Chains
Chains are the most maintenance intensive parts of the bike. Use only the best chain and sprockets you can afford. If you can't afford some of the better upper tier stuff, save your money until you can. Don't cheap-out here.
Use only the best Chain and keep it clean and lubricated. A properly maintained chain will last 15k to 20k miles, or more, depending on how you ride.
Worn chains accelerate the wear rate of the sprockets and visa-versa. ALWAYS replace BOTH sprockets when replacing the chain and use STEEL sprockets on both ends. Aluminium rear sprockets are more for racing than a street bike. However they cost twice as much as steel and wear faster.
ALWAYS replace BOTH sprockets when replacing the chain, Worn chains accelerate the wear rate of the sprockets and visa-versa. Last, when you do replace a chain buy the best chain and STEEL sprockets you can afford.
Third, keep it clean, dirt will kill a chain in no time.
Keep the drive chain tension adjusted properly - check it often. A misadjusted chain wears MUCH faster and is more likely to fail.
I'm going to digress a bit and discuss how a chain wears. Let's start with a new chain and sprockets whose dimensions are perfect. Imagine that the chain is mounted on both sprockets. The sprocket on the engine (called the countershaft sprocket) is pulling the chain off the top and feeding it onto the bottom of the rear sprocket as the rear wheel rotates. The pulling force of the engine is transmitted via the side plates of the chain through the chain's pins to the rollers which exert a force on the face of the sprocket tooth to rotate the rear wheel. Since the distance between canters of all the pins of the chain is exactly the same as the distance between centres of all the sprocket grooves, all the rollers are equally sharing the pulling force of the engine. On my CBR600 there 44 teeth on the rear sprocket and about half, or 22, will have a roller in the groove. Therefore, each roller and pin will have 1/22 or about 4.5% of the load.
As the rear sprocket rotates the next chain roller to be fed onto the bottom of the rear sprocket approaches the next groove in the sprocket and it drops straight into the groove. The roller will touch the bottom machined into the sprocket at exactly the same time it touches the wall. The chain roller does not rotate as it enters the groove because it is exactly above the centre of the groove. As the engine pulls the chain around, additional rollers are added at the bottom and pulled off at the top. Since the distance between centres of all the pins of the chain is exactly the same as the distance between centres of all the sprocket grooves all the rollers will drop in and pull out without the roller spinning. This also means that the engine force that pulls on the chain is uniformly distributed among all the rollers that are on the sprocket at any given time.
This perfect world will last about one revolution of the wheel. As the chain flexes from straight to curved around the sprockets and back to straight, the chain's pins rotate slightly inside the bushing which is inside the roller. Every movement of the pin relative to the bushing when the chain is under tension (i.e. the engine is pulling the chain) wears away some of the metal on the pin and bushing. How much metal is worn away depends on the amount of of lubrication on the chain pin, the magnitude of the tension on the chain and how close the distance between centres of the chain pins matches the sprocket. The greater the mismatch, the more of the pulling force is concentrated on the pin and roller just ready to be pulled off the rear sprocket as the wheel turns.
When a chain wears, 99% of the wear takes place in the pin that goes through the side plates and the the bushing that the pin rides on inside the roller. As the chain gets worn the pin's diameter is reduced and the inside diameter of the bushing gets larger.
If you don't want to put up with all this chain maintenance crap, buy a bike with a shaft drive or a belt drive. One word of caution on drive belts, they work fine and last a long time but they are susceptible to little piece of stone getting stuck in the rear drive pulley teeth. This doesn't happen to chains because the sprocket teeth are too big and the wrong shape to catch a stone but a belt's rear pulley teeth are just the right size to catch a small stone and if one does get stuck it can trash the belt in no time (like hours). If you ride a belt drive bike on gravel roads check the rear pulley for stuck stones as soon as possible after you are back on the pavement. Also, if you have one of the few Japanese made belt drive bikes you will probably have a hell of a time finding a replacement belt if yours breaks on the road. Harleys should be no problem as that's all they make now plus they almost never break unless a stone gets stuck in the rear pulley.
An alternative is to buy a bike without a chain. The options are belt drive and shaft drive. Both are almost zero maintenance.
Chain Types
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STANDARD CHAIN |
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RK Standard chain is economical for light duty applications for motorcycles up to 350cc’s that did not come equipped with an “O”-Ring or heavy-duty chain as original equipment. Never substitute a standard chain for a Heavy-Duty or “O”-Ring application. |
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ULTRA U-RING CHAIN |
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All
the benefits of an “O”-Ring chain plus lighter weight and no
additional width. The “Ultra”-Ring was designed especially for road
racing and the next generation of OEM motocross applications. Use GB520TRU
for road racing and GB520KZU for motocross. |
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O-RING CHAIN |
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A properly lubricated, Heavy-Duty racing non-”O”-ring chain will perform efficiently as long as there is a “lubricating oil boundary layer” between critical bearing surfaces. However, once the boundary layer dissipates from high speed running, lack of maintenance, or simply over time, the inner bearing surfaces will overheat, kink, cause severe drag, and ultimately fail. RK “O”-ring chains prevent this from happening by continuously lubricating and protecting critical internal bearing surfaces. |
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RX-RING CHAIN |
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RK's "RX-ring" chain have new "RX" shaped seal and improved metallurgy to give you 30% more wearlife than standard o-ring chains. Viewed in cross-section, the "RX-ring" has two lubrication pools and contact lips versus the single lip/pool design of a regular o-ring chain. |
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XW-RING CHAIN |
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RK's
premium quality “XW”-ring is the ultimate high speed, extreme heat
performance chain. The “XW”-ring is made of an advanced Nitrile
Butadiene composite and is equipped with three contact lips and two convex
outer stabilizers. This means three lubrication pools to protect against
high speed abrasion, extreme heat build up, torsional flex and the loss of
lubricant under these extreme conditions. |
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Different types of seals can dramatically change wear life which is exemplified by the fact that "RX"-Ring chain offers 30% more wear life over conventional "O"-Ring Chain whilst "XW"-Ring provides an extra 50% wear life! Choose your drive chain carefully to ensure your total satisfaction. |
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Currently I have the 520XSO chain fitted to my ZZR along with some new sprockets. Fantastic is all I can say. smoother than 'o' ring fore-sure and according to the manufacturers it will last longer too.
When I replaced all three parts I payed, from Kawasaki, approximately as follows:
| Front Sprocket | AU$30.00 |
| Rear Sprocket | AU$45.00 |
| RX-Ring Chain | AU$150.00 |
