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CHAIN !!!!!


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I got almost 20,000 miles on the stock chain. Changed to a Gold DID X ring and new sprockets from Sprocket Center. The new chain made the bike smoother. Before the change it felt like I was riding on marbles. 

Everything is simple, Nothing is easy

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On 9/8/2021 at 7:31 PM, betoney said:

 

I understand ‘safety first’ and only doing what you are comfortable with but spray cans come with the 6” red nozzle for a reason.  To get your hand stuck between the mating surface of the chain and sprocket would almost have to be done on purpose. 

Yes just 1 mistake and !!!!!!!! I worked at a Motorcycle Dealership for 20 years, and one day a mechanic greased and wiped a chain with the bike running in gear very slowly, but for a split second the rag got caught and he lost a finger between the chain and rear sprocket. He sued us for £10,000 ...... for not ever being told it was dangerous.  What a World we live in. 

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31 minutes ago, edgarjessop12 said:

Yes just 1 mistake and !!!!!!!! I worked at a Motorcycle Dealership for 20 years, and one day a mechanic greased and wiped a chain with the bike running in gear very slowly, but for a split second the rag got caught and he lost a finger between the chain and rear sprocket. He sued us for £10,000 ...... for not ever being told it was dangerous.  What a World we live in. 

K, but even here... He did something insanely stupid.  I mean, sure, if you're worried you might make some incredible mistake and stick a finger through a hole in the sprocket despite your hand being in no way positioned like that(and doing so while it rotates being extremely difficult), then yeah, you definitely should keep your hands well away.  But wiping here:1631284896244945525259044438914.thumb.jpg.8710b20fba8f1f73140eefcce8deedd5.jpg

has no pinch points.  If a rag catches, it goes - you just let it go.  Even the chain guard above is soft and will move aside easily.  But that's not really a problem because you're only wiping off excess lube from the outer surface of the chain, not squeezing it or anything.

I'm all for caution when you feel it's appropriate (and fully respect people who choose not to do this), but there's no way to have your fingers chopped off here.

I just feel that fear you may suddenly grab the chain in front of the sprocket instead is exactly like a fear you may suddenly turn your bike into traffic while riding.  Why would you do that?

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I don't disagree that it seems safe but if the rag get caught and ripped out of your hand where does your hand go?  Where does the rag go?   Pretty much every time I've hurt myself it seemed safe so for me I just do it on the center stand in neutral.

After I wrecked a scooter in Italy my daughter made me a T-shirt that said Bad Decisions Make Great Stories.  I don't need another shirt like that one 🙂

Update on my chain and Scottoiler.  Installed new chain and sprockets just before I left on a 6,200 mile trip.  Scottoiler is the vacuum version and installation was straightforward and I mounted the Scorpion dual injector just ahead of the rear sprocket.  Took a bit of fiddling to get it to prime but seemed OK.  Left and for the first day it seemed to work OK then stopped doing anything.  At 1,700 miles I finally had a break in Sioux Falls SD and checked the Scorpion and replaced one of the nozzles.  It started working and I wound up dialing the rate back over several days.  LOL I also bought a can of chain lube so maybe that caused the Scottoiler to start working!  The side of the chain towards the wheel seemed to get more oil than the outside.  Note - both sides are on the inside of the plates and between the plates on on the outside of the chain.  Biggest problem was the fling.  It got the rear wheel quite dirty and oily.  Before I realized it some had been flung onto the side of the tire and in a couple of places started a few streaks onto the tread.  I wiped the wheel down and afterwards would wipe it down every morning and no more trouble with oil fling getting on the tire sidewall.  As to be expected the bike is quite nasty and needs a good through cleaning.  Chain stretched so that chain slack increased by maybe 3mm.  I'm just over 40 now so must have been at 38 before.  I keep slack in the middle to loose side of the range but started with it a very small amount on the tight side (what I consider tight).  Chain is clean and looks new so in that respect the Scottoiler did it's job.

I used a clip type master link.  I checked it several times during the first part of the trip and it was fine.  Now it is gone but link is fine.  For now just replacing clip.

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On 9/10/2021 at 7:50 AM, Wintersdark said:

1631284896244945525259044438914.thumb.jpg.8710b20fba8f1f73140eefcce8deedd5.jpg

 

 

6 hours ago, PhotoAl said:

I don't disagree that it seems safe but if the rag get caught and ripped out of your hand where does your hand go?  Where does the rag go?

I'm confused, I think there must be some misconception on this thread that anyone would ever put a rag or their hand on the inside of the chain - the mating surface between the chain and sprocket, I can't imagine anyone actually doing that.  But I watch youtube like everybody else and realize that anything is possible.

If someone used a rag like pictured above (on the outside) to wipe the chain they would have to be seriously complacent to hurt themself.

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On 9/14/2021 at 3:12 PM, PhotoAl said:

I don't disagree that it seems safe but if the rag get caught and ripped out of your hand where does your hand go?  Where does the rag go?   Pretty much every time I've hurt myself it seemed safe so for me I just do it on the center stand in neutral.

Those two questions are critical, and are why this is perfectly safe.

So, in my photo, when the bike is on the center stand and idling, the chain would be moving upwards, with my hand at the rear.  If the rag somehow catches (something that's never happened to me, but isn't completely outside of the realms of possibility though extremely unlikely) then the rag gets pulled up and then forwards.  There's a lot of space there, the chain guard is plastic, soft mounted, and flexible, it'll probably jam up in there and stall the bike.  If it does not, it'll go with the chain forwards to the front sprocket and then definitely stall the bike.  Either way, it stalls the bike very quickly, and doesn't do any harm.  

