Riding with chain Split-Linked

[northwind]

Originally Posted by amarko5

but there is nothing to say that a riveted link will be fitted correctly every time.

Course not... Though if you take it to a pro there's good odds. A badly fitted rivet will be less secure than a properly fitted split, goes without saying.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by socommk23

iv done over 40k on my 02 sv650...run over 8 chains on it..(ok so i dont take best care of them)..and 6 have been using these links! and i never had a single problem with them!!! not once! and none have mysteriously fallen off!

hence they are perfectly fine to use!

So because it's never failed in 40,000 miles, it never will? You know that's not good thinking. The odds of a split link failing in any given mile are very low, on those scales your distances are trivial. But when you take it in terms of chain miles on every bike worldwide, even a tiny chance of failure becomes far more likely.

What you've basiaclly said is "I've never won the lottery jackpot, despite buying 40,000 tickets.Therefore nobody wins the lottery"

Originally Posted by northwind

So because it's never failed in 40,000 miles, it never will? You know that's not good thinking. The odds of a split link failing in any given mile are very low, on those scales your distances are trivial. But when you take it in terms of chain miles on every bike worldwide, even a tiny chance of failure becomes far more likely.

What you've basiaclly said is "I've never won the lottery jackpot, despite buying 40,000 tickets.Therefore nobody wins the lottery"

what i am saying is they are just as good to use as a riveted chain! everything can fail! your forks could suddenly fold under breaking! cos it never happened to you dont mean it wont!

what i got from the conversation is that in general people seem reluctant and possibly scared of using a perfectly servicable chain! just cos of how its connected!

so im saying in my experience and knowledge..they are perfectly fine to use!!!!

[northwind]

Fair enough. Myself, i think the risk is small enough to simply not worry about too... But then, getting a rivet link fitted costs me the price of a cup of coffee about every 15,000 miles at my local deal, so it's not a real problem to get it done.

Ok, maybe I'm gonna take a pounding for pointing this out but here goes.....

Isn't there twice the protection against failure with a riveted link?

A split link is held in place by one end of the link on one pin, and the other pins' security relies on it.

A riveted link could suffer one failed soft rivethead, with the other one holding it in place still, it would still be as secure as the spilt link one.

The only real risk of using a split link is if the retaining clip comes off. Unless it is put on the wrong way round and 'picks up', there is no reason for it to do this. If you want a bit more security a tip is to run a bit of lockwire round the link thus ensuring the clip can’t open, even if it catches/brushes something. A mate of mine raced a 110hp steelie CBR6 with a splitlink and lockwire setup for 2 seasons and never had a problem.

I’ve had splitlinks on many of my (road) bikes over the years, but those in question were <50hp. Like I said, my mate used one on his racebike, so no reason it won’t be ok, personally though on something with HP I go for the rivet link as it takes the worry away. I have a proper chain tool too, so can fit it myself. That way I can make sure I am happy with the fitting before I ever straddle the saddle!!!