charliechitlins

Metal doesn't breathe like plastic. Gas stays fresh longer.

Remember...the closer you get the weight to the outer edge, the more it will do.

Criminy! There are 2? I suppose I could try to hide my ignorance and head out to the garage and see where the 2nd one is, but it's about 2 deg.F here, and I'm staying close to the coal stove. I guess there's one behind the sprocket...I never changed my sprocket, it's in good shape. If there is one behind, the flat would face the engine. You always want to have the flat (thrust) face against the thing that it's being pushed against. Not against the thing doing the pushing. The rounded edge could squeeze it open or closed (depending on whether it's an outside or inside clip), and off, with pressure. Imagine a hole very slightly smaller that a Frisbee. Now cover the hole with the frisbee. If you try to push it through top first, the bevel will cause it to crush down and go through the hole. If you flip it around with the flat side to the hole, it'll be harder to push through. The only times I have seen circlips come out of pistons, the installer confessed to not knowing circlips have a thrust face. And, yes...it's UGLY. A backed-out wristpin does quite a job on a cylinder! Especially on Harleys with huge flywheels and very high piston speeds.

Sherco Duuuuuude! Bikespace is right. It's a snapring that holds it on. Get yourself some reversible snapring pliers. They're cheap. Only a couple squid or kilos or whatever y'all blokes use for money over there. Buy a new snapring, too! Don't risk having a used one fly off and trash everything because you didn't spend a couple farthings. Look closely at the snapring. Usually, one face is slightly rounded and has a rounded edge, and the other side has a totally flat face with sharp edges. The flat/sharp face faces OUT. For the rear sprocket, don't turn the allens. Just hold them in place with the tool while you turn the nuts on the inside.

Shop queen?!? I usually get frame, forks, brake drums, hubs, battery tray, clutch and brake pedals, and several other brackets and small parts blasted and powdercoated for around $300. That's hardly shop queen money. Frame only: $150. And you can hit it with a hammer. As for the correctness of the finish for "vintage iron", anybody who is a judge for one of the international antique motorcycle clubs (where the bikes I restore are judged) can feel free to score a deduction for a non-original finish, but it looks so much like paint, they seldom notice. Bear in mind, too, that the stuff does come off if you want it to. I wouldn't use it if it permanently altered a part.

Thanks, Joe. About what I thought. Next time I get to it, I'll align the sprockets , then check the snails and the swingarm pivot-to-axle measurement (I hadn't thought of that one) to see if they agree.

I get powdercoating done for less than the cost of materials for a paint job.

Tension is easy, it's alignment I'm after. I doubt I'd notice if the wheels were slightly out of line, I'm more concerned with sprocket alignment for maximum chain/sprocket life. Actually...I know my wheels are slightly out of line because I put them that way so I wouldn't have to be adjusting my spokes all the time. Would the string even work for wheel alignment with the tires being different widths?

SD... I'm not really sure what you're trying to show me, there. I don't see how that shows me half a tooth. Here's how you check if your chain is whipped: Look at your sprocket like it's a clock and find 3 o'clock. If you only have digital clocks, trace a line along the swingarm until you cross the chain. Grab the chain right there, and pull towards the back of the bike as hard as you can. Check how much sprocket tooth you expose right where you're pulling.

OK...how do you guys/gals do this? Back in days of yore, we could either sight down the chain or spin the wheel and make sure the sprocket was centered in the chain. But now that there's so much slack and the chain is rubbing on wear blocks and tensioners, this doesn't work anymore. I wish I thought that everything was so perfectly manufactured that I could just line up the little numbers on the snails, but...well...you know.

SD!!! If you can expose a whole tooth, your chain is beyond whipped. Chances are pretty good that your worn chain has worn your sprockets in such a way that they will ruin a new chain in no time. If you want low maintenance, get some new sprockets and an o-ring chain. As for the half-link...I did without it on my '01. The chain fit with the axle forward. I'm sure I'd never notice the difference in steering geometry.

That's really nice! Good to see when a manufacturer takes something like that into account and makes it simple. Go for the 2-wire button. Don't depend on the button body-to- handlebar-to-clamp-to-top tree-to-stem-to-neck bearing-to frame connection for your ground. Go right to the frame.

I guess things could change, but my past experience with Cheng Shin is that you get what you pay for. I've seen many come from JC Whitney. The rubber was always so hard that they were very frustrating and dangerous to the owner. Although...if they have a modern trials tire, I have not seen it.

I like the way you put that. You think aluminum isn't magnetic? Get a drill bit near it and watch the attraction!

Absolutely. Not only do you get something to hold on to, but the heat from the weld helps loosen things up. I get neck races out like this. Run a bead around them, and they practically drop out. I just never figure folks have a MIG.

You can also figure out how deep you can safely go, and wrap tape around the drill bit to make a stop so you don't go any deeper.

Get that man a motorcycle!!

Did you fix it yet?

I think the standard is 1/3 of the travel. Around 2- 2 1/2 inches. I use 2 1/2 , and you see how smooth I am!

AL!!! My turn to disagree...although I don't think you really meant what you wrote...must be having a senior moment. Har! Sounds like what you recommended would drive the axle out rather than turning it out. This could be detrimental to the threads! Marky has assumed that you're talking about an impact gun...which could be used as a last resort...Heck...it took me a while to figure out that a "spindle" is an axle. Thanks for reminding me to get another gallon of Kroil (the oil that creeps!) I would suggest constant and liberal soaking with penetrating oil. Put it on several times a day and spend a couple minutes tapping on it with a light hammer to help the oil seep. When you're ready to take it apart, try gentle heat. No more than about 200 deg. F (water shouldn't boil when you splash some on.) If hand tools still don't get it, go at it with the impact at the lowest setting and work your way up as needed. You'll get it.

It's like trials bikes...if they could knock out a million of them, they'd be cheaper. Anything purpose-made in small quantity is expensive. It's not a matter of trials clothing being a ripoff. It's just expensive. Fortunately, there's an alternative to trials clothing. There's no substitute for a trials bike!

Even a cheap o-ring chain will require minimum maintenance and will likely last the life of the bike. And, being that they don't wear out, your sprockets will last a very long time. There is a slight drag. I actually like it. It might bug you if you're an expert or pro. I can't remember the length...count yours. It's around 106...I could be way off base. If you go o-ring, make sure you know just how many links...you don't want to pay for extra, and they're a bit hard to shorten.

Don't sweat it, Al. It's actually OK to disagree with me.....once. After that, it gets my New York up. The quenching confused me, too. I learned the soap trick from one of those old-time machinist/mechanics who should have an honorary PhD in engineering, and he never led me astray. I never asked why, but I assumed that the temp is so hard to control with a torch, it's best to just dunk it as soon as you get it close. When annealing other metals, such as tool steel, I put them in my blacksmith forge and let them cool very slowly overnight inside the coals. Not being a metallurgist, all I can tell you is, the shift lever on my sons TXT 80 sticks way out, and I've had to straighten it about 6 times, and I haven't seen a stress crack yet.

Keep the change.

I'd definitely fix it. You're asking for trouble running it like that. If the uneven stress cracks the clamp, you'll really be bummed out. I would punch the broken bolt as deeply as possible to keep the bit from slipping and make some sort of pilot to go through the outer hole to keep the bit centered. You could use hardwood dowel or aluminum rod.. Put a piece as tightly as possible in the hole and drill through the center. This will keep your bit centered as you drill the bolt. Try left-handed bits. Most of the time they walk the bolt right out as you drill.