|
An international forum for people interested in modern high performance road going sidecars.
|
View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Dar
Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 349 Location: Ballston Spa, NY
|
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:10 am Post subject: Dumb Question |
|
|
Question for any of you that ride high-powered rigs with a chain rather than a shaft drive:
What sort of drive chain life is a reasonable expectation for a rig like my Bandito? I installed a new chain (an RK X-ring) and both sprockets last spring, and now 6000 miles later, it is about shot. Stretching badly, and noticable wear on the sprockets (rear one at least). Seems like a short time to me, but my rides for the last 27 years have been shaft driven (except for a 650cc Cagiva somewhere in there with half the power and half the weight of the Bandito, but the same size chain) so I'm not sure what I should expect from a chain these days. Some 2-wheel riders tell me that 10K miles isn't unreasonably short for a high powered sport bike chain, so if I add some extra wear for the weight of the sidecar, maybe I'm doing OK, but don't really know.
What has anybody else seen for chain life? Any recommendations for long lived chains?
Dar
(don't remember where I saw this recently) :
"There is no such thing as a stupid question, but I HAVE noticed a lot of very curious idiots around lately." |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Ralph
Joined: 27 Jan 2005 Posts: 603 Location: Lexington, Ky
|
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
Yep Don't ride in the rain so much U Yanks _________________ "So Soon Old & So Late Smart" |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Dar
Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 349 Location: Ballston Spa, NY
|
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
Next thing, you'll probably tell me I shouldn't ride in the snow and road salt either, Ralph. But that was LAST winter, BEFORE the new chain and sprockets. Haven't had any of that stuff here yet this winter. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Bandit Bill
Joined: 31 Jan 2005 Posts: 202 Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
|
Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
Hi Dar:
I dunno if mine is high horsepower now, last dyno was 40k hard km's ago
I've gone through three chain sprocket sets on my Bandit - The stock chain on a stock bike lasted 25,000 km's with at least nominal maintenance. For the second, I switched to an EK ZVX chain - this is of the same tensile strength (10,000 ft lbs i think? Dunno) that is OEM for the Hayabusas et al.
The second ZVX lasted from 25,000 km to 50,000 km again, 1/2 of it's life with the chair attached.
The third is still looking strong with 10,000 km on it, only one adjustment necessary so far.
I always use steel sprockets. I tend to play with sprocket ratio's, so they sometimes got switched and swapped, so usually had less km's on them than the chain - but no appreciable wear on any of them, including the current one at 6,000 km.
I do use chainwax on my bike fairly frequently, and clean the chain down and relube it totally at least twice a season. _________________ Homebrew '99 Suzuki Bandit 1200 / '88 Hannigan Comet
'78 Honda CT70 playbike
http://www.chairintheair.ca |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Paul
Joined: 27 Jan 2005 Posts: 182 Location: Utah
|
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
6000 miles on a chain is pretty darned short. 6000 miles on a sprocket is EXTREMELY short - one sprocket usually lasts at least two chains.
Are you sure the tension was correct? Having the chain too tight is a common reason for short chain life. Too loose is bad, but too tight is worse.
Modern chains need virtually no maintenance - just keep the outside clean, and spray it with something like TriFlow (a teflon spray lube) once in a while, to prevent rust and keep the seals moist. The real lubrication is sealed inside with the o-rings, so there's no way to really add lubrication beyond what the factory put in there. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|