Hi,
I'm trying to finish up all my winter changes to my '01 M900 Cromo, which I understand to be an "odd duck" year for Monsters....
I'm installing a Road Racing underslung exhaust on my bike. I understand it is not the best pipe for power, but it sure looks nice and sounds great, and I've got another bike for going stoopid fast... :)
The problem I'm having is that the exhaust from the horizontal cylinder head runs parallel along the crankcase. The route is along where the kickstand is mounted, such that I can't deploy it; the pipe contacts the spring and prevents the kickstand from coming down. If I add a spacer behind the kickstand (I used one of the aluminum spacers from behind the stock rearsets to mock up) and remove the outer kickstand spring, he kickstand will clear the pipe, but still be in "auto-retract" mode.
The issue with leaving things this way, is that the bike sits at a ridiculously awkward angle (looks like it will just blow over), plus the outer case threads that hold the kickstand (maybe outer 1cm) are already stripped from the previous owner, so I don't feel it is very secure.
Do the kickstands vary from year to year, and is there a way to ID them? I'm looking for one that either mounts differently/further away from the case (in order to clear the pipe), and is longer (so the bike doesn't tilt as much).
Regarding the partially stripped threads, only the outer threads are stripped; the inner ones (deeper in the case) appear to be fine. Would something like Loctite "Form-a-thread" be sufficient to "patch" the outer threads? According to Loc-tite, it's good up to 300F, and 120 lb-ft..... I know about helicoil and time-sert options, but the coil/insert for both solutions is shorter than the existing thread depth, and installing them would require obliterating the existing threads (I don't think there is a way of aligning the helicoil/insert to the existing threads.).
Any help appreciated!
I don't know anything about variations in kickstands, so I'll leave that to others, but I'll comment on the thread repair issue.
If you have a significant number of good threads, and you are able to torque the fastener to the appropriate tightness, I would just recommend leaving well enough alone and not using anything other than maybe a thread chasing tap to clean up the threads.
I suppose if you wanted to use that loctite stuff it might not hurt, but I wouldn't trust it for much. The 120 ft-lbf torque rating is absolutely meaningless because they don't say the diameter of the fastener corresponding to that rating. For instance, the stress on the threads of a 2" diameter bolt at 120 ft-lbf is much larger than the stress on the threads of a 1/2" diameter bolt at 120 ft-lbf. Also, the 300F rating isn't always going to be accurate because it looks like that stuff is probably a 2 part epoxy base. The max temperature of a cured epoxy can vary quite a bit based on the conditions for the cure (temperature, mix ratio, contaminants, moisture, etc.). So the glass transition temperature (the temp when it goes from acting like a hard material like glass to a soft material like gel) might be lower in reality than the 300F rating, which isn't too much hotter than the max temp the engine might get to already. So long story short, I would have a lot of reservations about using that stuff for a structural application like this.
You are right that it is tricky to align everything with a helicoil or time sert manually with a hand held drill. If you want perfect results, you need to use a drill press, but that obviously isn't practical for everything (including this).
Some will say .47 x bolt diameter is the length of thread needed. some say 1 x bolt diameter for hard material, double that for soft, like your aluminum engine. If you don't have that much good solid thread left, time for a time-sert. I would not trust Loctite Form-a Thread for an application like that.
Older Monsters had the "suicide" side stand (lift bike off stand, stand retracts. Your has a safety switch and relay instead. Also the older ones were aluminum. Mounting points are the same though. PM Rudemouthsky. He had Road Racing exhaust on one of his bikes, maybe he can help.
I didn't have any trouble with my kickstand with the old peg hangers. After I got the cyclecat rearsets still no trouble until I put on the SBK gp shifter to do away with the linkage. But, the only reason I have trouble with it is because there is no offset to push the toe peg out the extra half inch needed to clear the spring. It's just straight piece of milled aluminum. I also have the Nichols kickstand bolt to stop the auto-up syndrome.
Thanks howie, bond0087. I did a bit of measuring last night. It looks like the case threads are M10x1.5, threaded ~20mm deep. The holes themselves are ~25 deep blind holes. I *think* the two mounting bosses are on a single parallel plane. My case seems to be stripped for the outer 10mm threads.
I'd like to use timeserts/keenserts, but have not found any bike shops willing to touch it when I called around today. A couple of machine shops would be willing if I brought in just the bare engine case... I'm tempted to do this myself if I can come up with a jig to hold the drill bit straight (I've installed helicoils in cam caps before, but I don't trust their strength relative to a timesert for this). I'm thinking maybe getting a plate machined that can be bolted to the existing holes as a guide? I'm open to any ideas you might have for this.
MotoPsycho: I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. I have a set of cyclecat rearsets as well. I didn't have a clearance issue with those. The clearance issue is with the exhaust pipe; the roadracing.it exhaust runs and exits under the bike, and one of the exhaust pipes interferes with the kickstand. I did notice that my stand is not straight; it looks like a piece of steel cast with a curve in it (unfortunately curving towards the pipe, and not away).
Sorry, I read it wrong. I do remember reading that now, but I had it in my head the shifter was hitting.
Try an st2 early kickstand