OK Finally, I have some information for you all. Probably not useful but
hey ... do with it what you will. Jim inquired so you get the horns.....
The Buchanan Story....
It began in the Spring of the year 2000. The handsome young King of the
Weeks Clan, in Los Alamos, New Mexico was lonely. Not lonely for a queen;
as his beautiful Queen filled his life with great joy. Together they were
raising a strong and energetic young prince and a very lovely (strong
headed - like her mother) princess. Yet, King Dash was lonely for a trusty
steed to carry him across the land, to seek true adventure and return to
some of his previous boyhood.
The soon to be trusty steed was spied at the local stable where many
bartered and traded for Heifers, Bulls, Colts and carriages of various
sorts. On a whim, this unbroken mustang was brought to the Weeks'
stable. It was clear from the beginning that its blood lines were from the
East, where they are bred for to conquer treacherous terrain while also
carrying themselves smoothly and proudly on improved village roads. This
mustang was what the King felt would compliment his daily and occasional
business.
Awe shucks I don't have all day you know......
Here it is.... I was painting my bike, I got to the wheels. I took off the
skins and began to un-lace the wheels. I found that the stock spokes and
nipples were very much rusted and very difficult to remove. I called my
favorite Kawi parts supplier and got the price for a whole new set. WOW
that's a lot of money. I did some more homework and found that Buchanan's
make Heavy Duty Stainless Steel spokes for the KLR. I also considered
replacing my rims with a aftermarket rims. That was a lot of money too and
for rims that weren't bent or broken, I couldn't justify the additional
expense right now. So I called Buchanan's, it is best to deal with them
direct and not through a dealer. They said that they could make them and
gave me the price. WOW, only a little tiny bit more than stock and I'll
get a stainless steel Heavy Duty set.... sign me up! So I ordered
them. They don't stock them but can make them and ship them within a
week. A couple of days is my experience with them. Well the spec book
they have must be wrong, or it wasn't read correctly. Here's what happened
They sent a set for front and rear. I laced up the rear first. I got to
the front and discovered that the spokes were too short. I call them and
send then back. They make my new set and send them out. By that time I
was truing up my rear wheel. Got it trued perfectly, set at 50 in-lbs of
torque and all was good. Double checked the offset and it was off.... HMmm
that's not right.... Read my previous post about truing theory and truing
reality. Anyway what I noticed was on the sprocket side of the hub the
spokes were a bit too short. They engaged and I had threaded them fine,
but I would have liked them longer. No biggie, my wheel was true and I
liked it so I mounted the rear tire. Proceeded to build up the rest of the
rear end on my bike.... Got really far. Then I got around to putting my
forks on so that I could true my front wheel.
I'll take a paragraph break now to give your eyes a rest.... AAHHHHH much
better...... breathe in .... breathe out...
OK so.... I put my wheel together (bearings, spacers, speedo, washers,
axle) and start to true it up. The truing theory was much closer for the
front wheel. Get it all tightened up, re-check my true and I've got a
little tiny bobble at one area. Loosen one one spoke and tighten
another. SNAP awe Crap. They send me a new one... That Night....
DatDadDatdada
SNAP... OK now I'm pissed. Call on Monday, this past Monday. I spoke with
Claire (very nice lady) she sent me back to Kenny (a tech), who does many
installations, truing etc. per day. HHMMMM that shouldn't happen, we
should replace all the front spokes, so I order a new set and they'll have
it to me by Thursday (today). Got transferred back to Claire to work out
the specifics, then I got transferred to Kenny Buchanan.. Most definitely
a thread lubrication problem. I was lubing with MoSi2 grease and not 100%
with the tube of oil that they sent. Well boys and girls, that little tube
of oil is worth its weight in gold for Stainless on Stainless anti-galling
protection. Kenny Buchanan also said that 50 in-lbs was not enough that I
need to go to at least 65 in-lbs. He prefers anything above 70 in-lbs. I
told him that the rear spokes were binding at near 50 in-lbs. Not good...
His suggestion was to undo my perfect truing job and clean all my MoSi2
grease off and then re-lube with that little tube of oil, Don't be shy now
with that oil. So I took the afternoon off. Un-mounted my D606, unlaced
my wheel and found that 9 spokes were bound and were turning in the
hub. HHHMMMM .... Hello Claire we still have a problem. Sent back to
Kenny the Tech and he straightened it out. I mentioned my problem of the
spokes on the sprocket side being a bit too short. HHHMMM let me look it
up in the book..... Hey Dash, you should have three different spokes for
the rear wheel.... HUH? You guys only sent me two and one side was too
short.... How much longer should it be? 3/16"..... Ok I'll make up 18 new
rear spokes for the extra 3/16" then I told him that five of the nine bound
spokes were on the side with the correct length... OK send back the 18 that
are too short and also the 5 that are bound on the other side. He'll make
me the new set of 18 as well as 5 of the other side... Add that to my
order... Can I get an XL coke with that?
Well to my delight I got a box from Buchanan's yesterday (one Day Early...
Whoo HOOO) I open her up and find that they sent 36 spokes for the front,
36 nippples for the front, 18 spokes for the rear and an additional 5 for
the other side (rear)... but no nipples for the rear wheel. I packaged up
my spokes AND nipples on Monday to ship back to them...... Sigh... gimmee a
beer, better yet throw those brats on the grill and gimme the Captain
Morgan! I called Claire this morning... He he he.. she must hate me
now.... I explained to her the mis-communication, what I did and that I
needed 23 nipples pronto. She's taking care of me. Additionally, they
made my front spokes out of 9ga instead of 89ga, so they are fixing that as
well. The 89ga isn't Eighty-Nine gage, it is a tapered spoke that goes
from 8ga at the hub to 9 gage at the rim, thus accepting the 9ga nipple.
Lessons learned.... The oil that Buchanan's provides is a high sulphur
content lube and will allow me to run those spokes up to 80 in-lbs... USE
IT STUPID!
Buchanan may not have the right specs for your bike.. Double check before
ordering and before installing them.
The instructions from Buchanan's should state that their lube is the only
lube that is capable of doing the job. I had plenty of grease in their by
the way and they weren't bare metal when I pulled them apart.
Here are the CORRECT specs for spokes if you care to order them from
Buchanan's This is for stock hubs and stock rims. The reference to three
sizes earlier was for non-stock parts. (?)
Front 21"
89ga STN Spoke - 8 3/4" --11/16 -- 20 (need 18) $1.36 ea
89ga STN Spoke - 8 13/16 -- 11/16 -- 20 (need 18) $1.36 ea
9ga 0.281" X 0.900" SS Nipples (need 36) $0.89 ea
Rear 17"
89ga STN Spoke 5 5/8" -- 11/16 -- 10 (need 18) $1.36 ea
89ga STN Spoke 6 7/16" -- 11/16 -- 8 (need 18) $1.36 ea
9ga 0.281" X 0.900" SS Nipples (need 36, same as for Front wheel) $0.89 ea
You need a 6.0 mm spoke wrench or a long handled 6mm open end
wrench. Motion Pro has a nice spoke wrench $15-$20. Worth it. You will
also need a spoke torque wrench or a regular torque wrench, hex bit and 6mm
combination (box/open) wrench.
LaterZ
Dash