OE Chain snapped!

I have a SV650S registered in 04 but the older curvy design. There is only 11,000 miles on the clock and the chain adjusters were set about half way after a garage had put on new tyres and adjusted the chain.

I was riding in Cornwall and just started to accelerate when I lost drive and the bike revved. I stopped and found the chain on the back wheel. The chain had snapped.

The incident happened outside the St Balzey Motorcycles. I was told by the proprietor that this could happen with OE chains.

I would warn everyone away from St Balzey Motorcycles as they took advantage of my situation and charged me £31 for fitting the new chain! They were even competent enough to rivet the chain so used the clip instead.

Has anyone heard of the OE chain snapping before? (the chain definitely snapped)

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by Maverick

I have a SV650S registered in 04 but the older curvy design. There is only 11,000 miles on the clock and the chain adjusters were set about half way after a garage had put on new tyres and adjusted the chain.

I was riding in Cornwall and just started to accelerate when I lost drive and the bike revved. I stopped and found the chain on the back wheel. The chain had snapped.

The incident happened outside the St Balzey Motorcycles. I was told by the proprietor that this could happen with OE chains.

I would warn everyone away from St Balzey Motorcycles as they took advantage of my situation and charged me £31 for fitting the new chain! They were even competent enough to rivet the chain so used the clip instead.

Has anyone heard of the OE chain snapping before? (the chain definitely snapped)

Sorry to hear about your snapped chain.

Nothing wrong with OE chains. The tyre place may have inadvertently moved the adjusters and so your chain was too tight.



Ben

[G]

It happens. At 11000 even if a chain has been maintained relatively ok it might be towards the end of its life.

[yorkie_chris]

Ehhh?

These people are useless! I only charge 50 to fit chain and sprockets, and that's if people supply their own.
Then they use another bodge/questionable practice with the new un. I wouldn't be impressed.

The OEM chain lasts WAY longer than 11k! I've heard of examples which have done 30k+, The record I've heard of is a tsubaki on a ZZR11 lasting 72k with scottoiler.

What were you lubing it with?

[jambo]

Chain life is very dependant on maintenance, Some people have got ~40,000 from an OE chain (The OE chains are DID o-ring items, certainly not poor quality). I have personally had to replace a chain at ~8,000 where it had been sat outside, lubed infrequently and clearly had a set of tight spots in it.

Jambo

[21QUEST]

Oh, that said, I've got a marvelously(in some sense s'ppose) heavy duty X-ring gold chain(Tsubaki).
It's heavy as fe*k compared to the OE chainand I'm sure it saps some power but can't see that it snapping mind


Ben

[yorkie_chris]

Yeah mines tsubaki sigma one... it looks bombproof. I didn't go for the tarty goldness or Xrings as I don't think they make any difference if you actually maintain the thing...

I agreee with Chris, nought wrong with the OEM chain!

I would say (without pic's or further details) it was down to one of two things;

1) Chain was badly corroded (its not just the bits you see that need to be in good nick).
2) Over tightened chain.

Sorry to hear about your problems, its even worse when people take advantage as well!

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Yeah mines tsubaki sigma one... it looks bombproof. I didn't go for the tarty goldness or Xrings as I don't think they make any difference if you actually maintain the thing...

Don't care for the Gold myself. It was going cheap at ?40.

I've just bought an OE chain and sprocket set for other bike for £60


Ben

[jambo]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Ehhh?

These people are useless! I only charge 50 to fit chain and sprockets, and that's if people supply their own.
Then they use another bodge/questionable practice with the new un. I wouldn't be impressed.

The OEM chain lasts WAY longer than 11k! I've heard of examples which have done 30k+, The record I've heard of is a tsubaki on a ZZR11 lasting 72k with scottoiler.

What were you lubing it with?

In fairness you have almost no overheads. A full garage does have to make a profit, and does have to cover costs way above what you do. People seem very keen to have a go at garages, but this is their livelihood and they have to make money at the end of the day. You wouldn't work for free, neither should they. Not sure about Plymouth but labour rates are usually about ?50 an hour in London, so ?30 for a chain isn't cheap, but could be worse. Not that they had to fuss about getting the old one off, but this does make it more of a pain to fit the new one.

I can't back their advice about OE chains being poor, in general they're rather good. But the fact it snapped is hardly their fault. I would say the old chain snapped due to poor maintenance or possibly the tyre fitter, but they would have had to get it fairly badly wrong.

When I lived in Plymouth (2000-2004) I used Damerells on Mutley Way for servicing my SR125, they did a thorough job at a fair price, down to showing me how to check if my brake pads had got down to the backing plate...

ProTyre by the cinema offer a professional service for Tyres and Brake pads, they may do chains too. Used them several times never had a problem.


HTH

Jambo