Hawkeye Driver Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Unfortunately, I no longer live in SoCal. I'm back in coastal VA which means no more year long riding. The upside of that is I get to park the bike for a few months and spend some time doing needed maintenance and maybe a couple of upgrades. Bike is a 2002 (non-ABS) with 27K miles. I bought it new in May 02. Oil and filter were done a couple of weeks ago. Coolant and brake fluid were done last January so I'll let those go for another year. Things I gotta do: - Replace grips. After market ProGrips are well worn (at least the left one is). Looking for grip suggestions to mount over the heating elements I installed years ago. - Replace brake pads - Plan on going with EBC HH. - Bike needs a good cleaning - Check electrical connections. R/R connector melted a few years back so I hardwired it. Fortunately, I smelled it before it led to other problems. - Rewire topbox. I use a Givi V46 but I added brake and turn lights. Works nicely but the wiring is not as clean as I'd like. - Install Laminar Lip that should be in the mail. Upgrades I wanna do: - Saddleman touring seat cover. I got a very cheap used stock seat off eBay so don't have to muck up the OEM saddle. - Upgrade forks with full internals from Jamie Daugherty. I had toyed with adding a second bike to the stable but decided to save that money in order to upgrade my suspension. I've been putting this off for a while (cost) but it is really the last major upgrade I can think of. Lastly, a couple of quick questions. 1). How do I know if the chain/spockets need to go. I'm still with the original. The stupid marker on the chain guard is useless. Rear sprocket teeth look uniform and the chain doesn't have any stiff spots or localized stretch. 2). Any other routine maintenance or upgrades I should consider? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNRabbit Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Consider Jamie's rear shock upgrade, too. How are your head stem bearings? Every VFR should have an onboard voltage meter~ Nevermind about the voltage meter--I see you have one~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Install speed bleeders. They're not hard to do, and they make life a lot easier. My personal favorite for grips are the CBR900RR factory grips. EBC HH is a good choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer wagzhp Posted October 13, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 13, 2015 At 27,000 miles, the chain and sprockets gotta be getting close to the end. (Unless you are really good at keeping them clean and lubed, or have a scott-oiler or similar.) Air filter and Spark plugs might be about due for a change too, if you're already pulling things apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Conedodger Posted October 13, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 13, 2015 At 27,000 miles, the chain and sprockets gotta be getting close to the end. (Unless you are really good at keeping them clean and lubed, or have a scott-oiler or similar.) Air filter and Spark plugs might be about due for a change too, if you're already pulling things apart. I'm curious about chain and sprockets too. I have the OEM parts on mine with 32K miles. Like the OP, my rear sprocket looks good. Chain has no stiff spots. I've only had to adjust it once in the last 5 years. (I use chain wax religiously every 500 miles.) My cleaning routine is to wipe it down with a dry rag before lubing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer wagzhp Posted October 13, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 13, 2015 A very well taken care of chain and sprockets can go to 35-40 thousand miles. Not many folks are able to pull that off, as you have to be able to keep things really clean and well lubed. (It sounds like you may be one of those folks.) Having an auto-oiler system will get you the best life out of the chain/sprocket set, but they are usually pretty messy, more mess than most folks are willing to put up with. On an average, it seems like most folks seem to get between 20-30k miles out of a set. Most folks seem to adjust a new chain once or twice at the beginning, once or twice toward the end, and then the next few adjustments are the chain's way of telling you it's time for a new set. Oh, and when adjusting, erring on the loose side is much better than the chain being too tight. My best has been about 33k, but I tend to do a lot of commuting, and most of those miles are in nice (California) weather. I'm pretty good about keeping the chain clean, but am not religious about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted October 14, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 14, 2015 I changed my OEM chain at 18,000 miles - my clean / lube regimen is about as described above ^^^ using 90-140W gear oil. The old chain was about 1/2 link longer than the replacement. It probably could have gone another 5,000 to 10,000 without too much sweat. I've come to realize that using oil doesn't seem to be very popular vs spray waxes, etc, but OTOH I never need to clean it. Just a wipe down at every lube keeps it looking like new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rice Posted October 14, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 14, 2015 Chain - If no vibration or tight spots on the chain, I personally call it good. You know when you have tight spots when you get jerking/vibrations at low speeds (25-35). Or you balanced the heck out of your wheels and still get vibrations at 90+ - My case, which keeps me b'havin' on the highway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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