Why does a chain wear unevenly?

[vifferman]

In hindsight I think the chain was so loose that it was riding up on the sprocket teeth now and then.

There you go!
I told you, din I?
Built-in bastardliness.

[imdying]

Chains always seem to end up with `tight spots' (they're not really a tight spot though, are they, they're just unworn where the rest of the chain is worn, right?)

Have definitely seen tight spots. The chain on the RGV when I brought it was totally fucked... so tight in spots that the links would remain locked at an angle even when traveling around the sprockets... truly horrid. I don't consider that 'typical' though, I think it was just pretty neglected.

[vifferman]

Have definitely seen tight spots. The chain on the RGV when I brought it was totally fucked... so tight in spots that the links would remain locked at an angle even when traveling around the sprockets... truly horrid. I don't consider that 'typical' though, I think it was just pretty neglected.

It was proberly thoroughly lubed using the recommended chain lube with secret ingredients, which activated the built-in bastardliness.

[The Stranger:Me]

Gents - a small confession. When I came back from the 4k North Island trip at New Year, there were various unsettling clunks from the chain south of Timaru. Being tired and heading into a night ride I said sod it and rode on......as you do. In hindsight I think the chain was so loose that it was riding up on the sprocket teeth now and then.

Bugger.

Gah! thud.
Why do we fucken bother?

[Winston001]

You're all talking shit.

Chains wear unevenly for two reasons:
Firstly, because of built-in bastardliness. If the manufactucturers built the wonderful, brilliantly manufactured, high-tech, super-duper chains they advertise, they'd last virtually forever. So they add a link or two here, and a roller there, and some wonky XYZ-rings there, that are bastards from the reject line. So your chain starts off looking all high-tech, shiny, gold-plated and wonderful, and gradually develops a personality of its own.
Secondly, they wear unevenly because no-one rides evenly. All that accelerating, wheelies, stoppies, riding over bumps, the swingarm pounding up and down, it acts in concert with the built-inbastardliness to fook the chain.
Thirdly, the bike and chain manufacturers pay the chain lube manufacturers to supply chain lube with secret ingredients such as abrasives, corrosion accelerators, and binding agents. They're all designed to produce a special grinding paste that's coloured red, so if you happen to go to a bike dealer, he can tell at a glance your chain is fookt, because it has red stuff on it.
Three-and-a-halfly, spooge. Chains are living organisms: they eat road spooge, drink cahin lube, and shit out this nasty stuff called chain spooge. Stickier than the stickiest snot, blacker and shittier than the blackest and shittiest black shit, in Nature it's designed as a fatal territorial marking to keep other chains away. Sadly, when the chain is captive on a bike, the chain spooge has nowhere to go but on the rider's leg, on the paintwork, and all over the chain itself, eventually causing PAMCFAITTRW (Premature And Messy Chain Failure And Injury To The Rider's Wallet).
Fourthly, misinformation about how to care for your chain. "WD40 will wreck your chain". "Use only motor oil". "Use only special chain lube" (with secret ingredients, of course).
All this has come about because chains are now fashion accessories. In the old days, they were hideously ugly, so they were hidden under clunky great chain guards, and never even thought about. Nowadays, you can get them anodised to match your bike or accessorise with your lingerie: gold, red, green, purple, or even leopard print. They all have fancy sexy names, and fancy 4-figure price tags, so you think you're buying into an exclusive chain-owners club. You feel good about your new acquisition, and about all the special chain care toiletries you're lavishing it with.
You scoff at owners of shaft-drive bikes, feel sorry for the poor guys with rubber band driven bikes, and smile your secret smile because you know they're not true motorcyclists who know how to clean and lube a chain, and become one with their machine. Those poor bastids!

"You must spread some reputation yadda yadda"

[Winston001]

Gah! thud.
Why do we fucken bother?

So whut?? Does not the swallow fly south for the winter?

oh hang on......wrong script......


Anyway yeah. The chain might have been challenged a few times, it mattereth not a whit. It should be tough and stand up to the odd clunk. I withdraw my confession cos it's irrelevant and wasn't rendered as a device to be beaten with.

[FROSTY:Me]

Gosh you lot talk a load of shit--Truth is the bikes a Ducati
because of this any German will remember the italian "support' In WW2 and anyone american or british wont like it.
Knowing full well the weak link of your bike is the chain we have all been pissing on that same spot on your bike for years
Now you'll be thinking --ahh but I had a BMW--well we did the same thing to that and in a few years time the universals will collapse.

Or of course Vifferman could be right and being a duc its a pretty torquey bike -I'd bite the bullet and fit a Heavy duty NON o ring chain and a scotoiler But I prefer my story

[Winston001]

Gosh you lot talk a load of shit--Truth is the bikes a Ducati
because of this any German will remember the italian "support' In WW2 and anyone american or british wont like it.
Knowing full well the weak link of your bike is the chain we have all been pissing on that same spot on your bike for years
Now you'll be thinking --ahh but I had a BMW--well we did the same thing to that and in a few years time the universals will collapse.

