I'm working...

Steven

Member
I spent a very enjoyable day in the garage yesterday. I changed the rear tire, the sprockets and the chain. I swear the bike accelerates a little faster now. Others have made this claim when they went with an x chain. If it's true, I should see a difference in my gas milage. I really think it's in my head... The old chain was getting a little stiff. BTW, the old sprockets did look good enough to use for another 20k miles. There was a little shine near the top, but no deformations. I also went with a heavier chain (same size) thinking that it will not stretch as easily. After 18k miles the old chain was still good in length, but was getting stiff and beginning to kink a little. I supposed that I could have cleaned it with something, but it was getting near the end of it's stretch.

I recommend that anyone changing their sprockets to use an air impact gun. It takes all the work out of it. I used a dremel to remove the head of the pins, easy peasy...

For the tire tool, I used a No-Mar Yellow thing tire tool, it really helped. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011J6KXR8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Tire tool.jpg

Depending on my ambition, I'm going to change the front tire today and hopefully soften the front end a little. Or... I might install my crash bars and order highway pegs for it. New rubber sure looks nice! BTW, this is my third set of tires since I got the bike and loving every minute of it.

The new RDL seat is a mixture of bad and good. It seems comfortable enough, but I haven't gone that far with it and there should be a break in period before I make a decision on that. I love the back rest and after I install highway pegs, it should make long distance riding very comfortable. The bad side is that now I'm on my toes when I stop unless I slide all the way against the tank and stand up. It makes backing up a little harder and it takes more effort to get on and off the bike. Everyone says that they get used to it so I suppose I will too.

Another thing is that I now sit a little higher so that changes things a bit. The bike handles a little different because of that, but it's only a matter of adjusting to it. I'm a little higher over the windshield too. What I like about that is I can see better over the shield and my helmet air vents work better. There is no right or wrong about windshield height. It up to the rider to decide what they like. At first I liked the shield being higher for the greater wind protection, but after time, I decided that I wanted a clearer view of the scenery. I'm going to install my x-creen and that will give me options. This time, I will install it a little lower than what the instructions say because I want it flush with the top of my windshield when I'm not using it. The last time it bothered me that it was sticking over the top (a little) when it was at it's lowest position.

So there, you have it. I'll update as I go along.
 
Steven, if the new chain weighs more than the old one you'll actually have a slight decrease in acceleration. The same thing happens with heavier tires, there's more mass at a given radius that needs to be brought up to speed.

I've seen this effect on race 250 Ninjas that were switched from the stock 5xx chain/sprockets to 415. On a Dynojet type of dyno (a rotating drum that measures acceleration and converts that number to bhp) the chain swap would show up as about a 1 hp increase, even though nothing was done to the power-producing parts of the engine.

I could see an extremely knackered chain/sprockets absorbing a bit of power that is then freed up with the fresh parts. But you don't seem like the kind of rider who'd let the chain get into that kind of sorry state before replacing it.

cheers,
Michael
 

Steven

Member
That makes sense. What I'm thinking is that the old chain becoming stiff was causing a power loss. I did have 18k miles on it and I did oil it frequently. In any case, the mind plays a role in experience. New tires, new oil and a clean machine always feel like it runs better, even if it doesn't.
 
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