de tour 2006 ** day three **

[Jeff Khoury]

#ygrps-yiv-1762751750 p {margin:0;}Never heard of 'em.  If you're looking for an inexpensive o-ring chain that works well, try "Bikemaster".  Their quality is on a par with the OEM Chain, and they're 54 bucks at Bike Bandit (on sale right now).  They also sell an x-ring for a few dollars more.  Good reviews. If you go to a dealer and don't specify, some of them install this stuff.  They buy it in huge rolls and just cut to length. -Jeff Khoury

----- Original Message ----- From: "eddie" To: "KLR650 list" DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 7:35:08 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Chain question   Has anyone had any experience with a Superlinks brand chain?   eddie  

[edgyver31906]

Finally got to the shop this morning and here's what I'm leaning toward: Sunstar sprockets & a RK XSO chain. MSRP is $173.85 for everything. Should come in around $125 cost. Not bad for good X-ring chain and reputable sprockets. Kinda curious about something, though. It's been said I'd need 108 link chain. Stock gearing has a 106 link chain. ???? Unless someone was hinting I needed to go to a 45 tooth rear sprocket for grins. eddie

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Jeff Khoury wrote: > > Never heard of 'em. If you're looking for an inexpensive o-ring chain that works well, try "Bikemaster". Their quality is on a par with the OEM Chain, and they're 54 bucks at Bike Bandit (on sale right now). They also sell an x-ring for a few dollars more. Good reviews. > > If you go to a dealer and don't specify, some of them install this stuff. They buy it in huge rolls and just cut to length. > > -Jeff Khoury > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "eddie" > To: "KLR650 list" DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com> > Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 7:35:08 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Chain question > > > > > > > > > > Has anyone had any experience with a Superlinks brand chain? > > eddie >

[snowcrash007]

My last bike was shaft drive, and I see a lot diff types (costs) of chains for the KLR. What manufacture/model of chain should I be looking at when the existing one needs replacement? Crash

[Jeffrey]

any x-ring or O-ring chain I heard to avoid Super Links If you take care of any decent O-ring or X-ring chain it will outlast the rear sprocket.

[Jeff Khoury]

If you do your maintenance and change your chain BEFORE it starts to eat itself, your sprockets can be kept (depending on wear). My rear sprocket has about 30,000 miles on it and still looks (and measures) good. I swap front sprockets all the time to change gear ratios so I can't say how many miles I would get out of one. YMMV, literally. -Jeff Khoury

----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeffrey" To: "DSN KLR650" DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 11:58:58 AM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Chain question any x-ring or O-ring chain I heard to avoid Super Links If you take care of any decent O-ring or X-ring chain it will outlast the rear sprocket.

[Jeffrey]

I have never had one of my own bikes/chains spit rollers. I use mostly tranny fluid to wipe em dn/clean em/preserve O-rings. On the road or after a dirt ride, I sometimes use WD40 to clean. Once the chain is clean from ATF or WD40 and has dried or come off, I will use O-ring chain lube. I think ATF is the key because it is the most rubber/O-ring friendly. WD-40 is fine with O-rings but I wouldn't it call it rubber/O-ring friendly. WD-40 and ATF seem far superior to diesel fuel or kerosene around O-rings. ATF seems the least likely to get by the O-rings and dissolve/float out the grease. The crowd says not to use an old chain even in decent shape with new sprocket(s)

[Jeff Saline]

