Can You Say......INDEXED!

[Rio Wil]

Not too bad for 250K plus.......had a detente that would rattle your teeth .......did the grinding thing on the race pressed onto the stem and hit it with a cold chisel.  For the bottom stem bearing, just hooked a heavy screw driver behind the race and hit it with a drift from the top.....used some all thread to pull the two stem bearings in----one at a time and seated them with a pin punch. Used a pin punch to seat the bearing on the stem.....easy peasy......
Did some other stuff, new front/rear tires (this is my 4th Pirelli P4 rear---get a bit over 50K per tire) and pads, replaced seals/bushings in forks. Third Shinko front, get about 17K per tire.....good wet/dry traction....can't complain about the cost either. Had one Shinko that developed a bulge in the tread, I bad mouthed it til I remembered I had hit an object about two weeks earlier that jarred the front and punched a two plug hole in the rear tire. Guess that doesn't count. Need to replace the rear shock bushings and will be good to go for thousands more......
Ride safe...

Wil

[Earl43P]

Curious which model Shinko you are getting that kind of mileage from?

I installed an 890(?) in the stock size last month and really like it so far (round trip to Marion, Va with some rain).

Can't really rack up any real mileage on it until I take another mountains trip 25-30 June, basing out of Deep Creek, MD. Should get to ride a lot of WV, some MD, lots of PA and maybe KY, who knows. But all of the all-day trips will end back at the cabin.

Yep, you got your money's worth out of those steering head bearings!!

[0leman]

Rio, what kind of roads do you ride on that you get that kind of mileage out of the Skinko's.   Are the Chip coated.  Would like to know.

You did get you money worth out of that head bearing.

[..]

I get about 9,000 out of a Shinko Journey.

Lots of gas and brakes in the Appalachian mountains of north east GA, NC and SC.

[Rio Wil]

I put about 100 miles on the ole gal today running errands and had to come home cause my grin muscles were aching!! Just didn't realize how much the ride quality had deteriorated until this little rebuild project. Gotta love the old girl.
The Shinko front tire is the Tour Master and don't know if it will ever get the new scrubbed off.....haven't found a curved road in OK yet. I put a lot of miles on the bike on freeways and highway driving, any excuse will do to hop on the bike. Even in CA where I lived , it was a 20-50 mile trip to get to nice mountain riding, so the miles add up fast.  So,its mostly concrete and smooth asphalt.....not much for gravel roads these days.... Will be venturing over to eastern OK and into AR for a little mountain riding soon.

[Ricky-D]

Honda did not design the head bearing system to wear out.

It is not a maintenance item.

If there is indexing of the race, it probably occurred due to lack of lubrication.

Of course there are other causes of indexing of the bearing race,

but short of a front end collision

the reasons are mainly

mechanical error of the person performing the operation.

***

[Rio Wil]

Ya don't think it might be due to the billions and billions of vibrational impacts that have occurred over the course of 18 years and over a quarter million miles.  

mechanical error of the person performing the operation.

And you don't need to bad mouth the person that assembled my bike 18 years ago.....

[Ricky-D]

Ya don't think it might be due to the billions and billions of vibrational impacts that have occurred over the course of 18 years and over a quarter million miles.  

mechanical error of the person performing the operation.

And you don't need to bad mouth the person that assembled my bike 18 years ago.....

Do you actually think Honda would be remiss to properly design the front steering stem?

If there is anything you can count on from Honda

It would be they over design most everything to a fault.

No, my statement still stands.

[98valk]

actually per the manual, torque of bearings should be checked at 600 miles. and who does that on their new bike and then check/inspect every 8k miles. who checks them due to what is involved to get to them?

I just replace my bearings last yr. And approx at 600 miles started to feel loose so checked them. they were loose and needed to be re-torqued.   not doing "at the least" the 600 miles will notch them per many websites I had found.

Interesting for a heavier bike, the GL1500 manual calls for the initial 600 miles and then inspecting at every 12k miles and torque if needed.
I surmise it might be because the GW has much less trail than the valkyrie.