Introduction

Gday
everybody from sunny Wagga Wagga. I've Been sneakily gleaning info from this site for years & thought it was about time to register. Just got back from the Island, had a great weekend down there. For once the weather held out, was a nice change. An extra hello to B12Mick. Cheers Jimmy.

Hi Jimmy and welcome aboard. Tell us a bit about what you ride. Enjoy.

welcome to the forum Jimmy

Welcome Jimmy.

A sunny Nth QLD Welcome to you Jimmy the Boy.

I think we have 2 x Jim's on here now.

truck

Gday and welcome to the forum. The PI round was sensational, pity Sepang got rained out. I got extreemly soaked whilst watching Casey reel in Lorenzo, 1 or 2 laps more and he would have been 2nd.

welcome

Welcome along Jimmy

Welcome to the forum mate.

Thankyou for all the kind welcome messages Guys. I have a 2004 Bandit that is greatly loved and spoilt like an only child. Ive had a jet kit installed and what not at Moto Garage in Canberra 12 months ago and the change was remarkable. Soooo smooth now & no popping & farting on deceleration, plus an extra 13 or so ponies. 111hp on dyno run. Anybody that has the old skool carby model & hasn't done this, DO IT IMMEDIATELY! Brett seemed to know exactly what he was doing there, I think the cost was roughly $700 with K&N filter but he had it on the dyno for about 5 hours till it was perfect. Money well spent. Just put a new chain on yday. Didn't do Sprockets as there is only 17000km on the bike & the sprockets were like new. Will change both next time. The reason my chain died an early death was MAXIMA CHAIN WAX. If you own a can of this crap, get up from the computer right now, pick it up and put it in the bin. My chain was so dry and rusty on the inside it looked as though I'd never touched it. If anyone can recommend a decent chain lube I'd really appreciate it. Anyhow thats enough out of me, Cheers Lads, look forward to catching up soon. Jimmy.

Strange ,thats all i ever use and got 50.000 kls out of the chain .Love the stuff . I do clean the chain with kero every now and then so that

may keep the rust at bay .

I also use Maxima, 15,000 on my last bike and chain still looked like new when I sold it. Nearly 12,000 on the GSX and it also still looks good.

Maybe your not putting enough on or not frequently enough??

G'day Jimmy.

You don't happen to fill up at the Toll Depot do you?

I also agree there is nothing wrong with Maxima Chain Wax although I'm currently using a Shell product.

Your sample and conclusion of one seems to be the odd one out.

I'm happy for you to toss it out and then claim the next product is shit as well

WOW, it looks like I'm the odd one out with the chain wax. Having said that, my chain ALSO looked brand new all gold and shiny, cleaned with kero and lubed regularly. I thought everything was tickittyboo until on my way back from the island 5 links decided they didn't want to bend. As a wise man at the local bike shop said to me, " all that chain wax does is give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside that you're doing the right thing, whilst in reality you a ruining your chain. There are absolutely no lubricating components to it whatsoever." As I found out when we broke the chain and it was as dry as the proverbial, completely rusty and disintegrated O rings. Anyway thats just my experience and if it is working for you, stick with it. I won't be. In response to B12 Mick, you are a clever little detective, yes that is me filling up at TOLL. That must be you I followed up Moorong St and into TOLL a little while ago. You go down to the carpark on the far right. If you see me there say hello if you get chance and I'll do the same. Happy Days Everyone, Jimmy.

Welcome Jimmy

Jimmy the Boy wrote: WOW, it looks like I'm the odd one out with the chain wax. Having said that, my chain ALSO looked brand new all gold and shiny, cleaned with kero and lubed regularly. I thought everything was tickittyboo until on my way back from the island 5 links decided they didn't want to bend. As a wise man at the local bike shop said to me, " all that chain wax does is give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside that you're doing the right thing, whilst in reality you a ruining your chain. There are absolutely no lubricating components to it whatsoever." As I found out when we broke the chain and it was as dry as the proverbial, completely rusty and disintegrated O rings. Anyway thats just my experience and if it is working for you, stick with it. I won't be. In response to B12 Mick, you are a clever little detective, yes that is me filling up at TOLL. That must be you I followed up Moorong St and into TOLL a little while ago. You go down to the carpark on the far right. If you see me there say hello if you get chance and I'll do the same. Happy Days Everyone, Jimmy.

I will. I'm in the Admin building, second floor. I generally hear/see you arrive from my office window.

As for the chain wax/lubrication thing. Regardless of what I use (or don't use) I find I get roughly the same amount of K's from a chain.

The biggest factors I've found is making sure it's adjusted properly and making sure you replace the front and rear sprockets at the same time.

I've done roughly 77,000km on the bandit and I'm on my 4th chain (it's about 10,000km old). The 1st and 3rd chains both lasted about 25,000 to 30,000 km, but the second chain I only got about 15000km from it. The only difference with all 4 chains is that I only changed the rear sprocket when I put the second chain on, every other time I changed both sprockets, regardless of how they looked.

gus wrote:Strange ,thats all i ever use and got 50.000 kls out of the chain .Love the stuff . I do clean the chain with kero every now and then so that

may keep the rust at bay .