----- Forwarded Message ----- Listers, Hole In The Wall to Caspar, Wyoming Travel time: 2 hrs 36 mins Distance: 84 miles We wake on the beautiful Wyoming prairie with the rising sun . A few birds are chirping and the temperature is refreshing but not cold. At least it isn't cold to me. Steve might be just a bit chilled. But it was great sleeping weather and our air mattresses work well providing a comfortable sleeping platform. We quickly pack and have a breakfast bar to start the day. Heading off we stop after only about 1/2 mile as there is a plaque we want to look at that we rode past on the way in. It talks about the Hole-In-The-Wall Fight that happened there on 22 July 1897. After that we head out riding maybe 1/4 mile or more apart so the dust can settle so the second rider doesn't have to eat it. It's almost like we're alone but know if something bad happens someone will soon be looking for us. The jeep trail and two track seem easier than last night and we comment on how it seemed shorter on the way out when we get to the final gate. I lead at this point on the freshly graded road heading back the way we came yesterday afternoon. After a bit I slow to wait until I see Steve's headlight or bike just to make sure he's still with me. This works well for us the entire trip with the leader slowing or waiting after a mile or two to make sure the tail is still in the ride. I get to the fork in the road that can takes us to the Willow Creek Ranch or south towards Caspar. I wait for Steve and take a look at the GPS and AAA paper map with the basic route highlighted. After a minute Steve hasn't shown up. A SUV drives past and goes towards a Quonset hut, belonging I suppose, to the ranch. I wave and can't tell if I get a return wave or not. I wait another minute and decide that I've missed Steve long enough. I turn around and beginning the ride to see what's going on. It's a kind of bad feeling on the turn around rides as I don't know what to expect. He might have stopped to take a picture, or remove a layer, or pee, or, or, well something not so good could have happened. He returned for me two years ago to find bike parts and riders scattered all over the road. He know's its a bad feeling. After about 1 1/2 miles I see him standing next to his bike on the side of the road. I pass him and turn around. I look at his tire print as I approach and think that D606 sure does have a nice wide footprint. Then I realize it's nice and wide cause it's a flat tire. Yup, first flat goes to Steve Rankin. He's picked up a sheet metal screw about 1 1/2 inches long. I say hi and ask how it's going. I think I also smile at him. We start unpacking tools and I ask what he wants me to do. While he starts removing his rear tire I get my pail bottom and tire wizard. I carry the bottom of a 5 gallon plastic pail on most trips. It has multiple uses but the most valuable one I find is protecting the brake rotor and bearings when changing or repairing a tire. The rotor will fit inside the pail nicely and a few pieces of duct tape over the bearings help keep dirt out of them. The tire wizard is a tool handy for breaking a bead and also can be used to remove or replace a tire. We tested it on a street tire the week before we left and it worked well for breaking the bead. It comes with five pages of instructions but a guy can pay just a little attention and learn how to use it to break a bead in about three minutes. We patch the tube and put the tire back on the bike. While Steve's adjusting the chain a couple of ranch hands stop by and ask if we need any help. We tell them we've got it fixed and are just about finished. They tell us the hut has lots of tools and if we need something to help ourselves and put it back when we're done with it. We have a nice conversation about the area and riding bikes and we get told how one of the guys hit a deer two years ago on a bike and can't ride anymore. He bought a Mazda Miata and that's about as close as he can get to bike riding now. They drive off and Steve and I finish packing up tools and get ready to ride again. We follow the roads on the route and I race an antelope for about 1/2 mile. It stays about 100 yards off my left side and keeps pace with me at 45 mph. I've got it pretty smooth compared to what it's going over and through. After a bit it turns to the left and runs out of sight. The roads are well marked and in good condition. We head in toward Caspar and stop in Mills, Wyoming. It's just on the outer edges of Caspar and we find lunch at a Subway. We talk about Steve's countershaft seal leaking oil and I suggest if he wants we could change it if the dealer has one in stock. We go to Walmart so he can get a quart of Rotella 15w/40 oil and while he's inside getting the oil I'm gonna pull his tank and fix a petcock that just started leaking. Looks like today is Steve's day to have maintenance issues. I get his tank pulled in about five minutes which isn't so bad considering he's got the bike fully loaded with tank bag, panniers, Ortlieb saddlebags and an Ortlieb zippered dry bag and a tent and Kermit chair. The four screws holding the petcock together are all about 1/8-1/4 turn loose. I tighten them and he's returning as I begin putting the bike back together. Just as we finish with the body parts, Terry, a local KLR rider comes riding past. He stops and tells us how to get to the dealer and we have a nice conversation. He heads into the store and Steve and I follow his excellent directions and ride right to the dealer. I go in to the parts counter to check on price and availability of a countershaft seal. Steve hangs outside to call home for a few minutes. The parts girls are pretty nice and after turning the screen enough so I can hang over the counter and get a peek at it to identify the part I want she says the computer thinks they have one. I ask her to go touch it before I go to talk with the service manager to explain what I'd like to do at 4 in the afternoon and beg assistance as needed. She looks for about 15 