Or of course Vifferman could be right and being a duc its a pretty torquey bike -I'd bite the bullet and fit a Heavy duty NON o ring chain and a Scottoiler. But I prefer my story

Alright alright already. I get the message.

Next thing - any recommended places to get sprockets/chains? I can go to my local bike shop and normally do but like to know what the choices are.

And just got a Loobman oiler which is currently partly fitted. Just doing some improvements of the design and in the meantime give the nitpickers (they know who they are....) something to point out at the Garston Rally.

[bsasuper]

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[The Stranger:Me]

Anyway yeah. The chain might have been challenged a few times, it mattereth not a whit. It should be tough and stand up to the odd clunk. I withdraw my confession cos it's irrelevant and wasn't rendered as a device to be beaten with.

This is one of those rare posts that has me lost for words.


What exactly is the purpose of this thread?
It appears that you want the chain to somehow magically be well, but no one will make it right for you.


You finally confess you fucked the chain yourself and your way to get the thread back on topic - i.e. the people of KB healing your chain, is..... wait for it..... withdraw your confession, and voila your chain is now all better.

Sometimes in life you just have to face the fact that you and you alone fucked up and you have to pay for your own mistakes yourself. You can't blame anyone else - the buck stops with you. It can be a bitter pill to swallow I know, but you just got to face facts and bite the bullet.

[Ixion]

There was a time , some few years ago, when manufacturers were all bring out shaft driven models, and it appeared that that archaic monstrosity the chain would (unlamentably) disappear from the motorcycling scene. Alas, it seems to have made a come back

I cannot understand why the manufacturers are allowed to get away with a fitment that requires constant attendance and maintenance , and *still* only lasts for a fraction of the time that any reasonable person would expect.

If manufacturers cannot fit a chain that will reliably last for 200000km (and I see no reason why they should not, they did in the past), then they should use shaft drive.

And don't get me started on modern tyres. Fifty years ago they lasted 30000 MILES. One would expect that with modern improved technology they should last at least 100000 km. To be expected to replace them after only 20000 km is absurd and unacceptable.
t

[Motu]

fully enclosed chains (running in an oil or grease bath) both last more or less forever (except on pre unit Triumph primary drives ), and seem to wear very evenly

No one notices this - but everyone notices their open air chain wearing out.Fully enclosed and lubed chains just do their job and are completely ignored,just like a shaft drive.How many people know if they have some sort of chain (apart from cam chain) inside their engine doing it's job unobserved?

Most 4X4's have a chain drive transfer box....and all will do 500,000km without anybody knowing they are there.

But we can't have a fully enclosed and lubed chain on a motorcycle - Mr Style would not be pleased....take it off now! Mr Style will not be seen to look uncool before his peers.

[xwhatsit]

If manufacturers cannot fit a chain that will reliably last for 200000km (and I see no reason why they should not, they did in the past), then they should use shaft drive.

Because due to drivetrain losses I'm already looking at about 20hp (if I'm lucky) from a 26hp engine -- shaft drive and the thing will make even less and weigh far more as well.

Plus, everybody knows shafties can't wheelie. It's physics, you see.

The fully-enclosed thing I just don't understand. I'd love it if there was an aftermarket manufacture who made enclosures. Makes a hell of a difference on a Cub, and that's not an immersed chain either.

[Winston001]

This is one of those rare posts that has me lost for words.


What exactly is the purpose of this thread?
It appears that you want the chain to somehow magically be well, but no one will make it right for you.


You finally confess you fucked the chain yourself and your way to get the thread back on topic - i.e. the people of KB healing your chain, is..... wait for it..... withdraw your confession, and voila your chain is now all better.

Sometimes in life you just have to face the fact that you and you alone fucked up and you have to pay for your own mistakes yourself. You can't blame anyone else - the buck stops with you. It can be a bitter pill to swallow I know, but you just got to face facts and bite the bullet.

J' suis desole A feeble attempt at humour to cover my own mistake. My humble apologies.

Odd as it must seem to those of you experienced with chains, I hadn't concluded it was stuffed. I genuinely don't know - which is why I asked about tight spots. The chain still drives the bike but I accept it needs to be replaced.

Thanks guys for your input.

[Mc TOOL]

[QUOTE=Winston001;1941649]Cush drive?? Sounds ghey to me. Ducatis don't have em.

.bollox mine has 2 , neither of them work Chain wax is the go here apply sparingly and leave overnight , almost zero flyoff. Doing this I lube the chain about every thousand k's and the last one is still going at 20 odd thousand k,s
AND you get what you pay for
AND If you rig up some sort of shield to keep rain and road shit from being flung off the back wheel in the wet, ( just where the chain passes the tyre ) helps a lot too