Question on chain & sprocket

His name is Beastie. Bee Ess Dee, Beastie. Get it?

Beastie with green basketball shoes is the best! These with red shoes
are pretty darn good too:
http://fromto.cc/hosokawa/gallery/

Beastie is Made With Macintosh! That tickles my fancy too! Much more
than a gold colored chain on motorcycle.

 

Duh, everyone -wants- the performance of new bikes, farings and
stuff like 4-piston-caliper brakes. But the young certainly cannot afford
it. Years ago the manufacturers understood this and along side the
more "performance" bikes in the stratospheric price range that most
of the young could drool over, they sold a line of lower priced entry
level stuff. What do you think the purpose was for all the CB350's
back in the 70's, there's no surprise that it sold as much as it did when
you look at the price.

Ted

 

Correction, a MODERN 530 is more than adequate. As some folks
have pointed out to me, the 530 chain of today is made with far better
steel than the 530 chains of years ago.

Thanks for the link, I took a look at that site, and I'll probably use them
in the future.

I don't see crap chains for $15 on that site

What I ended up doing is buying new 18 front 43 rear sprockets and
a 530 EK xring chain from moto-heaven. They sell Thrust Company sprockets,
(which I think they get someone to make for them)
more stunt types but many stock sizes, and my bike is one of these, they
also cut the chain to the right length for you, all of it
for a bit less than $200 including shipping.

Ted

 

There's still cheaper, "afforable" bikes sold - no more expensive than
the "old days", when adjusted for inflation. What's your point?

 

Suzuki GS500F is a new bike, fairings, and 4-piston brakes targeted for
cheaper/younger riders. Adjusted for inflation, this bike would have cost
$1000 new in 1970.

 

Dam. 22k And they are wore out? Must have had the dog shit run out of it.
My GSX has 20k on it and not a big deal with it chain and all still healthy.
and the 82 I have has no sgin of wearing out soon. You sure they are wore
out. And yes you can get them cheaper at Bandit or Dennis. And yes that
bike will take 530, and most 750's come with them. A 1980 Honda 750K and
750C and 750F has a 530 and thats all of them for that year, no other 750's.
And there is nothing wrong with it being a DOHC, you can ride anywhere with
no biggie. I've owned alot of them. Good bike.

 

No, it's no maintainence. Chains don't last long when they don't see
oil and get all rusty.

Even the front sprocket, it's pretty amazing.

Ted

 

Are we? Food hasn't changed much an apple is still an apple.

Sure you can get a lot of cool electronic toys now.

But back in the 60's when both cars and bikes were all mechanical
systems and a lot simpler, I understand a lot more owners could do
their own maintainence. Saving a lot of money that way. I wasn't
alive in the early 60's so I'm just going by hearsay.

So you get a car or a bike today for an equivalent purchase price,
that is just the beginning. Most people can't service them even if they
want to since the tooling alone required to do it costs more than the
bike itself. Insurance is also higher when adjusted for inflation.

Yes, this is simply the old "divide between rich and poor getting bigger"
it's been happening since RR won the White House in '80.

It doesen't take a rocket scientist to see that despite the economic
calculations of adjusting for inflation, the numbers don't add up.

A lot more young couples are in apartments for a lot longer, rather
than buying houses.

And when they do buy they get a lot less sized house and a much smaller
yard.

And these days with most couples both of them work. Since when
did the average working man's wage become inadequate to support
a stay at home mom?

And as for saving for college, forget that, most college grads have
parents who can't fund them, so they end up going in debt.

Disposable income is a much lower percentage of income, today.
For most people, they are not approaching a bike purchase as
their only means of transport. It is a secondary means of transport
and their car is their primary. So, the bike purchase must come out
of what is left over after all other bills are paid, and that's a lot
less now.

Not the case, warranty work is not nearly as profitable because
the factory only allots a fixed amount of time for it. If the job runs
over, maybe there's a stuck bolt or some such, then the dealership
eats that cost.

The factories have recognized this and their response has been to
start defining a whole bunch of parts as "wearable" items and thus
exempt from warranty. So for example you bring a bike in
with some plastic part on the handlebars snapped, and the factory
says it's a wearable part. But still this only helps make warranty
work a little more profitable.

Recall work is profitable because when the mechanic has changed the
same part a hundred times in a row they get really really quick at
doing it.

The most profitable service work is when the guy brings in a bike
that is less than 5 years old and is out of warranty.

The dealerships don't really want to

It's more a volume thing. A dealership that sells more bikes is able
to buy them at a steeper discount from the factory, they get higher
factory-to-dealer incentive payments, etc.

If you come in and buy a $1000 woth of parts, they might make
$300 off you.

If you come in and buy a new bike, and you have done your research
and have a good idea of what they paid for the bike, and they are
really desperate to make the sale, they might still only make $300 off
you. But, your purchase may cause every additional bike they buy from
the factory to cost them $20 less than before they made the sale to
you.

Ted

 

The only electrical appliance they ever made that didn't suck was their
vacuum cleaner.

(Yeah, I had a TR3A, a TR4, a Spitfire, and a handful of MGB's. I know all
about Lucas.)

 

Always thought he was the Prince.

Dim, flicker, and off. Or so it says here:
http://www.kitcar.com/articles-kitcar/humordept/lucas-prince.html

"The three-position Lucas switch--DIM, FLICKER and OFF. The other three
switch settings--SMOKE, SMOLDER and IGNITE."