[Zed7]

Obo, that's awesome. Have you ever tried Gearing Commander?

Gearing Commander - Motorcycle Speed and Drive Train Calculator v7

Motorcycle speed and sprocket calculator with bike database for gearing, sprockets, tires and chains of over 1600 bikes. Request yours to be added as well.

www.gearingcommander.com

As soon as I get my carbs installed I'll be cleaning the chain and giving it the dreaded close inspection. It is not rusted or have tight spots but when I rotate the rear wheel it sounds like it was lubricated with sand!
Plus the fact that in cleaning the bike there was a suspicious lack of chain lube fling-off on the rear rim and especially UNDER the chain guard. I'm wondering if the kid I bought it from even lubed it at all?
While this made for easy cleaning I hope the chain lasts long enough for me to get in a few good rides. Hopefully a thousand miles or so for me to determine if I need to go up one tooth on the front sprocket.

 

[Obo]

Thanks for that link, I don't recall that site. The new ST1300 is shaft drive so oiling the chain isn't required, just remove a plug, drain and refill the driveshaft oil.

The lack of fling could also depend on what was used to lube the chain. Once I found Maxima chain wax I never went back to an oil type lube.

If you stick with the OEM 16 tooth you'll not be disappointed. It works fine. Most of us who did the 17 tooth was to lower the RPMs at highway speeds.

 

[Zed7]

The Gearing Commander site seems to have changed. The last time I visited, it had an easy to read interactive chart. Anyways, you can insert your desired sprocket sizes for your bike and it will give you the new RPM for whatever speeds you select.

I'm not sure if the chain or sprockets are original. Somebody had to have lubed it at some point. Maybe not every 500 miles. It's dry but looks good and the rear sprocket looks decent. I did clean a bunch of lube off the rear sprocket, I just remembered.

I use Liquid Wrench chain lube. It's less expensive and you can buy it at auto parts stores.
It doesn't fling much if properly applied. Lubing every 500 miles or so, I usually get 23,000 miles per chain, almost to the mile.

 

[Obo]

Luckliy it's easy to see if your rear sprocket and chain are "standard". Just mark a link on the chain and a tooth on the rear sprocket and count as you turn the wheel making a rotation of each. Rear should be 38 teeth and the chain should have 108 links. You can count the front sprocket the same way but need to remove the gear shift lever to get at the sprocket cover.

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know, but I add this for anyone reading who didn't have an idea...

As for which chain lube, as long as it's o-ring (x-ring etc) safe, and you're using it, then it's all good.

 

[Zed7]

I won't be doing any substantial highway riding on the 7. I have my ZRX set up for LD touring. I'll mostly be riding country backroads in western Massachusetts and southern Vermont so I'm sure the stock gearing will be fine.

I cleaned the air box to get it ready for the carb install.
One thing I noticed when installing the oem filter... (I still had it Spartans in two sections in my house). At first I just dropped it down in the box per standard procedure. But as I attached the two sections, I noticed that the bottom portion of the foam oval sticks up into the bottom of the opening due to the way the filter slides into position.
So I took it back out and while holding the filter section of the box in my hands, I re-slid the filter in place but this time I made sure to tuck the foam gasket down to make sure it was properly seated UNDER the bottom of the opening.

Moral to the story: When installing a new filter, you should remove the filter box section from the bike to witness how that foam section seals.

 

[Zed7]

I installed the carbs today. It was a piece of cake shoving them into brand new carb holders with a little rubber grease.
The intake boots weren't that bad, I made a hook tool years ago out of #8 solid copper wire. It makes it a breeze to grab the edge of the boot and swirl it around the carb opening.
It hooks the springs the same way.

I did two and three by going in through the air box as you suggested. One and four were more trouble that way, I found.
So for one and four I just folded them and installed them from the front, between the carb and the airbox. All went great.

The worst part was getting the clip on the oil drain hose in the bottom of the air box, LOL.

I also pulled the sprocket cover off, I read on the site that crud buildup could lead to faulty shifting. There was some gunk in there but not that bad. As I said, the previous owner was not a big believer in chain lube.

 

[Obo]

I installed the carbs today. It was a piece of cake shoving them into brand new carb holders with a little rubber grease.
The intake boots weren't that bad, I made a hook tool years ago out of #8 solid copper wire. It makes it a breeze to grab the edge of the boot and swirl it around the carb opening.
It hooks the springs the same way.

