On a putt around Europe do I really need to maintain the bike?????????
| Route and Miles: Approx 75km around area for service & stuff
Money: Euros €1 = $1.2527 USD Fuel: No fill-up today Weather: Mostly a dreary overcast day cloudy, and brief patches sprinkles. Glorious sunshine in the late afternoon |
| Mileages so far!
These are nowhere near IBA or LDRider time and distances. Total miles from Southern California, which includes ride to Orlando for moto shipment – 11,169 miles. From April 27, 2012 to today, Europe only –- 8,590 miles. |
| Preplanning Maintenance |
| Early on I decided not to ship over oil filters, oil, chain, sprockets, tires, brake pads, WD-40, silicon chain spray lube, cleaning rags, etc. These are readily available in most of western Europe. |
| Post-Ride Maintenance |
| Monday, June 2, 2012 – We are at home base in Bamberg, Germany. First day back and in maintenance mode. Most of the last 14 days riding was done in the wet! Snow & rain!
Now I’ll admit that in rotten weather, I had very little desire to crawl around the chain drive area inspecting chain and sprocket. This from the guy who had a chain failure on the Dalton Hwy 68 miles from Deadhorse. Sooooo close, but so far! |
| I’m cleaning my 04 V-Strom DL1000 drive chain with a healthy soaking of WD-40 then rag scrubbing, repeating 3-4 times until the scrubbing/rag towel remains somewhat clean. Then a thorough soaking with a silicon lubricant spray. John Ryan, The Man Who Would Stop At Nothing, showed me this technique for cleaning moto drive chains on a chance meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska. |
| I have a Scott Oiler which continuously feeds oil to the main drive sprocket and chain. In the last 14 days the chain was cleaned 3 times and Silicon sprayed every other day. Scott advises to increase the flow when riding in wet conditions. Auto oilers are messy! The entire left rear of the bike is covered in oil grim and dirt. |
| Self inflected drama
So why would the main sprocket look like this? |
 Look at the zähne (teeth) on my rear kettenrad (sprocket)! Take a close look at each individual tooth. Notice the tooth distortion and how the tooth looks like a wave. Not good for a Saddle Sore attempt. |
 The individual teeth are very skinny. Notice the metal distortion. |
| Another wayward decision on my part. I know one is supposed to change the front/back sprocket and chain together B-U-T visual inspection showed very little tooth wear so I only changed the chain. Spank me!
Subconsciously I knew there would be no shortage of Suzuki motorrad dealers in Europe. Truth be told, this is the same sprocket that went to South America! Now at 25,000 miles! |
| http://motorrad.suzuki.de/
showed a dozen Suzuki Motorcycle dealers within 100km. |
| I called the closest one (25 km away) and was surprised that they would not schedule me in until 1 week later – next Monday. |
| Autohaus Wagner GmbH Bayreuther Str. 102 91301 Forchheim |
| Frank Wagner Zweirad & Pkw Meister Motorrad & Auto Service & Verkauf 09191-80824 It’s a combination auto/motorcycle dealer. |
 The closest Suzuki Motorcycle dealer is less than 25 km! |
| Turns out the Sunday and Thursday were holidays and moto service was in demand. That wouldn’t work. I’ll get the oil & filter and do it myself.
