Customer Reviews

Clymer Kawasaki Vn800 Vulcan and Vulcan Classic 1995-1998: Vn800 Vulcan & Vulcan Classic 1995-1998

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Clymer has the best books that helps you do it yourself. This one has all the information you need to maintain your VN 800 and has a lot of tips that helps you manage the best from your bike.

This may be the best book regarding maintenance and repair of VN800s. If so, it is only because there are no others.

1.) The pictures are poorly lit or poorly reproduced. They are so dark as to obscure useful detail.

2.) The first task I attempted with this manual as aid was a full inspection of the drive chain and sprockets. I assume this is a fairly common task and should be clearly and simply covered in such a manual. My first clue that all was not right was when I noticed that "sprocket" does not appear in the index. "Drive Chain" is listed for page 340, only. In the table of contents, "Drive Chain" is listed only for "Chapter 12: Rear Suspension" (p. 340, one presumes.) A little common sense looking discovers "Drive Chain/Sprocket Inspection" as the first sub-section under the "Periodic Maintenance" section of "Chapter Three: Lubrication, Maintenance and Tune-up." Again, note that this is not mentioned in the table of contents or index even though most of the next 4 pages are devoted to: "Drive Chain/Sprocket Inspection," "Drive Chain Cleaning and Inspection," Drive Chain Tension Inspection," and "Drive Chain Tension Adjustment." The preceding section is "Drive Chain Lubrication."

Step 6 says to check the engine sprocket for wear or missing teeth. Great, but "engine sprocket" is not in the index, either. There is no diagram or picture indicating its location. One necessarily reads on, perhaps, there is more. Indeed, in the next section, between step 5 and step 6 is an indented, italicized note saying "Always check engine sprocket... ." Hmm, perhaps, there is more. Step 8 says to "(i)nstall the chain as described in Chapter Twelve." Evidently, Chapter Twelve will tell one something about how to locate and reach the engine sprocket, at least for the purpose of chain installation.

Chapter Twelve, p. 340, step 3 says to "(r)emove the engine sprocket cover as described in Chapter Five." Notice that references to Chapters do not include section, sub-section or page references. This now becomes critically important as "Chapter Five: Engine Lower End" does not seem to include the phrase "engine sprocket" anywhere in the text, certainly not in any section or sub-section headings. It does start out with "Removal/Installation" of the engine which is a little more than I wanted to do.

So, what should be a frequently performed, simple, if not trivial, procedure that one would expect such a manual to clearly and simply explain with step by step instructions all in one place, ends up to be not explained at all, though hinted at in at least three different chapters. Most of the relevant information is not easy to find due to extremely poor table of contents and index.

If you do buy this book, I can assure you that you will spend much time flipping through its pages, but not for any good reason.

My book is now in multiple pieces, which I plan to send to the publisher as editorial comment.