topless klr

[Jeff Walker]

I forgot to mention.  If anyone for some god knows reason (other than a mechanical engineer) wants to learn more about mechanical reliability, then check out this book:  [u]Mechanical Relibility[/u] by A.D.S. Carter, Halsted Press, published by Wiley & Sons 1986.   Now you see the kind of light reading I do before bed.   Jeff

[Russell Scott]

The key to Conall getting so many miles was engine warm-up, and never going beyond 5200 rpm. I think it is high rpm's more than anything than causes the valves to get out of adjustment. My advice is if you cruise down the highway above 5000 rpm's consistently you should defiantly be more inclined to check the valves at regular intervals. Russel'r DSN_klr650@egroups.com Subject: RE: [DSN_klr650] initial valve Inspection

> I agree with Verle on this...it is a bit mind boggling to me that there > are > folks on this list that brag about never checking their valves. What is

to

> brag about? The archives allow us to have the benefit of the experiences > of > hundreds of KLR owners. They will tell you that the bike's valves do > indeed > go out of spec at 500 miles 1500 miles and 3000 miles. I know, because > that > is what happened with my bike. > > The great thing about life is that we all get to go to hell in our own > way... > > Kurt >

It's the old jail house sawe, "Go out and do it but don't get caught" I'll confess an admiration for those wild young hawks like Conall that have gotten away with it. Me, it wouldn't have been so. At one inspection the valves were off and needed different shims. Bogdan

[TNBMWRIDER@aol.com]

Jeff - I am new to the list and the KLR. I just got a 1997 KLR with less than 800 miles on it. After reading all these emails about valve inspections, one of my concerns was whether the initial valve inspection had actually been done on this bike. And, I was wanting to get a service manual to do the value adjusting myself. What service manual would you recommend and where can I get such? There was only a small general information book with the bike that didn't even tell you how to get the seat off!!! Thanks, David W. Moulder "Bumblebee" RAMS Treasurer TNBMWRIDER@... 901-660-1039 1994 R100GS 1997 KLR 650

[Mark Wilson]

> I am new to the list and the KLR. I just got a 1997 KLR with less than 800 > miles on it. After reading all these emails about valve inspections, one

of

> my concerns was whether the initial valve inspection had actually been

done

> on this bike. And, I was wanting to get a service manual to do the value > adjusting myself. What service manual would you recommend and where can I > get such? There was only a small general information book with the bike

that

> didn't even tell you how to get the seat off!!! > Thanks, > > David W. Moulder > "Bumblebee" > RAMS Treasurer > TNBMWRIDER@... > 901-660-1039 > 1994 R100GS > 1997 KLR 650

Fred sells the manuals, you will need the manuals for the KLR600 & the newer updated manual for the 650. http://www.arrowheadmotorsports.com/ Mark Wilson http://www.geocities.com/motormark64/ http://www.angelfire.com/mo/motormark/ KLR-650 A-13 "warthogg" XR250R "superfly" Stone Mountain, Ga ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Kevin and Liz Green]

>Can you imagine how >much more angry I would have been if I had to change a flat in the middle

of

>nowhere? Get my drift?

Judging by your response, Y'All would have been some pissed off. Kevin Green -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Walker [mailto:jlwalk@...] Sent: Friday, May 26, 2000 6:29 PM To: kjgreen@...; DSN_klr650@egroups.com; Denzfeat@... Subject: Re: [DSN_klr650] initial valve Inspection

> service, but wait until 2500". >> > > My mechanic said the same, based on experience more than training. He

also

> said that after the first adjustment it was not necessary to adjust again > during the normal (whatever that is) life of the engine. I would set the > valves on the very loose side of spec at 2500 miles, that's what I'm going

to

> do, then put a lot of miles on it without taking the valve cover off

again,

> like maybe for three years. > > Pete the Streak

What, this argument again? Look, I don't care how many KLR's your mechanic didn't adjust the valves on. He was not the design engineer, and I seriously doubt he's been schooled in fatigue life, mechanics and strengths of materials, or any of the other countless calculations that must be performed when making a mechanical design. All he has ever seen are the bikes that came through his shop, and that isn't enough. Only Kawasaki has all the statistical data on their product worldwide. When studying mechanical reliability, you can't analyze data empirically. You have to break the problem down and analyze it statistically. Engineers when designing for reliability don't care where the mean values are, they care about the deviation from the mean, and the shape of the distribution curve. Failures don't occur in the mean range, they occur out on the tails of the curve. In engineering, we will never know any absolute, so a factor of safety is used to try to accommodate the unknown. The strength of a material is never known exactly, nor its fatigue life, nor any of the other hundred aspects that each play a small part in reliability. It is this way for all engineered materials. Don't believe me? Get yourself a box of 1/4" bolts and a micrometer and start measuring diameters. Then apply loads to them and see where they break and how much force it took. I have spent much time in the lab doing just this sort of thing. I have attached a simple drawing to illustrate my point. On the first graph are two distribution curves. The one on the right represents the distribution of the strength of the valve train components to withstand fatigue. The distribution on the left represents the cyclic loads that the valves experience during an initial 2500 mile service interval, (as the valve tolerance adjustment changes during break in.) Note the distance between the mean values, and the area of the curves' overlapping tails where failure or damage is likely to occur. To minimize that probability, you move the mean values farther apart, as I have done on the second graph, where the curve on the left now represents the cyclic loads applied during a 500 mile interval. Note that the area of probable damage is much smaller, so the probability is therefore lower of failure. This is just a general example, and the actual analysis is more complicated. But it proves my point. It isn't important if you crack open your valve cover only to discover your valves are perfectly adjusted. By not checking you are rolling the dice. Kawasaki included this interval on their maintainence manual not because it absolutely needs to be done, but to absolutely ensure that any problems in their manufacturing process and assembly will be discovered before serious damage occurs, and they don't have to shell out money for warrantee service, and lose a valued customer. Another reason is that they can't count on the operator to limit the RPM during the break in period like they are supposed to, they have no control over that, so they try to compensate for that unknown with their maintenance schedule. My last argument is that you shouldn't be paying a mechanic to do a basic service to your bike that you should do yourself. I don't care how limited your time is or how much money you make, you can't afford not to do it yourself, because it is the only way to ensure that the job was done properly, and it will familiarize you with the bike. It has been my experience that mechanics don't screw up major repair work, it is the small routine maintenance they always screw up on, little things like using an air impact driver to torque my wheel nuts on my Rodeo so that they stripped the threads, and I just went in there for a tire rotation and balance. Of course it wasn't until a month later before I discovered it. Can you imagine my rage to discover that I couldn't remove the wheel nuts with a tire iron in my driveway and had to use a breaker bar? Can you imagine how much more angry I would have been if I had to change a flat in the middle of nowhere? Get my drift? My two pennies Jeff

[k650dsn@aol.com]

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Here's my topless KLR. Gino