Me: “Do you have the V-Strom 1000 oil filter and oil?” Frank: “Yes, I have!” Me: “I’ll be there.” A half-hour later we were discussing Russia and Nordkapp as I purchased stuff. Once back I stripped the moto of Jesse bags and was hand cleaning the sprocket when I noticed the teeth wear on the rear sprocket. “This sprocket will not make it the next 2 weeks!” More importantly, the mechanical skill level got much more complicated! I’ve changed all these myself twice in the comfort and security of my garage with correct tools. I called the 100+ km Suzuki dealer and no, a V-Strom chain/sprocket kit (front Engine Sprocket, rear Sprocket and chain) is a special order and it would take 2-days with installation 1 or 2 days later. Called Frank about a chain/sprocket kit – front Engine Sprocket, rear Sprocket and chain. Frank: “Yes, we have the kit. I’m leaving for lunch so come at 2PM.” Back to the Suzuki dealer with just the well worn sprocket still mounted on the sprocket drum and now everything was much more friendlier. But it turns out that Frank did not have the chain kit in stock. After some discussion, the Frank said “If I order express I can get the chain kit by tomorrow noon. Do you have a master link compressor?” Me: “Yes on the express order, No, I was going to buy one from a bike shop. (pause, with me having a look of desperation on my face) If I bring the V-Strom in this afternoon, will you install this chain/sprocket kit for me tomorrow when the kit comes in?” Frank: (longer pause) “OK, I’ll install this when I get the chain/sprocket kit tomorrow.” Even if this takes a couple days, this is much better than the 7-days originally discussed. If all goes well, I’m getting the chain/sprocket kit installed, oil & filter changed, replacing front brake pads, and adjusting the clutch. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 – I called at 1:00PM and everything is done! B-U-T during the test ride, Frank heard a noise. My rear tire bearings are so tired that they are kaput! (my German is getting pretty good). The clutch is also tired but good for another 2k miles. Another special for wheel bearings and the bike will be done tomorrow at 10:00AM. |
| The big Harley RoadGlide is in for an oil change too. |
| Exchanged e-mails with Martin. He is doing well as expected. He said he might be out of the hospital Thursday. w=We agree to have dinner after we get back from Slovakia. |
| Tomorrow, Wed, June 6, we are hoping to ride to the Horizon’s Unlimited – Germany meeting in Ober-Liebersbach – approx. 280 km. This is a 3-day gathering of moto riders who truly ride the world! Individuals who have been on the road for years! Around the world several times! This is going to be real interesting.
Another interesting sub-theme … Bill and Murph Watt are riding from KnopfTours, Heidelberg to Frankfurt Friday! We’ll be at the Horizon’s Unlimited – Germany gathering Friday. Bill and Murph will pass within 35km of our location!  This is my ritzel (front countershaft sprocket). It also needed changing. Notice the wave zähne (tooth) wear. |
Dean,
:)
John R is a friend of mine too, but he rides shaft bikes and apparently knows nothing about proper chain lube!
I won’t take issue with using WD40 for cleaning, but silicon lube will not even hold up as a lubricant on bicycle chains, much less motorcycle chains. However, applying it will most likely prevent the lube from the oiler from doing its job properly.
The sprocket says “superlight” on it in the photo. Does that mean it is aluminum? If so, it would not really matter what you used to lube it. Aluminum is great for race bikes and dirt bikes, but it won’t hold up for long distances. Use a steel rear sprocket for better life(fronts are typically steel). A steel rear sprocket with an oiler should not show hardly any wear at 25K miles.
Glad they found a way to get you taken care of!
If you see them, tell Bill and Murf hello for me!
John,
Please don’t knock John R, he was helping me after I just got towed off the Haul Road after a chain failure. Heck, I rarely ever cleaned a chain before his help/advice.
Thanks for the info on silicon spray lube. I’m still learning about the mystic chain ritual.
The sprocket is a Superlite Steel Sprocket 14604L-43. The chain is a D.I.D. 525ZVM-X Gold Dual Sport/Street X’ring Sealed Chain with a Rivet Style Master Link.
I’ll go back to a chain spray lube for my backup.
Hi Dean ,
got my suitcase packed and flying out of Montevideo in the morning
maybe we can still meet up somewhere in germany or austria end of next week??
Stay in touch have my macbook air with me.
Herb
Dean, great update! Surprised that you didn’t swap out the sprockets and chain before you shipped it
Funny thing, just the other day I was cleaning/oiling my chain on my Strom because i was hearing noise and thought i was neglecting the chain, but I noticed quite a bit of shim going on on my rear wheel while oiling it….. Like you, bearing is bad! I believe you have quite a bit more miles on yours though……
Looking forward to more tales as I work!
Dean,
Sometimes electrons don’t transmit humor very well. Not knocking John R, he is a friend and as a Type 1 diabetic that never lets that condition hold him back from his goals, he has been a great influence on my oldest son, who is also a T1. It is no surprise the he would help you out when needed, he is the type that would give you the shirt off his back if that would help.
Still, it is always amusing to me to hear the “latest” ideas on how to maintain a chain. As a long time rider of chain drive bikes, former m/c mechanic, former race mechanic, and someone that knows a little bit about engineering, I hear lots of folks making recommendations that really don’t understand the dynamics of chain drive. Looks like you are running one of the better chains and the steel sprocket is good, so the proper adjustment and lube should allow you to get the max miles out of the new parts.
I think you new nick name should be Sprocket Man.