I did two and three by going in through the air box as you suggested. One and four were more trouble that way, I found.
So for one and four I just folded them and installed them from the front, between the carb and the airbox. All went great.

The worst part was getting the clip on the oil drain hose in the bottom of the air box, LOL.

I also pulled the sprocket cover off, I read on the site that crud buildup could lead to faulty shifting. There was some gunk in there but not that bad. As I said, the previous owner was not a big believer in chain lube.

Glad the carbs were relatively easy,

As for the crud on the front sprocket I've never heard it lead to faulty shifting. Now on a hot hot day yes it can run down the cracks and out onto the shifter rod (or drip on the ground) and make it a bear to get the cover off over the rod but that's all I've heard of.

Here's a cruddy one (not mine) - also shows the spot to grind out for the required 17 tooth clearance. I took more than this off mine just to be safe.

They often get gunked up with grease/oil and dirt, small pebbles etc.

 

[Zed7]

According to the posters, the poor shifting was a result of the crud getting around the shift shaft inside the hole on the cover, which makes sense. Mine was clean.
I'll be lubing the shifting linkage as well.

My front sprocket is a 16 tooth and it's never been replaced but it looks to be in good shape but the only way to really tell is to lay it on top of a brand new one and see the difference.

I just found out that I can insert pictures on this site. Later on I'll snap a pic of my shiny new carb holders.
If you're planning on keeping the 7, you might consider buying new ones as some of the places I ordered through listed them as being "no longer available".
I've kept my old ones just in case. They are cracked severely but I don't think they were letting air in.

 

[Martin64]

Yes, crud will make for hard shifting as well as dry joints in the shift linkage. I experienced that a few times. Back then I was riding year round in all weather. After riding in the rain it didn't take long for the linkage to stiffen up. Usually over a weekend of sitting. Definitely an area to look at/clean/lube during regular maintenance.

 

[Zed7]

One of my other bikes has a 20,000 mile chain that I installed on it and it still looks good. I lube it with Liquid Wrench chain lube every 500 miles or so. I usually lube after the ride when it hits around 500-700 miles or the next day but never just before a ride so as to give the lube a good chance to set up.
The stuff flings but very little, which I'm starting to believe is a good thing as opposed to lubes that don't fling at all. Because, not only does the lube fling off but also the crud that gets on the chain.

Here's my theory... Yesterday, as I was scrubbing with kerosene and toothbrush the chain on my new 7S, I noticed a ton of crud and grit between and around the links. I believe the PO used a chain wax, which hardly flings at all, and by what the residue looked like.
But not only did the links hold the residue, it also held the dirt and gravel, which is bad.

So, where I hate scrubbing chains, I'd rather have a lube that flings the crud off 'slightly'.
My 20,000 mile chain has never been scrubbed yet it looks new. And there is barely any fling that makes it to the plastics or rear wheel (which I clean with wd-40 on a cloth).

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Martin64]

Just watch for that bronze/brassy looking grit. Once you see that you know you've worn through the chromed/hardened surface are worn into the link.

I used that chain wax for a quite a while. And it does hold that grit like you said. Never could figure out what the worst evil was. So you're probably onto something with a little fling isn't a bad thing.

 

[Zed7]

Here's some pics of the progress including my shiny new carb holders. She started right up but the carb sync was way off. It's all set now.
What's left is to install my rear brake hoses and fill the brake system, front and rear.
I need to fix a broken tab on the wind screen.
Then I can finish with the plastics.
Sorry for the double images. If a moderator can figure it out feel free to take away the doubles.

 

[Zed7]

Just watch for that bronze/brassy looking grit. Once you see that you know you've worn through the chromed/hardened surface are worn into the link.

I used that chain wax for a quite a while. And it does hold that grit like you said. Never could figure out what the worst evil was. So you're probably onto something with a little fling isn't a bad thing.

No brassy or red stuff so all is good.
After all these years this was the first time I ever gave any thought to disadvantages of no-fling chain lube. Even after the scrubbing, I can still see the built up lubricant near the o-rings. I'll leave well enough alone.
How many miles are owners getting out of their chains on these bikes?

 

[Obo]

It's all too clean.....

 

[Zed7]

It's all too clean.....

I doubt this bike was ridden in the rain outside of getting caught in a shower. There's dust but no thick grime or rust. And I have been over the whole thing with a toothbrush.

