Chain and Sprocket Maintenance

[Corny Gizmo]

OMO,

My chain and sprockets are on their last legs after 19K, im being charged £165 to have them changed for new shiny ones on Wednesday.

Im wandering if next time I should invest in the bits and pieces to do it myself (Would I save money in the long run?)

2 More questions, is 19k a decent amount of miles from a chain that I would say has been looked after (No scottoiler tho) and used every day for 18 months? And am I being ripped off at £165?

[Red ones]

I've known it cost less but only slightly. The best thing is get a Scottoiler!

[Aquila]

I paid £120 this year for a D.I.D gold chain & sprockets.

[Markos_46]

Sounds about right for a good quality parts and labour - bought a heavy duty DID chain & sprockets for mine last week, £90 - labour to fit £69.

[Alexander94]

I did mine myself and I'd say it's worth doing. My front sprocket was a serious PITA though! After 14 years without being taken off the nut didn't want to budge and it took a 3ft breaker bar with 2ft of box section added to the end to get it off... Oh how I'd love to have an impact wrench! Haha
I bought a chain breaker and riveter for about £10 but that pays for itself after the first use!

[Corny Gizmo]

Thats my issue, Id need the socket, the torque wrench, the chain breaker/riveter and a breaker bar. Might get it all for next time, I like doing stuff myself, did the valve clearances without to much fuss :)

[Bibio]

I've known it cost less but only slightly. The best thing is get a Scottoiler!
this.

dont fek about, get a scottoiler. you are the perfect candidate for one as you use the bike every day. the only maintenance is filling the rez with oil once every 500-1k miles depending on flow rate. if you get the touring rez as well you are around 5k miles between top ups.

this is one instance where i say dont buy the tools to do the job unless you already have a compressor.

@21k miles i changed the front sprocket but only coz i wanted a 16t and i'm on 32k miles on original chain and rear sprocket using a scottoiler and i dont look after them one little bit. i just changed them about 20 miles ago as i had a seized link and i cba freeing it off. apart from that i could have seen 50k miles. in the time i had the c&s on the adjustment marks moved about 3 marks. only time i adjusted the chain was after a tyre change.

[Alexander94]

Yeah and it all builds up when you have to buy everything in one go. I got a deep, 6 sided 32mm socket from B&Q for about £1.32, didn't bother torquing it and had everything else already, except the aforementioned breaker and riveter.

It's nice to do things yourself if you can but there's no shame in asking for help or getting someone else in if you don't ;)

[Corny Gizmo]

Hmm some food for thought, Im deffo after a scottoiler - im getting sick of degreasing all the gunk off and then watching it all build up again!

Cheers peoples

[wideguy]

I get around 20,000 miles from a good quality 'X' ring chain with average maintenance, which means I clean and lube when it looks dirty or dry. I usually buy just a new chain, flip the rear sprocket and run it another 20,000 miles. Front sprockets take a very long tome to wear out, which makes no sense but seems to be true.

I used to use kerosene to clean my chains, but switched to a spray can product called Gunk engine cleaner years ago. It's much easier, spray on, wait and hose off. A bit of scrubbing before hosing if it's really dirty.
I use chain lube, types that dry pretty tack free, of which there are quite a few. I don't like cleaning wheels much. When the grease the factory puts inside the chain is gone, the chain starts to grow in length and it's time for a new one.

[Corny Gizmo]

So 19k isnt bad then... On the subject of Sprockets, I had a look at my Front one and it is really badly hooked

I clean mine with Parrafin, it does a real good job of dissolving gunk.

Excited to see the difference when I get the new stuff fitted.

[Typhon219]

well worth doing yourself. if you like tinkering. It's really easy and a bit cheaper 1st time, but your tools will keep you going for years so you'd never have to pay again.


DID chain - £70
chain breaker - £40
satisfaction and feeling of manly man-ness - £priceless

[Typhon219]

oh, and 19k is good. I just got 16k out of my originals. I think the service manual said change them after 12k??

[Fen Tiger]

+1 for fitting a Scottoiler. Makes chain drive practical.

A cheaper alternative which also works well is the Loobman. In fact, I think the injector arrangement works better on the Loobman. It does however require a button push every so often to send some oil on its way. I have had that system on two previous bikes and been pleased with its cost/simplicity. Could be a challenge to find a mounting place for it's reservoir on an SV though. I have the Scottoiler RMV strapped under the nearside passenger footrest hanger. Easy to get at!

[Markos_46]

I had a Tutoro on my old SV, worked really well and meant I didnt have to hardly ever adjust or maintain the chain for 1000's of miles at at time - just cleaned it now and then to make it look nice :D

Got a Scottoiler on my new bike, does the same job but hidden out of view under the pillion seat, came with the bike but if it didnt i would have probably fitted another Tutoro, tried and tested over 30k miles.

[Bibio]

well worth doing yourself. if you like tinkering. It's really easy and a bit cheaper 1st time, but your tools will keep you going for years so you'd never have to pay again.


DID chain - £70
chain breaker - £40
satisfaction and feeling of manly man-ness - £priceless
i'm usually in full agreement with that but the price of the tools would go towards a scottoiler so c&s will last 30k+. unless your doing mega miles its better just to take it to a bike shop and let them deal with all the dirt and front sprocket nut. an extra £50-60 over 30k+ is not even a penny a mile.

[nutzboutbikes]

IMO If your serious about changing your own chains & sprockets buy a proper D.I.D chain tool, I know they are £100+ but I say this from experience of using the cheap ones which are not worth it, pay the extra for a quality tool that will do loads of chains and last you a life time.