Last day in Hotchkiss, hot and sunny. It was actually too hot to ride after work but Rich K. and I did get in a sunset ride on the Gunnison Gorge's North Rim.
First though, Rich generously helped me (heck he did most of the work really) in replacing both the rear and counter sprockets along with the drive chain on Yagi, my 2006 Yamaha TW200.
Rich's assessment said I could have "gotten by" just replacing the counter sprocket but I decided to do all three at same time, seems to be the best practice from what I've read.
Not many pics, I was busy spinning wrenches under Rich's supervision while he also worked on things. He's got nice tools too, which made things easier. Didn't encounter a single problem and we were done in about 90 minutes.
As you can see above, the front or counter sprocket was quite worn down and needed replacing. The rear sprocket? Not so much. I did go ahead and replace what I assume is the stock size 428 O-Ring Chain with a D.I.D. X Ring chain which is apparently a crowd favorite among T-dub riders.
Had to also clean out the turn signal/horn control as the horn quit working in the morning....turned out the module containing the horn button had become dislodged so pushing on the button didn't allow contact to happen to close the horn circuit.
I ended up wedging a piece of plastic to help hold things and it seems to work fine.
We rode out shortly after 7PM to the same North Rim of the Gunnison Gorge spot as the other day for sunset shots.
We missed finding the spot, ending a bit further west but chose a spot for some pics before mosquitoes chased us away to go find the intended site:
We found the original spot and spent some time shooting pics and shooting the breeze. Speaking of breeze, the wind picked up and drove away the mosquitoes which made things quite pleasant for the two of us.
We rode back to the RV campsite, after a disappointing sunset, and chatted over a beer on one of the nearby picnic benches.
My thanks to Rich K. for his generous help with things mechanical, good conversation, and expert guiding of local trails and roads. I had a great time, and I will definitely return to this area to explore it some more.
4 comments:
Isn't the norm to replace everything, i.e. both sprockets and the chain, every time? Or else the old parts ruin the new ones.
I like the dark sky photo near the end.
Don’t know what to tell you RichardM, it’s what Rich K. Mentioned. He’s got decades of chain drive motorcycle experience so I tend to listen to such....given the relatively low cost of the parts involved, I replaced it all.
That counter sprocket was wearing thin, very thin. Good choice to replace all. Is it necessary to also remove the engine cover to replace the counter sprocket on Yagi... or were you in there doing other things??
Having two bikes in your photos nicely mixes things up from the one bike norm. Second to last photo appeals to my eye.
Thanks, CCjon for the comments and feedback. You have to remove the left side cover, not a great design choice in my opinion but then again....
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