Wife's Graduation Present

My wife just received her MFA from SFSU, coincidentally right before a pristine 2002 Bandit 1200 with just 5k miles showed up on Craigslist.

Craigslist photo

She'd put over 60k miles on her SV650 so I thought she was ready for a bigger bike with more power.  Plus, the Bandit solves a few of the issues she'd had with the SV.  The charging system should be more capable of handling her heated gear.  The bike is smoother which will hopefully lead to less vibration-induced wrist pain.  The sidestand doesn't bend easily.  The sidestand on the SV bends easily and the bike tends to lean over too far, which can be disconcerting.  And Bandits don't die in heavy rain, which has been an issue with SV650s, my wife's in particular.

Additionally, with 66k hard miles my wife's SV650 was in need of some work.  While still a fun and reliable ride, 8 years of commuting, the Alaska trip, and a few accidents have taken their toll on the bike.  So I asked her if a new Bandit 1200 might be something she'd be interested in as a gift, and she agreed to drive all the way to Sacramento to check it out.  She came back and said "yes, please."  So we picked it up today.

 The bike looks new.  There's not a scratch on it.  It's in beautiful shape.

The ride home was a bit of an ordeal for her but in the end both she and the bike are home safe.  The previous owner set the idle at 3k which neither of us caught when she started it, thinking the choke was on.  To add to that it was over 100F in Sacramento, there was heavy traffic and lots of lane-splitting.  All on 10-year-old tires on an over-revving torque-moster of a bike.

Now that it's home the accessorizing begins.  Dale Walker Nerf Bars, a Targa tank cover, and new Michelin Pilot Road 2s go on first.  Then my old Givi RoadStar fairing, which is a bit big but a nice fairing for a Bandit.  Snyder's PaintGuard from the Aerostich catalog and a Givi trunk rack to follow.  Possibly some bar risers and the Givi side case rack as time and money allow.

So congrats to my wife for graduating, and congrats to me for having an awesome wife who rides a Bandit!

Gear Oil is Crappy Chain Lube

Some old-timers and a few Honda manuals don't believe in using this newfangled stuff called chain lube.  They insist good ol' 90-weight gear oil is what God intended for your chain and anything else is just paying for marketing.

Since gear oil costs about half what a can of chain lube costs this was an intriguing notion, so I went to the local O'Reilly Auto Parts and picked up a bottle of 85w-140 gear oil for about $5.50.  I cleaned my chain like usual, waited for the kerosene to dry, and oiled the insides of the rollers, carefully wiping the excess from the bottom of the chain.  I rotated the rear wheel a few times and noted there was hardly any chain noise which I interpreted as a good sign.

The next day I did my 30-mile commute and parked at work.  When I went out a few hours later to cover the bike I was surprised at what I saw.

Not only had a lot of it flung off but what was left was dripping all over the place and making a mess under the bike.  I'm willing to put up with some fling in return for added chain life, and it seems like the better chain lubes I've used are the messier ones.  But this was worse than I've ever seen.  By the time I got home the chain felt like it hardly had any oil left on it at all.  Although it was cleaner than it would be after using regular chain lube there was some chain clatter as I rotated the rear wheel.  So, I'm back to using the last of my Bel-Ray with Molyphos until I find a worthy substitute.  Not sure what I'm going to do with all the gear oil but I won't be putting it on my chain.