When to check Cam Chain replace CCT?

[vtrbarmy]

Ok, I daresay this has been asked lots of times before, so please, go easy on a newbie!

Picked up my 97 Storm yesterday, 29k on clock, cam chain and cam chain tensioners replaced at 17K (the Storm was owned by a Honda dealership until 18k).

I've heard about problems with the front cam chain letting go, and clearly wish to avoid!

So....how often should these be checked/replaced? And given when they need to be replaced (I'm assuming just the CCT?), how much for a dealership to do (roughly) or is it something one can do oneself (I'm reasonably mechanically minded, but have always been wary of playing with CCT's personally). Does one have to do front and back at the same time, or is the back one good?

Apart from the Cam Cahin/CCT - anything else with Storms I need to keep an eye on or be aware of?

Thanks for your help, and apologies as I guess this has been asked before, but still finding my way around the site.

[Phil-VTwin]

I guess it depends on how paranoid you want to be, i think the consensus of opinion is to treat them as consumable items and replace during the 16,000 mile service.

My own bike was laid up for 6 years and on its first ride (less than 2 miles) the spring broke on the front, fortunately i had modded them to stop them retracting fully (search for stopper mod), the bike only had 7500 miles on it, so usage also plays a big part in failure.

I ended up making manual tensioners using the housing and coach bolts, again search the forum to see what i mean.

Choice is yours mate, manuals or OEM's

[balls]

reg /rec will fail and if you are unlucky will take out your battery as well , replace with new honda finned version at around £55 or get a yam R1 or R6 from ebay ( a lot cheaper) . Conection to starter motor corodes and causes all sorts of starting probs . Battery need to be in tip top condition ( its a big lump to turn over) you can upgrade the batt to a ytx14 as this has more cold crankiing amps .
thats all the main ones .

[bazza696]

Just look at the idea that they are going to fail, so I am fitting new CCT's and modifying them with the Firestorm UK patented catastrophic failure suppression system, then I don't care if they fail, this system works cause Tony.Mon was able to get back to Kent with a failed CCT. Bet it sounded shocking but he nursed it home without banana valves...

[vtrbarmy]

Thanks that's really useful wasn't aware of the reg/rec failure, and sounds like manual CCT's are the way to go so I'll read up on that once I find my way around the site cheers

[BigVeeGrin]

and cheers from me and all the CCT info in this section. Don't feel so now