• A few people have been scammed on the site, Only use paypal to pay for items for sale by other members. If they will not use paypal, its likely a scam NEVER SEND E-TRANSFERS OF ANY KIND.

New Tires, Chain, Sprockets: 16,500 miles

Joined
Oct 4, 2012
Messages
559
Reaction score
3
Points
16
Location
Mokena, Illinois, USA
www.flickr.com
Finally, finally done. Spent all went and some of April completing this project, mainly due to lack of time to work on the NC.

I parked the motorcycle with a bit over 16,500 miles in October 2016 with the idea of replacing drive components over the winter.

All parts were OEM original from the factory. I had the Metzeler Roadtec Z8 Interact tires for reference.

-Installed new Dunlop RoadSmart 3's front and rear, stock sizes.
-Installed JT sprockets front and rear, stock DCT tooth counts 16/39
-Installed new D.I.D. ZX2 112 link chain. (Gold color plated)
-Cleaned and flushed the front fork oil, replaced with Maxima 10wt fork oil

Here is some pictures:
Fork draining for a few days
33484834780_4620bee2d7_b.jpg

Spring spacers and caps
33484955810_896c2cbff0_b.jpg

How the motorcycle sat for 3 months
33026096874_59d9a7f77b_b.jpg

Drive spline shaft from the transmission. (after cleaning a bit)
33204084033_1a9cd40b98_b.jpg

Front drive sprocket New JT vs. Old Honda OEM None of the teeth lined up with the new one.
33204078193_05504f692a_b.jpg

Rear sprocket Old Honda OEM vs. New JT. Seems this sprocket had no wear I could see, All the teeth lined up with the new JT sprocket.
33859401942_7e77da0b2f_b.jpg

Close up of the new D.I.D. VX2 X-ring chain on the new JT sprocket.
33173401144_f641ebf5f9_b.jpg

Rear assembly complete:
33173414964_ab63627f2d_b.jpg

Ready to ride! (300 very aggressive miles already when this was taken)
34164118301_8550d0bda4_b.jpg

33911220130_ddee73ed2f_b.jpg

33911233190_fe5ff518c5_b.jpg


A few thoughts:
Chain seemed tight. By tight I mean didn't feel right, it felt mechanical and made noise. I rode with the bike in S mode for the 300 miles. Being very aggressive on throttle, and turning lean angles. Finally after about 200 miles the chain felt right. No more mechanical noise, no more feeling "tight". It was such a weird feeling that after every ride I set the bike up on the center stand and spun everything looking for things rubbing and or not running freely. Never found anything. Now the chain and sprockets seem to have merged together. They are properly aligned and properly adjusted for chain slack and properly lubed. I was not part of the 2012 chain recall, but I wish I was. The stock OEM chain is absolute garbage from 5,000 miles on. I should have just changed it then but hind sight is 20/20. When I removed it at 16,500 miles every single link was kinked and very hard to turn.

Sprockets: Front needed to be changed. The rear probably could have gone again. But the price of the rear wasn't a big deal. I like how the rear is anodized black. Will help hid the lube and dirt. As I don't clean the sprockets and chain often.

Tires: AMAZING!!! Never had much confidence with the OEM Z8's But these Dunlop RoadSmart 3's straight out of the shipping package were sticky, no weird slippery release agent on these. I was leaning and grinding pegs on the first ride out. After 300 miles the front and rear mold injection leftovers seem to have worn away. I can't comment on lean effort as my OEM's had flattened out and were impossible to lean far over, plus I was afraid of where the traction limits were. If my 16,500 miles on the OEM's is any indication, I expect 20,000 miles on these tires. I am not an aggressive rider. I ride in D mode 99% of the time, and almost never 50% or more throttle. I just cruise. Most of the roads are well worn and smooth from the Chicago Metro/suburb traffic around me.

Fork Oil: Much needed. The new oil is so smooth. The old oil came out in globs. It was dirty gray in color, not the stock red. The Maxima 10wt is clear and very slippery. I used brake cleaner to flush out the old oil, then poured in a splash of Maxima and dumped that after a few pumps of the tubes. Now I'm on the hunt for some fork tube protectors. So far I found some easy on/off "Shock Soxs" They are billed as off road usage. Still looking for more options.
 
Awesome! I did the chain and sprockets yesterday at 10,000 miles.

My sprockets are 'Superlight RS7' brand and the chain is ThreeD 520Z black and gold. I got all this from SprocketCenter, they say the chain is cut to length but I had to remove a link for the DCT. 114 vs 112.

Mine are also very mechanical feeling when rotated by hand, feels like something is 'off', but it isn't - aligned with a laser tool, slack set to 35mm. I've done about 40 miles on it about half freeway and MPG is about 2 to 3 better than before. I think it just needs some time to mesh with each other.

New vs Old:

261bb90c3024a63ed301a84331136a30.jpg


Old:

66b60b73ae934ebc58f0697209c7ca22.jpg


New Front Installed: (yes I eventually put the bolt in!)

03511e53108776e9432372431946cd3c.jpg


New chain and sprocket:

3f794209b3baf2f2fecfa9e9e458e9a7.jpg
 
Last edited:
Regarding the OP comment on wishing to have been in the 2012 chain recall group. The recall involved potiential breakage from a lack of hardening of the links. The fix was to remove a stock chain and install a stock chain. You would not have gained anything in quality.
 
