So the Vstrom has about 20,000 miles on it at this point, and Scottoiler or not, the stock chain is pretty much shot. I picked up a new chain and sprocket set from White Buffalo Racing and this last weekend set about installing it. Obviously, replacing the rear sprocket requires removal of the rear wheel, and since the Vstrom doesn't have a centerstand I also picked up a pair of T-Rex Racing track stands from eBay.

Getting the wheel, chain, and sprockets off was quick and easy. For the Vstrom 1000, getting to the front sprocket requires removal of the clutch slave cylinder, the speedometer sensor, and finally a plastic cover which encloses the chain and sprocket. Apparently word on the street is, prior to removing the clutch cylinder, it's important to ziptie the clutch lever in its fully actuated position, in order to prevent the clutch piston from working its way out of the housing. I didn't do that, but that was merely a hassle, not the real problem which came up in this process.

The new sprockets and chain went on easily; I'd had some trouble riveting the new chain on the Bandit, but I think I've learned from that experience, and this one went on smoothly. Reassembly was also easy; the rear wheel on the Vstrom is pretty convenient to work on, and quite a bit easier to get seated in the swingarm than the one from the Bandit. Wheel in place, sprockets mounted, chain tensioned, sprocket cover on, speed sensor in place, clutch cyliner in...oh, wait. That's not right at all.

The clutch cylinder on the Vstrom is held in place by two bolts, one a quarter-inch longer than the other, an aluminum spacer for one of the two bolts, and a tiny steel dowel. No matter what I tried, I could not get the dowel to go back into place. I cleaned it, I lubed it, I cleaned off the lube. Then I relubed it. Then I tried tapping it with a rubber hammer. Nothing had any effect on the thing. I tried installing it without the pushrod that connects it to the clutch plates, and I tried without the sprocket cover, and I tried without its rubber gasket. I switched the bolts around, I cleaned the spacer, I removed the spacer. All in all, I must have disassembled and reassembled this particular component six times over the course of several days, and with input from the fine folks at the Vstrom forum and Sport-Touring.net. No dice.

I finally reassembled the whole thing without the dowel, stuck it in a ziploc bag, and very carefully rode the bike to a local dealership. I was confident that the bike would work fine as long as the clutch cylinder didn't vibrate out of true, and I'd expected that the two bolts would hold it for a day at least. Once there, I gave Kaylee over to the tender mercies of the service department and hung about the showroom waiting. Soon enough, the service manager had an answer for me:

"Frankly I don't understand why Suzuki didn't put a tiny little hole through the center of that dowel. Air and oil build up behind it, build up a little pressure, it's not going on unless you do what we do - which is mount the clutch assembly, and take this rubber mallet, and just pound the thing into place." And no, that's not "tap the dowel into the clutch," it's "put the dowel into the frame, mount the clutch, beat the clutch down onto the dowel."

So anyway, note to self (and other Stromtroopers) for the future - keep a mallet handy, and don't feel bad whackin' this piece into place.

The new sprockets are also a different gearing - 16/43 instead of 17/41 - and the acceleration of the bike is definitely quite improved. 6th is now a reasonable freeway gear. All in all I think the gearing change is very nice, and word on the street is that wheelies are a lot easier (not that I'm a real stunta or anything). The downside of the swap is that my speedo now reads about 20% high, which is annoying as hell. I picked up a SpeedoHealer at the dealership yesterday, though, which ought to correct that. For the first time in my life, I'll have a bike that tells me how fast I'm actually going.

The speedohealer comes with a sticker that says "I know I was speeding - my speedometer's calibrated!" Heh.