Honda 599 New to Now

[Sev]

How much do you know about the bike you ride? How much do you trust your mechanic.

The more I learn in class the less I trust my bike. Something as simple as a missed cotter pin (some of our forum members can attest to this) can mean the difference between an axle that stays on, or an axle that comes off... or a brake that works and a brake that doesn't.

Overtorque a bolt and it might snap or you'll ruin the threads, undertorque it, and it'll work loose. A change in tire pressure will halve the life of your tire... it goes on and on.

Right now we're learning to lace and true a spoked wheel. It takes a LOT of work, every spoke needs to be in the right spot, with just the right tension. A loose spoke will break and then break the ones around it. If the tension is wrong the wheel won't be true. Actually on the bike I'm working on a wheel is considered true if the rim doesn't deviate by more then 2mm. Think about that for a second, 2mm difference either side to side or from the hub to the rim before a mechanic will even look at it. Imagine what kind of a hop that'd make in your riding as it bounced up and down.

In class the acceptable limit is 0.3mm and every time you adjust one direction (lateral or radial) it messes with the other direction. But it gets a little closer each time you re-adjust it. And I'm already picking up some neat tricks.

I've actually just come from class where I've successfully dissasembled, then reassembled a complete wheel, AFTER taking it off the bike.

So: put the bike on a stand, jack up the back end, remove the axle and brake, pull off the wheel. Let out the air, break the bead, remove one side, pull out the tube, remove the other bead.

I'm now ready to dissasemble the wheel. Draw out the lace pattern, determind the offset (distance from one side of the hub to one side of the rim), mark the point on the hub that is directly in line with the valve stem.

Then remove all the nipples (nuts) that hold the spokes in place. Then remove the spokes keeping the inside and outside spokes separate.

Then... do it all in reverse, make sure not to pinch the tube with your levers or you'll be pulling it out and putting in a new one. My wheel was witin .15mm in both radial and lateral runout. Well within specs, we keep having it impressed upon us, that if we're going to do it... we better do it right. Right now I'm at the point where I can put final pressure in the tube and mount it back on the bike. Then I need to check the final drive chain slack make sure all my nuts are torqued into place, and finally look over the rest of the bike to make sure everything is to spec.

It's amazing how much work goes into a simple check, but attention to detail is the code of the class, and we've taken it to heart.

I'm hoping that learning like that, to make sure everything is perfect will be noticed once I finally start working and give me a good reputation with customers, if not with management . It takes a little longer, but it means my customer might not come back with a crashed bike that's might fault.

[VermilionX]

i look forward to the day i hire you as part of my pit crew Sev.

















seriously though... good luck.

[Sev]

It's okay Verm, I'd rather be on a winning team anyways.

[Skier]

It sounds like you are having a good time and are learning tons, Sev! I hope you're enjoying the education.

It sure must be nice having an instructor tell you how things work instead of going to the School of Hard Knocks.

[Sev]

Having successfully completed removing breaking down and then rebuilding a wire/spoked wheel the class has moved on to brakes. Which is to say over the last week I have done the following.

1) Removed and measured the wear on a single leading foot mechanical drum style brake.
2) Changed the brake fluid in a single disk brake system.
3) Changed the brake fluid in a dual disk brake system.
4) Completely dissasembled a single disk front brake system, checked all components for wear, replaced the seals and reassembled it. Followed by bleeding the brake lines to removed air from the system.

Want to know the best part? Number 2 and 3 were done on my bike. That's right, my Honda 599 got its 2 year brake fluid replacement done for free. Literally, the fluid was provided for me by the instructors and I did all the work, which was then checked and signed off upon - it may have taken me longer then a regular mechanic as I'm learning, but the quality of the work was the same (according to said instructors). It may not seem like a big deal to some people, but to me knowing that I can take apart and completely reassemble my hydrolic brakes (I didn't use mine for this) is a big deal.

I felt kind of sorry for some of the guys, they ran out to the toybox to pick bikes for dual discs... they all grabbed stuff like busa's or gsx-r 750's etc etc and were forced to remove all kinds of fairing bits and things of the like to do the work. All I had to do was pull the seat off to get at the rear cylinder and turn the handlebars to get at the front!

Next week we're doing final drives, so I'm going to be getting a new chain and sprockets (mine has 23 thousand km on it) for less then cost. With a free install. By the time this school year is over I'm going to have a "brand new bike," to ride around. Very exciting. Especially since 24000km is supposed to be one of the "big" services. I get it all done for free labour (and checked by VERY experienced mechanics before I fire it up or do something wrong).

Heck, I've already got friends at home asking if I'll look at their bike(s). I'm loving this so far.

[Sev]

"messed" up thought of the day.

By definition a brake is a device that converts kinetic energy (the energy of motion) into thermal energy (heat energy) in order to slow and stop a moving object. Impact between two objects creates this kind of conversion as well. So can a brick wall be considered a brake?

