80,000 mi. klr

[Weaver, Mark]

i vanquished the last remnants of my squeak i think. in the last 3 rides, i haven't heard a peep. what i did was pull the front wheel apart again and put some more grease into the bearings, and then instead of a cotter pin, i used an old bicycle spoke, so i didn't have to tighten the front hub quite so tight to get the spoke through the hole (it's smaller than a cotter pin). now when i unbolted the hub the first time, i had to really grunt and groan with 12 and 14" wrenches to get it loose. then i had to grunt and groan to get it back to the right place to put the pin through the hole. i know 58 ft/lbs is a freakin' butt-load of torque, but i still think it was probably overtightened. in fact, using a cotter pin, i don't see how you could avoid overtightening it, unless you just got tremendously lucky. do bolts that big and tight really vibrate loose? that's hard for me to imagine. it's even harder for me to imagine that you might not notice it before it got to be a problem. should i just get one of those nylock axle nuts from dualstar? mw

[Brad Davis]

>I don't go > over 5200 RPMs, and > most of the time never over 5000 rpm.( Currently use > a 16 tooth front > sprocket- 43 rear).

What is the factory front/rear tooth count and how many RPM does your KLR turn at 60mph in 5th gear?

>I make sure my chain is not too > tight with myself seated > on the bike. I start the bike and immediately warm > it up by slowly riding > 1/2 mile or so before going over 3000 rpms. I try to > keep extra brake pads, > sprockets ,cables,etc. on hand for timely > replacements. Those are items I > never skimp on.

Allowing time for engine warmup and not over reving the engine sure made your KLR last a long time!

> Do you own a KLR Brad, or thinking about buying one? > People say the '96 has > been upgraded over my '90, but I tell you I've had a > '89 a '90 and now a > '93. I may be biased but I'm real happy with the old > A3 and A4s. > a3='89 a4='90 for you newbies out there.

Well, I don't have one yet but I should have enough money put together soon for a '96 to '98 model.

> > Oh yeah I ran Chevron supreme for most of it's life, > went to Chevron 87 > octane when gas prices peaked. Ping city, went back > to 91/92 octane no more > pinging. Question -Is it true there is not a > distinct formula for 89 octane > gas, that it is really a mix of the 87 and 92 > octanes. Somebody told me > they just blend the two underground tanks together > and call it 89 octane. > Anybody know for sure?

I deal a lot with Underground Storage Tanks in my work and yes, fuel stations blend their regular and premium products to get their midgrade product. The final octane rating of the midgrade is simply the volume weighted average of the two fuel grades fed to the dispenser. I've found it interesting that if you calculate the cost of the blend per gallon based on the regular and premium fuels, that the mid grade costs more than than it's components cost. Thanks for the great feedback Conall. Brad __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/