have not heard much in the way of problems with the twins.

I seem to think that S & S in the US have taken one of these out to 850cc to set a speed record at Bonneville – promo video here

Again IIRC S & S are now selling big bore kits for the Interceptor. As they are the suppliers of the RE "performance" accessory exhausts, it is unlikely that the factory are unaware of this.

Early Triumphs had a bit of a reputation for being "overbuilt" IIRC, but better that than an early reputation for being fragile or unreliable. I rode the launch triples & found them to be OK – tried to buy one twice but was thwarted by greedy Triumph dealers on both occasions. The Thai twins have never appealed – heavy, frumpy looking things with inflated price tags. Speed Triples are just another modern bike – might as well be a Yamaha Tracer – but to each their own.

Also expressed an interest in a BMW F800ST with the belt drive system when they were newish (early 2000s ?). I asked about the cost of replacement parts & was told a belt & both pulleys cost £700 parts only, at a time that a top quality X-ring chain & sprocket kit was around £120. My enquiry proceeded no further & I don't see many belt drive F800s around. Wonder why ?

Nigel B.

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

Nigel B.

I had forgotten about the Himalayan, bit of a disaster that one and a good example of an overweight motorcycle, I stand corrected.

I'm told there is a European company making big bore conversions for the twin (and Himalayan), RE are sure to know about. Still think 650 to 850 is a step to far.

The "problem" if it can be called that, with the early Hinckley Triumphs was that the engines were designed by guys whose experience was with car engines. They did not realise just how compact a motorcycle engine is and it showed. They soon realised and set about correcting along with the mechanical noise problem. The overbuilt reputation was probably nurtured to cover this up.

On the subject of weight saving and the new unitised RE Bullet engine. The RE stylists decided to take their styling Cues from an existing popular brand of motorcycle. In doing this the cylinder head gained some 1.5kg in weight just to make it look like they wanted. Other parts suffered the same. Attempts were made to dissuade them from doing this. Unsuccessfully as it turns out.

John

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

the new unitised RE Bullet engine

Is that the all new engine currently undergoing testing that looks similarly styled to the Interceptor – the replacement for the "UCE" engine cuurently used ? I have seen some spy shots of "all new Bullets" being road tested in India.

I guess weight gain from styling is one of those things that manufacturers just put up with, as in many cases it is the style that sells in the showroom. The new Chinese built Benelli Imperiale 350 single being one such case – a 20hp 350 single that weighs around 25kg more than my RE 650 twin. Looks "Classic" though.

Out of interest, what do you consider to be an "acceptable weight" modern middle weight twin in the same price & performance bracket as the RE Interceptor ? I don't consider the RE to be excessively heavy & it is very easy to throw around in the mountains (I prefer to play out in the Alps & Dolomites).

From my POV, Harleys don't get considered mainly beacuse of their excessive weight, bulk & lack of ground clearance for the type of riding I prefer – some of the Alpine hairpin bends would require three-pointing on a big HD. Doesn't make them bad bikes, just not suited to the type of riding I do.

Nigel B.

[Gerard O’TooleParticipant @gerardotoole60348]

Posted by mgnbuk on 14/04/2020 15:52:17:

There is always scope to reduce weight. The Interceptor is the RE companies first effort at designing a bike from scratch

…

Also expressed an interest in a BMW F800ST with the belt drive system when they were newish (early 2000s ?). I asked about the cost of replacement parts & was told a belt & both pulleys cost £700 parts only, at a time that a top quality X-ring chain & sprocket kit was around £120. My enquiry proceeded no further & I don't see many belt drive F800s around. Wonder why ?

Nigel B.

I have one and am generally happy. The belt was replaced by a BMW main dealer, cost €400, with a service at the same time , so I think you might have been quoted a very excessive price. I don't think the pulleys needed replacing.

Have to say , I do like the look of the RE twin. I found the original 350 Bullet rather low in power and I think the later 500 was more usable on modern roads. And I am used to riding old bikes but still felt the 350 Bullet too docile.

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

Posted by mgnbuk on 14/04/2020 17:32:09:

the new unitised RE Bullet engine

Is that the all new engine currently undergoing testing that looks similarly styled to the Interceptor – the replacement for the "UCE" engine cuurently used ? I have seen some spy shots of "all new Bullets" being road tested in India.