The engine runs quietly. I expected some tappy from the top end as I adjusted all the valves to the loose end of the spec. No knocking or rapping.
I'm at 2 1/2 turns out on the pilots. It seems to pick up smooth off idle but only after its warmed up, which happens quickly. I'll know more once I ride it. The screws are easy to get at.

 

[Obo]

The bike does need to warm up. I always needed the choke even in our Summers (which almost never get over 100F)

 

[Zed7]

Well I took it on a shake down run around the neighborhood area. All is well. The engine runs great but needs a long time to warm up. I adjusted the handlebars, levers and shifter.

Where I wasn't riding much over 40mph on neighborhood streets, I didn't wear ear plugs. The front fairing sounds like a hollow box of rocks. Is this right? Or is there another fix outside of the buzz?
I've read about the buzz, which I'll address but the general sound of the fairing is not the best. Maybe earplugs.

 

[Obo]

There's a couple of possible reasons for the headlight buzz.

1. The filler fairing plate under the headlight that connects the 2 halves of the fairing
2. The shroud around the cluster can vibrate against the fairing or cluster.
3. The windshield near the point where it clips into the fairing and touches the headlight. The side fairings can also vibrate against the headlight here too. I used some foam tape in the fairing grooves to dampen the windshield and some more foam tape to pad the fairing against the headlight.
4. The inside of the headlight.

I've never had #4 be an issue, but others have. There are fixes listed.
My buzzies came from #3 & #1 mostly. #2 only happened once when I had things apart and didn't get them seated right when reinstalling.

Here's bits others in the forum have posted:

My ZR-7S Fairing Buzz Fix!!!

A topic often addressed here, with varying methods. Well, I finally tried mine. Common opinion says that the reflector in the headlamp is the culprit for most of the noise. Andre used upolstery foam as a fix. Pete tried something else as noted in the fender extender post. I had suggested...

www.riderforums.com

Thumbs up My ZR-7S Fairing Buzz Fix!!!

A topic often addressed here, with varying methods. Well, I finally tried mine.

Common opinion says that the reflector in the headlamp is the culprit for most of the noise. Andre used upholstery foam as a fix. Pete tried something else as noted in the fender extender post.

I had suggested drilling and tapping the lamp housing and putting in a screw or two to settle the movement of the reflector. Well, I just did it today and was very successful.

I drilled 2 small holes in the bottom of the lamp housing. I then tapped the holes with a #6-32 tap and threaded in #6-32 x 1/2 nylon thumb screws. I picked the nylon screws because I thought they would hold better in the plastic housing and because I wanted something "soft" on the reflector. As it turns out the 1/2 inch screw bottomed out on the housing as it pushed up ever so slightly on the reflector. I will have to check the lighting tonight, but, I don't expect a problem.

Fired her up and no noise in that 1 - 3K range where it used to annoy me so. Here are a couple of pics to show you whats up.

<buzzfix2.jpg & buzzfix3.jpg>


==================================

I guess it's time I 'fessed up with "Doug's buzz kill". It's similar to Gump's and accomplishes the same thing: stopping the reflector from vibrating. After trying everything else, I became convinced (partly from reading posts here) that the source was the headlight reflector.

I drilled a hole in the center front of the bottom of the headlight housing (imagine a hole roughly centered between Gump's two locations) and "threaded" a rubber vacuum cap up thru the hole until the tip barely touches the bottom of the reflector. Not only did it eliminate the buzz 100%, it's been doing its job without falling out or even loosening up for about 12,000 miles so far. The size of the hole and cap aren't important (I don't even remember what sizes I used -- it was whatever sized cap I had lying around), just pick a cap size that is slightly larger diameter than the hole you drill. Buzz eliminated for about 15 cents and 5 minutes work

======================================

 

[Zed7]

Thanks Obo, I didn't see those.
I just got home from another run, this time with earplugs. Without the wind noise I can hear the fairing even more.
While the bike was idling, me sitting in the seat, I hugged both sides of the fairing ahead of the tank and the rumbling stopped. At least I have a starting point.
When I have time I'll investigate and eliminate plastics one at a time until it disappears then I can try and come up with a fix.
Outside of that it's ready to rip.

 

[Zed7]

On my way to an Easter dinner I couldn't resist stopping by the shed. Just pressing a finger on the back of the headlight connector reveals the problem. The inside reflector is very loose and there is a very fine powder inside the housing where the plastic has rubbed.
I wish I found this earlier when I had the fairing inside my house.
I'll remove the fairing again and see if I can't deal with it without having to drill the housing. Maybe shove some foam rod through the light socket hole.