Thought I'd clean & lube my chain today, give the old girl a little treat ! So out with the Jizer, trays & brushes & started the clean up. Took the gearbox sprocket cover off & these, what looked like, three spring washers fell out ! Where on earth have they come from I wonder. As soon as I picked one up I realised they were O-rings off the chain. Sure enough after cleaning the chain I could see there were a few of the O-rings missing. Looks like a new chain & sprockets is on the shopping list now. I last changed the twenty years ago, but it has only done around 8,400 miles in that time !
I imagine in 20 years the rubber has got too brittle. I’m surprised there is no rust after that time too? I think 20 years is beyond the normal call of duty.
I'd agree, like you say after 26 years, (I checked my records for when I did it) the rubber is well past it's best & I've had my monies worth I think ! I did toy with going up a tooth or two on the rear sprocket, but I'm going to stick with the standard 15T/37T gearing unless anybody can advise differently for whatever reason.
I went up a couple of teeth on the rear sprocket of my ST4s, don’t know how similar the gearing was to your bike, but worked a treat. I will add that at one time or another I have fiddled with the rear sprocket on all my dukes, the only one I did not go back to standard was the ST.
Also makes urban speeds much easier, gave me a true top speeds of 161mph and bike was able to redline in top.
I've been giving this some thought recently, the standard gearing around town always seems to be too tall. Obviously this will affect top speed, but as I would never go anywhere near that, even when I was much younger, I don't see it as being a problem compared to how much better it hopefully will feel around town. I think I will take your advice & fit a 39T rear sprocket & see how it goes. Do you think I will need a longer chain, maybe a couple of links longer just to compensate for the larger sprocket ? Standard chain is 96 links so maybe use a 98 link chain. I can always shorten it if need be, easier than stretching it !!
If I remember correctly standard chain length was ok, and as NZDave suggested you can check your chain length requirements with differing sprocket set ups on gearingcommander website.
Well, I got fed up waiting for my new rear sprockets to turn up after ordering them three months ago & with seeing the chain & engine sprocket on my bench. I've ended up sticking with the standard sprocket sizes, just because when I do use the bike I keep clear of towns & busy roads so won't really miss the larger rear sprocket I was considering going with. So I thought I'd at least cut the old chain off & replace the engine sprocket. As it was a bit of a faff to get it on my bench I figured I'd do the work on the garage floor. Makes you realise how good hydraulic benches are, working at a sensible work height !! On the face of it there didn't look to be too much wear on the sprocket, but when you put them on top of each other the wear is clear to see. These have lasted 19 years & just over 8000 miles. Although it's not a massive amount of wear & I've seen far worse on peoples bikes. Old one off & cleaned up ready for the new shiney sprocket. New sprocket fitted, I'll tighten the two cap head screws & wirelock them when the chain is fitted as it's easier to hold the sprocket that way. Latest due date for the rear sprockets is end of December ! Just seems to be the way of the world at the moment, to blame covid.
bottom bolt fixing is that machined or wear from the chain have you thought of fitting a case saver/protector quite easy to make
That is a normal machining mark along with the other machining mark on the boss at the 9 o'clock position, as it left the factory. I have seen protectors advertised, but never felt the need to fit one on a standard road bike. If I was tracking/racing it then I might, but I've never had a chain fail & never known one to fail that has had regular maintenance.
