Tiger Tales - Dialling in the 800XC for the dirt

The bike pulls better throughout the power band, in every gear. If you are going 2up and have a lot of gear, change out to a 15T. The bike just rides better, IMHO. There is no lack of power anywhere with this bike with a 15T or 16T.

BTW, it was only $15 for a 15T sprocket from my dealer. When the winter comes and I am not riding dirt anymore for the year, I might change it back for highway/commuting. The 15T is a no brainer if you are riding dirt/rocky jeep trails.

JG

I know I've seen somewhere that people have gone up to a 17T in the front and were pleases with the results. This is obviously for highway riding and not single track.

What about two sets of sprockets mounted, and a slider with a handlebar lever, like the gear change on a bicycle? It would be like a two speed, but actually be a twelve speed.

Interesting thought, but let's remember that a bicycle has a tensioner built into the chain drive at the rear derailleur. I'm not so sure that technology would be portable to a system where the chain is much more massive and the power delivery is much greater. And even if it is something that would adapt, there would then be another item on the bike that's got to be maintained. If it's kept at the rear wheel as on a bicycle, that is more unsprung weight.

Yeah, I know. You see blue sky, I see clouds.

A bicycle has a rear derailluer that acts as a chain tensioner. I'm not sure you could develop a tensioner that would be tensioned enought to withstand an 800cc motorcycle, yet, be slack enough to allow it the chain to climb to the higher gear. Also, the rear cassette has teeth shaped in a specific way, on a bicycle, to get the chain to climb the gears. Lastly, a motorcycle chain is designed to be ran only in a straight chainline, whereas a bicycle chain is designed to be cross-chained.

IIRC there are a few Buells that have a tensioners capable of handling engine braking, but, I would stay for the internal approach and have a sliding transmission gear with a manual dog, instead of one controlled by the shift drum.

That way the extra running gear stay clean inside the enlarged engine cases

I suppose one of us could just email someone like Nova racing and ask them to cut taller 5th and 6th gear for us. Combine that with the shorter first from a 675, and we have a wide ratio transmission. That would probably be a whole lot simpler than adding a derailer and chain tensioner. It worked for the DRZ guys.

Asked Leo Vince about the spark arrestor. They ship with the pipe now. I bought mine in July, they are sending one at no cost. Awesome customer service.

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Glad to hear it worked out for you!!


JG

I like this idea.

I really like this idea too. Any ideas of how much this would cost? I'm sure it would really help with first and second gear off road as well as fuel econ at highway speeds.

JG

I'll bet it would cost as much as $1500...

Here's a link to a thread on Thumpertalk about the DRZ transmission:

http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/914780-drz-400-wide-range-gearbox/

He said it was 1250 GBP for the first one, and 800 GBP for subsequent transmissions. So it looks like our guinea pig would be out close to $2500.

I had a problem with my clutch slipping yesterday which sort of ties in with the gearing conversation. Bike is 15 months old with 14000 klm on it and a bit early to be having clutch problems I thought. We were pushing through an overgrown track I hadn't been on in about 15 years and it was a bit steeper than I remembered. So it was 1st gear moving slowly with a bit of push and shove and a lot of clutch work.The engine never overheated only going 1 bar hotter than normal running temp , I made sure I kept an eye on it. I noticed the lever engaging further out before getting drive and when back out on the road in high gears would rev but not increase speed at the same rate. It was ok if you were gentle on the throttle and rode home no problems. This morning I removed the clutch plates for inspection and found the friction plates still looked perfect but the steels were discoloured slightly black. I shuffled the plates , repacked them and gave the bike an oil change. I've only taken it for a 10 min test ride but there's no slipping and it seems to be back to normal again. What I'm wondering though is what happens if you're out past the black stump somewhere stuck in a mud hole or something and really abuse the clutch . I've treated enduro bikes a lot worse and never had clutch problems. Maybe what's basicly a road bike engine/clutch/gearing isn't up to this treatment . Anyone else had poblems? Still love the bike though, this is my first problem with it and appears to have been solved easily. ....Ian

I had my clutch do the same. I ended up adjusting the cable a bit, then it got worse -- and I ended up having to replace the whole thing as the thing ended up overheating and discolouring. The shop manager at Peter Stevens where I bought the bike, who likes to abuse customers he thinks are inferior to his elite-ness anyway, had a long go at me that it was my fault for being too hard and slipping the clutch too much because I commute with my Tiger and lane split a lot, and also like to practice at the local Uni parking lot doing slow speed figure 8's etc.

I reckon your clutch might be dead like mine.

Oh, then as I got the clutch installed they pointed out that recall on the spring, which I have always wondered if it might have played a part in the issue...

I would have it checked ASAP in order to keep it from getting it too hot. But you sound like you know more than I, perhaps you can just lay it over and open it up and have a look.

I know this is 205 BUT wanted to hear your opinions on this part I found on the web.

Is this just a sprocket guard or chain guide at the bottom of the picture??



The actual site doesnt show this as a available part

Here's the site:
http://www.amcmoto.co.uk/shop-by-br...-extended-chain-guard-black-2011-onwards.html

That looks like a chain guide to me; I have them on my smaller dual-sports.

Chain guides are more common on bikes that have a very large amount of rear suspension travel; the chain has to be quite slack in the unloaded position, in order for it to still have some slack when the suspension is fully compressed. Having a chain guide helps in making sure that the chain does not jump off the rear sprocket when the rear wheel is in the air and the rear suspension is under zero compression.

Or are they spools for a rear stand

Thanks for the info Yo! I'd really like to find a solution to this terrible noise.

(Monday morning RANT begin)

I'm getting to the point where I'm now avoiding all rough stuff so I don't hear what sounds like my swingarm/ suspension falling apart! Its not even a slap, its a banging CLUNK. I'd expect this from a street bike not a brand new XC.

I took my 8yr old son out on a 100mi+ dirt loop, even he asked if something was broke on the bike with all the racket underneath. Its embarrassing to say the least. I cant see how others are content with this bike with this issue.

(Monday morning RANT over)

Hi Merc,

I'm referring to the Blu labeled hardware that looks like it is attached to the stock guard...

Are you talking about the round disk below the swingarm ? That's the tax disk holder.