B-King - An Odd bike's Journey

[RhadamYgg]

Well, the throttle problem turns out to either have been the cold weather or my cold weather gloves. The bike is road-worthy.

In fact, I've ridden it to work three times since I got it back from service. I've recorded two of the rides, but one time the attachment to the bike allowed for too much vibration. Enough that the camera turned itself off after only a short portion of the ride.

The second run with the new camera set up worked great - in terms of vibration, but the camera stopped recording after 39 minutes - reaching the file size limit - and instead of continuing on it stopped.

I'll post a short section of the better quality video, but the camera is pointed at my control cluster. So, there isn't much of a view.

I put on my fork sliders, I put on my frame sliders (Thanks Dean Owens!), camera mount (blah), but for the life of me, I can't figure out how my rear axle sliders are supposed to go on.

Here are the rear sliders I purchased

The instructions are as follows:
1) Support rear wheel and remove rear wheel spindle.
2) Loosen chain adjusters slightly.
3) Fit Evotech crash protector brackets to corresponding sides of swinging arm. Bracket with 'cut out' locates spindle head. Refit rear wheel spindle.
4) Adjust rear chain in accordance with manufacturer's specification, tighten all fittings and secure wheel spindle.
5) Fit Evotech bobbin heads, aligning as required and tighten bolts securely.

ok, so here are my dufus questions. (and before you ask - there are no pictures - which would have alleviated things considerably).

1) What the hell is the rear wheel spindle? I've heard the term before. But what exactly is it?
2) Where exactly are these rather thick pieces of metal going?

I haven't gotten to my tail tidy yet - and I've got a wire to put both my headlights on at the same time.

Of course I was surprised to see a bike that looked so much like my bike - I thought it was my bike from one of the other threads.

Above - FZ6

Above Kawasaki ZR7s

Anyway, I'm really sick today. Ended up not going to work. Will probably have to go to work tomorrow, but won't ride in due to probably still being sick and it is probably going to rain.

Maybe, I'll get a chance to ride in on Wed, Thurs and Friday - and at some point over those rides I'll get to over 1000 miles of my own on this bike.

[HYPERR]

What the hell is the rear wheel spindle? I've heard the term before. But what exactly is it?

That's the rod that goes through the rear wheel

[RhadamYgg]

They want me to remove the entire rod for crash protectors? Holy crap.

[HYPERR]

They want me to remove the entire rod for crash protectors? Holy "crumb".

Well they're not axle sliders. Axle sliders would not require removal of the spindle as they come with their own rod that goes inside the spindle and you mount the pucks onto each end of that rod.

What you got here are rear stand spools. It mounts on the spindle so that is why you need to take it out.

[Wrider]

I've never seen any like that. Not sure why they'd make them like that, but yeah they go on your rear axle. Confuses me though because a lot of times axle sliders are designed so that they mount to your swingarm so you can use them to lift the bike and change your rear tire or adjust your chain.

[RhadamYgg]

They want me to remove the entire rod for crash protectors? Holy "crumb".

Well they're not axle sliders. Axle sliders would not require removal of the spindle as they come with their own rod that goes inside the spindle and you mount the pucks onto each end of that rod.

What you got here are rear stand spools. It mounts on the spindle so that is why you need to take it out.

So, I can see in order to mount these I basically have to remove the rear wheel, but I'm still not sure exactly where they would go. I may take them to the dealer next service and ask them to put it on, although I'm hesitant because of the possible cost. Maybe I'll wait until I need new tires or something.

[RhadamYgg]

I've never seen any like that. Not sure why they'd make them like that, but yeah they go on your rear axle. Confuses me though because a lot of times axle sliders are designed so that they mount to your swingarm so you can use them to lift the bike and change your rear tire or adjust your chain.

The FZ6 has a center stand (yay) so lifting the bike isn't a problem. In fact I've done it already and had no problem handling this task by myself. I had to lube the chain because the bike got rained on last week.

[HYPERR]

I've never seen any like that. Not sure why they'd make them like that, but yeah they go on your rear axle. Confuses me though because a lot of times axle sliders are designed so that they mount to your swingarm so you can use them to lift the bike and change your rear tire or adjust your chain.

Yes I agree, it's a very strange construction. Unlike a sportbike which has threaded holes on the swingarm for spools, this bike one doesn't. Hence this design. However, by using this as a lift up point for the rear stand, it makes rear tire change impossible. It can, however be used for lubing the chain and other general maintenance that require the bike to be upright and lifted. So that being said, I don't understand why they didn't use the traditional way of using a spooled puck at the end of an inserted rod ala most rear axle sliders, like this:



You still cannot change tires with it but it's got to be a heck of a lot stronger design! Not to mention a much easier installation.

[noodlenoggin]

Actually, removing the rear axle shouldn't be too hard. You already loosen it to adjust your chain, and if it's like the bikes I've owned, you just pull out a safety pin, undo a gigantic nut on one side and pull the axle out. The tire/wheel/sprocket assembly drops down but stays in place between the sides of the swingarm. You'd then put your sliders on the swingarm, thread the axle through the slider, swingarm, wheel, swingarm and other slider, put the gigantic nut back on (adjust the chain tension while you're there) and replace the safety pin.

[RhadamYgg]

I've never seen any like that. Not sure why they'd make them like that, but yeah they go on your rear axle. Confuses me though because a lot of times axle sliders are designed so that they mount to your swingarm so you can use them to lift the bike and change your rear tire or adjust your chain.

Yes I agree, it's a very strange construction. Unlike a sportbike which has threaded holes on the swingarm for spools, this bike one doesn't. Hence this design. However, by using this as a lift up point for the rear stand, it makes rear tire change impossible. It can, however be used for lubing the chain and other general maintenance that require the bike to be upright and lifted. So that being said, I don't understand why they didn't use the traditional way of using a spooled puck at the end of an inserted rod ala most rear axle sliders, like this:



You still cannot change tires with it but it's got to be a heck of a lot stronger design! Not to mention a much easier installation.

I like that design - it is what I used on my B-King. It was simple and easy and despite having locking nuts, it was easy enough to remove and replace.