The rag isn't wrapped around my hand, and even if I don't immediately let go the rag will be pulled from my hand.  I cannot be holding too tightly the chain is moving, after all; if I was holding tightly my hand would try to follow the chain and can't because the chain is moving up and away from me.  In order to be pulled off my feet/stool/whatever, I'd have to suddenly grip the moving chain extremely hard (and again would probably just stall the bike), so hard that my thumb and forefinger are providing enough purchase on the lubricated chain/rag to drag my entire bodyweight.  I don't even know if I'm physically capable of that.  Accidental wrapping on my hand?  It would take some doing to figure out a way to wrap a rag around my hand so that I can be pulled forward by the idling bike several feet to where it meets the front sprocket, without stalling the bike, having the rag just come off the chain (remember, there are absolutely zero pinch points between where my hand is on the outside of the chain clear through to the front sprocket), come off my hand, or tear.  

The danger is in wiping a chain on a running motorcycle on the inside of the chain, particularly on the bottom,  having your hands/rags around the chain itself where it's going to meet the rear sprocket.  That's a very dangerous spot, where there's pokey hurty stuff happening, and where the chain is moving either across in front of you or towards you - in both cases, if something gets caught it's not being pulled away from your body, so there's nothing to help unstick stuff before it gets to the hurty spot.  The bottom of the rear sprocket, where the chain is meeting it, is exposed and close to you whereas the top top of the front sprocket is extremely well guarded and furthest from you.  

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On 9/14/2021 at 7:03 PM, kilo3 said:

We should start a clip vs rivet thread and settle this once and for all 😆

Obviously, it wouldn’t have thrown the clip off if he had been using full synthetic oil and premium non-ethanol fuel….  

poke watching GIF

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@Wintersdark - At the end of the day, we all choose our own risk.  If we were all about maximizing safety, none of us would ride motorcycles.  That said, it is safer to clean and lube the chain by spinning the tire by hand.  I have a friend who lost part of thumb by just trying to make a quick because what could happen?  Something he had been doing for years without incident until there was an incident.

 

And it's a lot harder to be a keyboard warrior like this telling someone 2000 miles away how to clean their chain if you're missing some fingertips! :)

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13 hours ago, texscottyd said:

Obviously, it wouldn’t have thrown the clip off if he had been using full synthetic oil and premium non-ethanol fuel….  

poke watching GIF

I was running Motul 7100 full synthetic oil but couldn't always find alcohol free fuel.  Mystery solved 🙂 

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  • 5 weeks later...
On 8/27/2021 at 1:08 PM, edgarjessop12 said:

Thanks every one for your replies, glad it is not just me had a problem.

The factory chain is rubbish, but not X ring as some people think. 

I only lightly clean my chain and don't spray WD40 onto the chain but use a rag.

As for never cleaning a chain, all the dust and road grime that sticks to the chain acts like grinding paste !!!!!

I will replace it with a Gold DID X ring chain.

Cheers Edgar Jessop.

Grinding paste eh? Personally I know V Strom owner that never cleans the chain. Religiously lubricates it every fill up though. On his previous 3 bikes (2x650 and 1000) he got between 70-80 000 km on each of them. Personally I clean the chain perhaps 2-3 times a year and just replaced OEM one on my 2017 today, after 50 000 km (43 000 km since I put it on road 20th of October last year).

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On 10/16/2021 at 1:02 AM, Rick123 said:

Grinding paste eh? Personally I know V Strom owner that never cleans the chain. Religiously lubricates it every fill up though. On his previous 3 bikes (2x650 and 1000) he got between 70-80 000 km on each of them. Personally I clean the chain perhaps 2-3 times a year and just replaced OEM one on my 2017 today, after 50 000 km (43 000 km since I put it on road 20th of October last year).

Former VStrom rider here. I can confirm that I (along with others) get long life out of the chain with out cleaning it. I got 28K miles out of my chain and sprockets before I sold the bike. The chain was good for about another 3 - 5 K miles (it was showing signs of needing to be replaced soon)

This chain was a X ring RK chain and sprocket set. I also used DuPont chain wax. Never cleaned the chain, lubed up every 2 refills on the tank regardless of rain or shine. I flipped the front sprocket at 15 K miles to allow it to wear evenly. Thats it. 90% street riding.

For the Tracer that I just got (2021 GT), I'm changing things up a bit, I'm going to use Yamaha synthetic chain lube, and after spraying down the chain for a semi decent soaking, I wipe off the excess with a rag and let it dry. What ever dirt comes off comes off. Again every two tanks it gets lubed. The previous bike I didn't even wipe off the excess.

Cleaning the chain does nothing for the life of the chain (Street riding), but makes it look nice. Aggressively scrubbing the chain and tearing at the rubber O rings is what shortens chain life. Its a fact. The only real wear that your taking care of is between the roller and the pin. Even then its very little movement.

I digress a little bit, cleaning the chain does allow for inspections of the chain for issues.

If your lubing every other day and cleaning once a week and your not getting at least 15 to 20 k out of a decent quality chain, something is wrong. Not trying to start another chain debate, but I think that I read somewhere someone reported doing a did a not lubed chain run and got 10K out of it.

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