None of you are coating the output shaft with some moly grease. If you do it will keep those two hardened surfaces from rubbing. If you pulled off the drive sprocket and saw some red colored dust then putting moly grease on the shaft will stop this from happening.
I just put on JT sprockets on. ZX chain too. Wish I would have spent the money on getting the gold chain. Looks good.
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
i am at 18k with the stock chain, it is almost at it limits. i think it will be at it limits of replacement at 20k.

i am very surprise how must it has lasted me
 
I just bought a new DID VX2 chain and the JT sprocket set. I'm at 13,600 miles on a JT front sprocket and VX2 chain installed at 6,000 miles to replace the dreadful OEM chain. I could keep going awhile but about 10 chain links are beginning to kink.
 
I put on the Cameleon Plus Automatic chain oiler. Have it on two bikes now and probably will put it on one more. WeBike.com has a good review on it. Hoping to make the chain last much longer.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
7ed23b0322b96f38a09ae7cb70e3ae01.jpg
6263873f9f1843433d12d74537847aa0.jpg
ac620bce499cf8ac381983ea3d9bf565.jpg
 
Finally, finally done. Spent all went and some of April completing this project, mainly due to lack of time to work on the NC.

I parked the motorcycle with a bit over 16,500 miles in October 2016 with the idea of replacing drive components over the winter.

All parts were OEM original from the factory. I had the Metzeler Roadtec Z8 Interact tires for reference.

-Installed new Dunlop RoadSmart 3's front and rear, stock sizes.
-Installed JT sprockets front and rear, stock DCT tooth counts 16/39
-Installed new D.I.D. ZX2 112 link chain. (Gold color plated)
-Cleaned and flushed the front fork oil, replaced with Maxima 10wt fork oil

Here is some pictures:
Fork draining for a few days
33484834780_4620bee2d7_b.jpg

Spring spacers and caps
33484955810_896c2cbff0_b.jpg

How the motorcycle sat for 3 months
33026096874_59d9a7f77b_b.jpg

Drive spline shaft from the transmission. (after cleaning a bit)
33204084033_1a9cd40b98_b.jpg

Front drive sprocket New JT vs. Old Honda OEM None of the teeth lined up with the new one.
33204078193_05504f692a_b.jpg

Rear sprocket Old Honda OEM vs. New JT. Seems this sprocket had no wear I could see, All the teeth lined up with the new JT sprocket.
33859401942_7e77da0b2f_b.jpg

Close up of the new D.I.D. VX2 X-ring chain on the new JT sprocket.
33173401144_f641ebf5f9_b.jpg

Rear assembly complete:
33173414964_ab63627f2d_b.jpg

Ready to ride! (300 very aggressive miles already when this was taken)
34164118301_8550d0bda4_b.jpg

33911220130_ddee73ed2f_b.jpg

33911233190_fe5ff518c5_b.jpg


A few thoughts:
Chain seemed tight. By tight I mean didn't feel right, it felt mechanical and made noise. I rode with the bike in S mode for the 300 miles. Being very aggressive on throttle, and turning lean angles. Finally after about 200 miles the chain felt right. No more mechanical noise, no more feeling "tight". It was such a weird feeling that after every ride I set the bike up on the center stand and spun everything looking for things rubbing and or not running freely. Never found anything. Now the chain and sprockets seem to have merged together. They are properly aligned and properly adjusted for chain slack and properly lubed. I was not part of the 2012 chain recall, but I wish I was. The stock OEM chain is absolute garbage from 5,000 miles on. I should have just changed it then but hind sight is 20/20. When I removed it at 16,500 miles every single link was kinked and very hard to turn.

Sprockets: Front needed to be changed. The rear probably could have gone again. But the price of the rear wasn't a big deal. I like how the rear is anodized black. Will help hid the lube and dirt. As I don't clean the sprockets and chain often.

Tires: AMAZING!!! Never had much confidence with the OEM Z8's But these Dunlop RoadSmart 3's straight out of the shipping package were sticky, no weird slippery release agent on these. I was leaning and grinding pegs on the first ride out. After 300 miles the front and rear mold injection leftovers seem to have worn away. I can't comment on lean effort as my OEM's had flattened out and were impossible to lean far over, plus I was afraid of where the traction limits were. If my 16,500 miles on the OEM's is any indication, I expect 20,000 miles on these tires. I am not an aggressive rider. I ride in D mode 99% of the time, and almost never 50% or more throttle. I just cruise. Most of the roads are well worn and smooth from the Chicago Metro/suburb traffic around me.

Fork Oil: Much needed. The new oil is so smooth. The old oil came out in globs. It was dirty gray in color, not the stock red. The Maxima 10wt is clear and very slippery. I used brake cleaner to flush out the old oil, then poured in a splash of Maxima and dumped that after a few pumps of the tubes. Now I'm on the hunt for some fork tube protectors. So far I found some easy on/off "Shock Soxs" They are billed as off road usage. Still looking for more options.
Great pictures and details / information. I've never seen tires with a pattern like that it's really cool.
 
Back
Top