minutes and I can see two other folks looking too. No dice, no seal. That takes care of the countershaft seal replacement idea. Steve just adds 250ccs of oil and knows he'll have to keep an eye on the oil level. We walk to the bike section to see if they have any KLRs as Steve has been talking about getting a new one and is pretty frustrated with the maintenance issues that have sprung to life today. A new sales guy walks up and says they have one and the price is ... He wants to talk trade in and what does out the door really mean. He doesn't have a price but it sounds like list is the going rate. I invite him to take a look at our bikes if he wants to see a couple that are being used as adventure tourers. He's a little bit impressed although I think the idea of a dirt tour is a bit beyond him. It turns out he just got out of the Air Force as a door gunner on helicopters. I thank him for his service and we talk a bit about military life etc. Steve is itching to go as we've been in Caspar for a few hours, as he calls it, "shopping". We load the next route on the GPSs and head off. Caspar to Independence Rock Travel Time: 1 hr 25 mins Distance: 59 miles We leave heading out of Caspar and get turned around a bit. I finally find the starting point of the route and we go through a few back streets to get to it. The GPSs sure make travel in towns easier. The road quickly turns to good dirt and gravel. We get out of the populated areas and soon have the road all to ourselves. Nice views are along this route and we make fine time. As we are going up Ryan Hill I see a skeleton off the right side of the road. I turn around and go back to take a look. It looks like an antelope graveyard. I count 14 rib cages over the side of the hill. Legs and other parts are scattered around. I don't see any heads. Something tells me this isn't a case of a semi plowing into a herd at night. I suppose I'll never know what the real story is. We head on and finally come to what should be our next road. It's a ranch road and sure doesn't look open to the public. We head south on pavement and watch for another opportunity to join the planned route. A road to the east finally appears and it looks public. We decide to take it and almost immediately are in loose sand and a few deep ruts. Martin Earl's recent mishap jumps to mind and I try to ride a bit more carefully. After two miles I stop and check the GPS and planned route. A road should be to the right and I can kind of see where there was one, 20 years ago. We decide this isn't gonna work for us and head back to the pavement. Independence rock is ahead on the left and we take a break there and walk up to the rock. It has names on it from travelers that stopped there over one hundred years ago. This was a huge milestone in traveling west back then. I suppose Steve and I have covered more ground in the last three days than a traveler one hundred years ago would probably cover in an entire season. I talk with the grounds keeper about our planned route and ask if it's doable. He says he's only been out there one time in 20 years and it was very tough going in a four wheel drive. He suggests another route that's actually in the wrong direction and says he doesn't know of anything that is going where we want to head other than the paved road. Steve and I head south on pavement and as we approach what should be roads that will go in the correct direction they are missing when we go through the area. So for maybe 18 miles I watch and wait and don't find what I'm looking for. The road is good but not very interesting. It's fast and we're making good time. Finally we get to Muddy Gap. Wow! They have gas here. We pull in and fill up as out here we never know when we'll next have a chance to get fuel. I talk with the lady running the store. Her name is Denise and she's a happy person and welcomes everyone telling them about the clean rest rooms and to put something in the "Flush Fund" if you like the clean rest rooms. I ask her if there's a place to camp nearby as it's getting late and we don't want to get caught in the Great Divide Basin at night without a camping spot. She says sure, we can camp behind the cabin down the road about 1/4 mile. It has a stream and we can come back for dinner there and she'll cook us something. It sounds good to Steve and me so we head off. After over 1/2 mile there's no cabin so I turn around and go back to verify directions. Off we go again and it turns out it's right at one mile. We ride to the back and a large deer is eating in the garden. It runs off and we have the place to ourselves. It looks fine so we pitch tents and then head back to the store for dinner. Denise suggests pizza and we pull one out of the cooler. She starts cooking it and we sit down to relax and have a beer. There's a checker board as part of the top of the table so we start playing a game. After a couple of moves each Denise comes over to chat and the checkers game is forgotten. We talk about the area and how she got to it and time flies. The pizza is good and so is the second beer. Steve and I both put $6 in the "Flush Fund" as thanks for the camping spot. As we pay for dinner she suggest we grab two more beers as then she can sell us a 6 pack instead of charging us for singles. We get two more beers and now have to carry two bottles. I sure hope tomorrow is an easy day. I don't want them to break. As we leave for camp and Denise starts to close the store I tell her to honk as she goes by on the way home. Fifteen minutes later we're in our tents almost asleep and a car goes by with the horn blaring. We both laugh and that's the end of day three of De Tour. End of Day Three. Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT . . ____________________________________________________________ 53 Year Old Mom Looks 33 The Stunning Results of Her Wrinkle Trick Has Botox Doctors Worried http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4f16c4a2c642a3b2cdest01vuc [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]