I guess weight gain from styling is one of those things that manufacturers just put up with, as in many cases it is the style that sells in the showroom. The new Chinese built Benelli Imperiale 350 single being one such case – a 20hp 350 single that weighs around 25kg more than my RE 650 twin. Looks "Classic" though.

Out of interest, what do you consider to be an "acceptable weight" modern middle weight twin in the same price & performance bracket as the RE Interceptor ? I don't consider the RE to be excessively heavy & it is very easy to throw around in the mountains (I prefer to play out in the Alps & Dolomites).

The current version of the Bullet, aka Thunderbird, Classic and probably other names.

As for acceptable weight, a good bench mark I believe is the Meriden Triumph T140 (750) ~50bhp, 194Kg with some fluids. Series 2 (British) Interceptor slightly lighter. No balance shaft, electric start and other modern features. Technology moves on and it would be reasonable to expect a modern 50bhp bike to weigh very similar. Triumph street triple, 675cc, double the power of the above, plenty of modern features, 175Kg ready to ride.

RE Interceptor 48 bhp, 208Kg ready to ride. I've got an RE sales blurb, starts off "A ton of fun", made me smile!

John

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

As for acceptable weight, a good bench mark I believe is the Meriden Triumph T140 (750) ~50bhp, 194Kg with some fluids. Series 2 (British) Interceptor slightly lighter. No balance shaft, electric start and other modern features. Technology moves on and it would be reasonable to expect a modern 50bhp bike to weigh very similar.

So the RE at 208 kg kerbside with E/S, balance shaft, fuel injection, catalytic converters , ABS , meeting much stricter regulatory requirements & built to a very keen price is only 14kg heavier than your optimum ? Doesn't seem enough to qualify as very overweight ?

Triumph street triple, 675cc, double the power of the above, plenty of modern features, 175Kg ready to ride.

Not on my radar, I'm afraid. Too revvy & typically "modern" lack of style and practicality for me. It's competition Yamaha 900 triple likewise – more power than I feel I need coupled to a "sod what it looks like, it's all about the (dry weather) ride" approach to styling & functionality. I reckoned for a long time that I would cheerfully sacrifice 20hp I could not use on the road for 20mpg better economy – my last 3 modern middleweights (Moto Guzzi Breva 750, Honda NC750S & the RE) have done that just fine.

Fortunately there are options out there to suit most tastes. What do you favour at the moment ?

The belt was replaced by a BMW main dealer, cost €400, with a service at the same time ,

It was a BMW dealer (Allan Jefferies) who quote me Gerard. Your service + belt replacement doesn't seem too bad. Not sure exactly what the RE will cost – quoted £180ish for the annual service (which includes valve clearance setting) when I asked at booking in time. The full factory workshop manual can be obtained online (if you look for it) as a .pdf – doesn't look difficult to DIY when the warranty expires.

Nigel B.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by mgnbuk on 13/04/2020 11:48:49:…

…

I get 20,000 miles out of an X-ring chain and sprockets on my 105hp Honda VFR800

Mrs B had 24000 on her second VTR1000 (110hp IIRC) when that went a couple of years ago & still on it's original chain and sprockets. Scott Oiler fitted to that from new. Is your VFR800 the first generation or the V-Tec ?

I hate cleaning chain snot off the back of the bike – one of the reasons I bought a 3D printer was to knock up an additional guard to fit on the end of the swing arm & cover more of the rear sprocket. FreeCad training is progressing – doesn't look quite so scary after a few YouTube tutorials.

Nigel B.

 

I don't find the need for a Scott oiler on an X-ring chain. (Not in the Australian climate anyway. Maybe more wet and salty UK roads are different??) I just use a spray can of clear teflon-based chain lube and it stays pretty clean. All its doing is providing a little lube between roller and sprocket. I give the chain a wipe down with kero on a rag, or WD40 on a rag, once a year to get the black road gunk off it. Rear rim stays pretty clean. Needs only the occasional spray down with WD40 and wipe off when giving the bike a wash. Not every wash though.

My Viffer is last of the first gen without V-tec. Didn't want the complexity and has more power already than I can fully utilise on the road (or the track for that matter I suspect!) Must be a good 'un as I've hung on to it for 19 years now. Still, every time I ride it I find myself thinking "Why do I even bother with any of this other carp that fills my shed?". (Harleys, Nortons, BMW R100RS SV6650S, etc) And there's that glorious V4 growl of course!

Edited By Hopper on 15/04/2020 00:13:43

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