XT660 chain buggered

Had a mooch about on the XT today. Had a go at some very mild drifting
on some forestry roads. This led to a calming down incident....
Nipped up to work and had a chat with a mate about an xt500 he has found
and got to talking about chains. On testing mine I could haul i toff the
back sprocket by a good 1/4".
I have now ordered a new DID chain and sprocket set and a
*chain breaker/riveter *.
This has give me a cozy glow inside for some reason.

I shall now leave my DIY changing of Swedish Army Extremes to Tourances
until the new toy and chain arrives.

 

Check your cush drive rubbers because the chances are they'll be
knackered and you'll do a new chain no favours if you don't change them
at the same time.

Mine were shot to bits after 8k miles and I sourced replacements for
about £20 from Wemoto. Those nice people at Yamaha gave me another set
under warranty so they're sitting at home as spares waiting for the day
when the replacements fall apart.

 

I did order some of them as well.
I never did change mine before Norway despite them being in bits.

 

Just been swapping the back tyre for a new one.
Amazingly I seemed to have managed without putting a hole in the tube.
The cush rubbers were no worse than they were before we went.
Mind you, given the very gentle throttle control we developed thats
probably not surprising.
Sprockets and chain were pretty fucked.

 

My front Trelleborg has finally reached the point where I feel I can
justify changing the tyres over and I'll be glad to go back to Tourances
again. I really should buy the kit for changing tyres myself because
it's stupid paying £10 per wheel to change between road biased tyres and
full on knobblies.

You should have come with us this weekend, it was great fun watching
those lardy arsed GS beemers either failing to get through some of the
more difficult sections or the owners bottling it and not even having a
go. The Tenere had it's obligatory lie down when I tried to go across a
small drainage gulley too slowly and ended up with a wheel on either
side and me unable to get my foot down. That bike crashes well because
nothing was damaged and it started straight away but it really is a
heavy bastard if it starts to go over on you.

 

To be honest the only gear I do have is some old mis-matched 8" levers.
I'm chancing it without doing any balancing
If they are bad I'll have to sort something out....

I'm just about getting over this bastard infection so it probably
wouldn't have been a good idea.
Last of the antibiotics tonight.

I am intending to do something over the summer though...

 

It's a bead breaker I want because I've no intention of wasting my time
jumping up and down on the tyre then using a hydraulic jack wedged
against something solid when it can be avoided.

It doesn't have to be sensible to be fun.

Heh, I'll email you when certain plans come to fruition. I know you like
crashing so it'd be wrong to leave you out.

 

Bzzzt. What you _really_ want is a spare set of wheels.

 

I'm not really sure what all the fuss is about with bead breaking.
I am blessed with a few of these though:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/quick-action-clamp-6-152mm/57645

They might be a problem with an expensive alloy wheel but for pikey XT
wire spoke types they do the business.
They have nylon bits so they don't hurt the wheels (mind you, god help
the wheels when my old MZ tool kit tyre irons get on them).
Stick the fixed anvil on the rim and squeeze onto the side of the tyre.
Use more of them if things are particularly tight.

 

In message

This would be the perfect solution.

 

I've got a spare set of wheels for my Kawasaki and if I sold them I
could probably buy 4 sets for the Yamaha where I need them more.

 

Hmm, I've got a number of Carver clamps which are similar but I'd have
to make up some nylon covers for them before they went anywhere near a
motorbike wheel.