How the hell do you get 50,000km from chain on a bandit? I know someone who got 40,000km from a chain on a FZ1, but he is so anal retentive about chain maintenance it's scary.

b12mick wrote:

gus wrote:Strange ,thats all i ever use and got 50.000 kls out of the chain .Love the stuff . I do clean the chain with kero every now and then so that

may keep the rust at bay .

How the hell do you get 50,000km from chain on a bandit? I know someone who got 40,000km from a chain on a FZ1, but he is so anal retentive about chain maintenance it's scary.

You can do me with a pineapple if I dont get bloody close to 50k out of the Bandit OEM Bandit chain. I suspect the FZ1 chain wont last as long but it will get 30 easy I reckon.

Correct tension has a lot to do with it.

2wheelsagain wrote:

b12mick wrote:

gus wrote:Strange ,thats all i ever use and got 50.000 kls out of the chain .Love the stuff . I do clean the chain with kero every now and then so that

may keep the rust at bay .

How the hell do you get 50,000km from chain on a bandit? I know someone who got 40,000km from a chain on a FZ1, but he is so anal retentive about chain maintenance it's scary.

You can do me with a pineapple if I dont get bloody close to 50k out of the Bandit OEM Bandit chain. I suspect the FZ1 chain wont last as long but it will get 30 easy I reckon.

Correct tension has a lot to do with it.

Ok, so I keep the tension correct, adjust it as required, put lubricant on it every 3rd tank of fuel (600 to 900km), clean the chain when I adjust it etc etc. But I still only get 25 to 30,000km from a chain.

It's like fuel range. Some of you guys were talking about getting 60+km on the first 'bar'. Damn I'm lucky if I get 100 on half a tank. Round town see's me reaching for the fuel tap after 220km, at best. Out in the hills I'm starting to worry after 250km.

Maybe I'm just too heavy handed on the throttle.

b12mick wrote:
Ok, so I keep the tension correct, adjust it as required, put lubricant on it every 3rd tank of fuel (600 to 900km), clean the chain when I adjust it etc etc. But I still only get 25 to 30,000km from a chain.

It's like fuel range. Some of you guys were talking about getting 60+km on the first 'bar'. Damn I'm lucky if I get 100 on half a tank. Round town see's me reaching for the fuel tap after 220km, at best. Out in the hills I'm starting to worry after 250km.

Maybe I'm just too heavy handed on the throttle.

I dont know Mick. Its just one of those things.

It could even be gear change related and the time spent in top gear that has a big part too play in it.

I'm right with you on the fuel though.

Mick, With the fuel thing, on mine the first two bars drop down pretty quickly then seem to ease up a bit. Ive worked out that the gauge says you have a lot less fuel than you actually have. which is better than the other way round I suppose. If my gauge is flashing on the last bar and I go to fill up I can only squeeze 10 or 11 litres in, which is basically half a tank still in there.

Jimmy, I rarely take any notice of fuel gauges. When I get a new vehicle I work out the minimum I'll get from a tank and go from there. Besides in my opinion if you are concerned about fuel economy and own a bandit, you've bought the wrong bike. Anyway, the older (real) bandits have a fuel tap. When you have to put it on reserve you fill up.

Oh, I did once find out that if you let it go long enough not only does the last bar flash but the everything flashes and it takes 21lt to fill a 20lt tank.

b12mick wrote:Jimmy, I rarely take any notice of fuel gauges. When I get a new vehicle I work out the minimum I'll get from a tank and go from there. Besides in my opinion if you are concerned about fuel economy and own a bandit, you've bought the wrong bike. Anyway, the older (real) bandits have a fuel tap. When you have to put it on reserve you fill up.

Oh, I did once find out that if you let it go long enough not only does the last bar flash but the everything flashes and it takes 21lt to fill a 20lt tank.

G'day Mick, yes my "real" Bandits fuel tap got switched to reserve on the way home from PI about 20kms the other side of Mango. Let me tell ya I was sweating bullets coming in to town but made it home ( Gurwood St ) with a tiny bit left. I think about 55km sitting on a dollar thirty, was really impressed actually.

Jimmy the Boy wrote:Thankyou for all the kind welcome messages Guys. I have a 2004 Bandit that is greatly loved and spoilt like an only child. Ive had a jet kit installed and what not at Moto Garage in Canberra 12 months ago and the change was remarkable. Soooo smooth now & no popping & farting on deceleration, plus an extra 13 or so ponies. 111hp on dyno run. Anybody that has the old skool carby model & hasn't done this, DO IT IMMEDIATELY! Brett seemed to know exactly what he was doing there, I think the cost was roughly $700 with K&N filter but he had it on the dyno for about 5 hours till it was perfect. Money well spent. Just put a new chain on yday. Didn't do Sprockets as there is only 17000km on the bike & the sprockets were like new. Will change both next time. The reason my chain died an early death was MAXIMA CHAIN WAX. If you own a can of this crap, get up from the computer right now, pick it up and put it in the bin. My chain was so dry and rusty on the inside it looked as though I'd never touched it. If anyone can recommend a decent chain lube I'd really appreciate it. Anyhow thats enough out of me, Cheers Lads, look forward to catching up soon. Jimmy.

I've tried dedicated chain lube but find 'Inox' does a great job - no rust and the chain just looks 'new'.