Major chain stretch

[earlfor]

Well Jethro, I dont know about your 1150, but on my 750, changing the chain and sprockets is dead simple. So much so that my German Shep usually does it for me. Takes him about 5 minutes. :-)

Earl

Pros will often use two chains and alternate them to prolong the sprocket life, but on a pedal bike it is a 2 minute job.

[Jethro]

Boy am I surprised none of the shafties have bumped in on this one! 'Cmon boys, are 'ya sleeping or what?

[JJ]

Us "shafties" usually ignore any posts relating to chains!

Can't you tell that I did??

[argonsagas]

I

Either way the bike will be sitting for another few days because I have to pull the back wheel and see what's up with the brake shoes sticking. Then I will redo the tension.



Steve

Some pads throw a lot of carbon as they wear and/or collect road junk. If not cleaned, this stuff will eventually drag on the disk. The day I got my GS, the battery failed in a park lot, and I thought I would just push-start it. Felt just like I was pushing a car and I could not get enough speed to do anything, even on a sloping park lot!

Had no choice but to call home and ask wife to bring booster cables. (Cell phones are great!)

After getting it boosted I drove it home and bought a recommended spray brake cleaner. Wow! Black junk literally rained off the brakes, but once everything dried, the wheel would turn.

It evaporates in seconds, but you must put something absorbent under the wheel and use the cleaner liberally.. My pads have since been replaced, but I use the spray regularly to avoid repetition of the above problem.

The one I have is called BRAKLEEN, and I bought it at Princess Auto, but there are other brands..just be certain it is specifically meant for brakes and states that it leaves no residue.

[Anonymous]

To follow up on this story I'll have to say nothing has happened. In the last 3 weeks I've been so busy I've only used the bike once in order to get gas for the RAV4 when it ran out in its parking spot.

What I've used on the chain so far has been Castrol Lube (crap, doesn't stay on) and now I use Canadian Tire brand which stays on a lot longer but does come off in the rain. I'm gonna replace the chain and sprockets next spring but I want to count the links on the current chain just in case.

Steve

[Anonymous]

Hi Ron,
I remember you telling me about your brakes when we met for Coffee. This is unlikely the case for me. When I press the brake lever on the bike the wedge between the two shoes sticks in the applied position. I then have to twist the wedge back for it to release. It's not a big deal but I don't be getting to it this week either. I was supposed to move to Ottawa tomorrow but I blew the cooling system in my van. Now I'm even more behind. As my boss says, "Can't win for losing"

Steve

[argonsagas]

Steve: what you said here suggests you have drum brakes, whereas I thought you had disks. Sorry for any misunderstanding.


When you pull the brake parts out, use a corded electric drill with a brass brush on it and clean all the parts....it will remove all rust, etc.

After brushing everything , reassemble with a spray of silicone on all parts. Do all spraying away from the bike.

Do NOT spray any silicone in the presence of the brake pads/shoes/linings or drum.

Quite possibly you will have to rebuild the brake cylinder.

Compress the brake cylinder with a C-clamp, then check the visible interior for any spalling. If it is spalled you need to rebuild or replace the cylinder. If it is clean, then open the clamp about 1/8 to 1/4 inch ....not more....and hold it in place while the brake lever is pulled. You need the clamp to limit the travel.


If it doesn't move, then the cylinder needs to be replaced. If it moves, but is tight, then use can use silicone on it. The silicone will lubricate the sides and will not damage the cup. If it moves freely, you are OK. Just go ahead with the reassembly....all done.

This is no big deal....fairly straightforward repair.

[Don Lobacz]

I think you have a couple of things going on with the chain. Let me preface this by noting that my original GS1000 chain lasted 44,000 miles (although I was lubing it every 100 miles at the end). I will bet that you don't have an o-ring chain, and riding in the rain at high speed without lubing quickly washes away the protective lube around the pins, thus allowing metal to metal contact. An o-ring chain will protect the lube to a point, but even then high speed rain riding has to work some water into the protected area. My experience is that a high quality chain will outlast a cheap chain by a factor of approximately 4 to 1. If you inspected a used chain, you would find that the wear mainly occurs across the center of the pins and in the loosening of the rollers. These accumulated clearances are what causes your chain stretch (if there is a slight stretch due to metal expansion from heat, it returns to normal after cooling).

One important quirk to keep in mind is that the loose part of the chain keeps getting looser until you have distinct tight and loose sections of your chain. This needs to be considered when checking chain tension: make sure that you spin the tire and check the tension at several locations. You may have checked the loose section after the ride: recheck the chain to see if the 3 inch slack is consistent around the whole chain.

[argonsagas]

I mentioned the brake cleaner from Princess Auto....try also Loctite chain lube from the same source. It goes on as a light spray, then thickens as the solvent evaporates....I use it on the Honda and found it great...even in heavy rain it stays put.

I mark the chain with a coloured marker to make sure I can tell how it turns, then put the bike on the centre stand and rotate the wheel and chain by hand as I continually spray the lube with the extended nozzle right on the chain. I run it through two complete turns, so there are no dry spots.

Before lubing the chain, clean it with Varsol or similar solvent and make certain it is completely dry before putting any lube on the chain. Use a hair dryer to be sure.