[fireguzzi]

I would say that a brick wall is a extremely effective brake.

But I'll stick with my rotors and calipers.

[jonnythan]

"messed" up thought of the day.

By definition a brake is a device that converts kinetic energy (the energy of motion) into thermal energy (heat energy) in order to slow and stop a moving object. Impact between two objects creates this kind of conversion as well. So can a brick wall be considered a brake?

There's nothing about a brake that necessitates conversion to heat.

For instance, an air brake on an aircraft transfers kinetic energy from the aircraft into kinetic energy of air molecules.

[Sev]

"messed" up thought of the day.

By definition a brake is a device that converts kinetic energy (the energy of motion) into thermal energy (heat energy) in order to slow and stop a moving object. Impact between two objects creates this kind of conversion as well. So can a brick wall be considered a brake?

There's nothing about a brake that necessitates conversion to heat.

For instance, an air brake on an aircraft transfers kinetic energy from the aircraft into kinetic energy of air molecules.

While I could take the obvious out and simply say that this blog... All 31 pages of it has been solely devoted to motorcycles and my adventures with them. Thereby indicating based upon previous trends that anything written here will have something to do with bikes in one form or another - which to my limited knowledge do not use airbrakes - I will instead say.

Air brakes on a plane are designed to increase drag, this is caused by increasing the frictional surface of the airplane. What does friction cause? That's right it creates... dum dum dum heat. Otherwise known as thermal energy.

brake
verb, braked, brak‧ing.
–noun
1. a device for slowing or stopping a vehicle or other moving mechanism by the absorption or transfer of the energy of momentum, by means of friction.
2. brakes, the drums, shoes, tubes, levers, etc., making up such a device on a vehicle.
3. anything that has a slowing or stopping effect.
4. Also called brakeman. a member of a bobsled team who operates the brake.
5. Also called breaker. a tool or machine for breaking up flax or hemp, to separate the fiber.
6. Also called press brake. a machine for bending sheet metal to a desired shape.
7. Obsolete. an old instrument of torture.
–verb (used with object)
8. to slow or stop by means of or as if by means of a brake.
9. to furnish with brakes.
10. to process (flax or hemp) by crushing it in a brake.
–verb (used without object)
11. to use or run a brake.
12. to stop or slow upon being braked.
13. to run a hoisting machine.

Perhaps you were refering instead to a spoiler? Which is designed to reduce lift while maintaining similar drag patterns. This by itself does not act as a brake, but it does however transfer weight to the chassis and wings of the plane, in effect forcing it down onto its wheels which allows for easy rotational braking of the wheels. Which actually use a disc and caliper system, which magically converts kinetic energy into kin... yeah sorry, that's heat energy as well.

Now-a-days most planes make use of both air brakes and spoilers to allow for the best possible braking.

[Sev]

Soooo... I feel like an idiot, I just spent an hour (in class) looking for the master link on my chain to try to remove it and clean it as part of the exercise. My chain is still the factory original - held up for 23000km which isn't bad... considering the way I took care of it (or lack there-of).

Anyways, like I was saying, I spent an hour looking for the master link, checked BOTH sides for rivets... anything. And as said above it's the factory original chain... the endless factory original chain. No rivets, no master link nuttin, just one perfect loop the whole way around.

So, what do we do? Two tests to see if my chain is to old. There's a little sticker on the swing arm that says, "if your adjustment mark is in this area get a new chain you moron!" It's in that area. Then we grab the chain at the back of the rear sprocket, and pull it away from the sprocket. I can see more then 1/2 a tooth. So, I obviously need a new chain.

One of the guys in my class - Josh - worked as a parts guy before he came here. So he helped me go through the parts book. And by helped I mean he went through, picked my stuff and I asked questions that slowed him down. I'm getting a new chain, and two new sprockets for about $200... less 15-20% (hopefully) because I'm ordering the parts through school, and they get a discount.

I'm getting a rivet=type master link chain for two reasons.
1) My shop manual strictly forbids me to use the cheaper clip type chain
2) I have no interest at this point in removing the entire swing arm to install a new chain

In the meantime I need to grind off my old chain (hopefully without damaging my paint), remove the wheel, pull off the side cover, take off the hugger, remove both sprockets, wash the entire assembly (it hasn't really been washed in and around there... ever), then reassemble the whole freaking thing.

But, I get a new chain and sprocket that I needed anyways at less the cost (cross your fingers). Installed for no charge - well... technically I'm paying to install this above and beyond the time that I'm going to spend doing it. Tuition ain't cheap.

It'll be like a new bike when I'm done. It'll be like a new bike when I'm done. It'll be like a new bike when I'm done. It'll be like a new bike when I'm done. Just keep telling yourself that.