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Chains

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achesley

achesley

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Feb 13, 2008
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Location
Jennings,La.
First Name
Andy
Last Name
Chesley
What kinda mileage you other 1250S Bandit owners get out of your OEM Chain?
And 2nd, what did you choose to replace it with chain wise.
Did you get individual sprockets and chain separate or get a package of sprockets and chain?

I changed the front sprocket at 10K miles as an experiment. Was reading that the front wore first taking the chain and the rear sprocket with it. Now at about 23,000 miles ( +8%) it is toast. I'm at the total end of my adjustment bar. ;-(. And have a good day of riding to get home.
 
Did you lube your chain while on the trip, if so how often, what did you use. I'm really curious about this as I just got back to having a chain and this is my first experience with Oring chain.
I once replaced a chain and sproket set on a Suz 1100 at 67K miles. It was shot but still moved the bike W/O slipping. The chain was dry and O rings were gone.
I adjusted my chain 4K miles ago and nothing since, just clean and lube.

Thanks for your experiences.
Smoky....05 1200
 
I just did mine this week at 24,892. I still had 2 marks left on adjustment but the chain was extremely loud when riding and rust dust was coming from the link pins in places. I went with a gold DID 530VM, driven 18T front sprocket and OEM 43T rear. Everything is good now. BTW that is the most mileage I have ever got out of any chain OEM or aftermarket.
 
I looked over at SprocketCenter.com and they sell kits composed of the 530VM along with front and rear sprockets. Is it generally recommended to change out the sprockets when replacing the chain?
 
yes always change in sets. putting a new chain on old sprockets will make the chain wear/die premeturaly. when you do change the set up look at the front spocket and you will see why.i have had my front sprocket bend at the teeth where it looked like a saw blade.
 
At 19,000 miles, I'm sitting on the edge of the third mark from max'. I used to lubricate it with PJ1 "Clear", but started using Dupont w/Teflon a few thousand miles ago. I've never had a chain that continues to look soooo clean and sooo new, even with 19,000 miles on it. I'm pretty crazy about this Dupont w/Teflon I use now. I may clean the chain with WD-40 once in a while, and just recently cleaned it with Kerosene for the first time during it's life. I don't pop wheelies, I accelerate hard pretty much all the time but nothing so jarring or abusive.

When it's time to replace this chain, I plan to put a little 'BLING' into it. I'll be getting one of those sexy gold DID chains. I've given thought to a 17 tooth up front, but see no reason for it. If what I've been told about the taller front sprockets that ALL THE BIKES come with is true, I may consider going with a 17 tooth. I was told that the taller sprockets help the bikes to meet with the EPA noise standards, that the bikes' gearing would actually appreciate a quicker/smaller front sprocket.
 
I lube my chain every evening when touring or anytime I do more than a hundred miles in a day at home. Was on the Teflon till ran out then carried a can of PJ lube with me on the trip. But I was over 20K miles on the chain when I left home and it was between the 2 and 3rd to last marks. It's now at the last mark and loose. But, It did it's job and got me home. I'll put the bike on the bench tomorrow after I get it cleaned up. Running though all that rain and bad roads have that thing coated with a fine film of mud. I spray washed it once in Minnesota but was back in rain the same day. ;-(.
I'll order a whole set up Monday.
 
FWIW worth I don't lube a chain, rarely ever. Your lube is sealed in the link pins by the o-rings all your doing by spraying crap on the rollers is attracting grit and grime it's a sales ploy by the chain lube manufacturers. I might have used one can of Bel-Ray super clean (small can) in almost 25k miles of riding. I do occasionally wipe it down with a sock soaked in WD-40. YMMV

The real key to long chain life is don't run it too tight which 90% out there do.
 
There was a big thread on the KLR net about the same thing. WD40 and run it. Dupont teflon lube drys fast and picks up no dust. JUst leaves a teflon coat on the rollers and sprocket to help combat wear. My biggest problem is I do run down dusty roads a bit with the bandit. It's my adventure bike also. ;-). In fact I find it does loose gravel better than my DL1000 did but not as good as my R1150GS did. And thats with street tires.
 
Roy said:
FWIW worth I don't lube a chain, rarely ever. Your lube is sealed in the link pins by the o-rings all your doing by spraying crap on the rollers is attracting grit and grime it's a sales ploy by the chain lube manufacturers. I might have used one can of Bel-Ray super clean (small can) in almost 25k miles of riding. I do occasionally wipe it down with a sock soaked in WD-40. YMMV

The real key to long chain life is don't run it too tight which 90% out there do.
Click to expand...

+1
I do the same thing. Take an old sock, soak it with WD-40 and spin the chain in my hand with the sock. Then I take the damp sock and clean the wheels and I'm good to go!:rider:
 
For any of you thinking of chain and sprockets, I posted a new message in the "Sprockets" folder.
Shotrod
 
Roy said:
FWIW worth I don't lube a chain, rarely ever. Your lube is sealed in the link pins by the o-rings all your doing by spraying crap on the rollers is attracting grit and grime it's a sales ploy by the chain lube manufacturers. I might have used one can of Bel-Ray super clean (small can) in almost 25k miles of riding. I do occasionally wipe it down with a sock soaked in WD-40. YMMV

The real key to long chain life is don't run it too tight which 90% out there do.
Click to expand...

What he said. I rarely lube the chain (maybe once every 1500-2000 miles). See this as totally unnecessary operation. 18K and I havn't adjusted it even once.
 
I was adjusting my chain to where it just touched the swingarm rubber guide without a lot of pressure from my hand.
When I preflighted my bike before the last trip I had over 20,000 on the chain and rear sprocket and 10,000 on the front. < the front is an experiment. The chain looked worn but not excessively so and the rear sprocket just starting to show signs of a hook. So I figured, what the heck, a couple lines of adjustment left, it should be able to do a 5000 mile trip before being in trouble. Wrong. Like tires, when they get down to the last 25% of their life, they do the last 25% fast. I got home with the thing adjust to even with the last mark on the swingarm and the chain is back to muchco loose. Really swinging side to side so much that you can hear it banging into frame parts down there.
I guess I'll put it on the bench today and start taking it apart. Have a new sprocket/chain set up on the way from Sprocket Center.
 
Stayed with stock. Very comfortable with that. Can't remember the last time I had my bike over 5000 rpm cept to pass cars. .
 
Guy over in Tales section has a 1200 Bandit he just roll 100,000 over on mileage. 47,000 per chain. Amazing.
Thread is " My Resale Value Took A Hit Today".
 
I also lube my chain all the time and never let it get dry, I was down to the last 3 ticks at 16K miles. I then bought a new 46T sprocket and now my chain is one tick before the halfway point and the bike will rase its front tire in third (freeway entrance) so now I have to be easy on the gas in the first few gears.

Mark
 
mi1lertm said:
I also lube my chain all the time and never let it get dry, I was down to the last 3 ticks at 16K miles. I then bought a new 46T sprocket and now my chain is one tick before the halfway point and the bike will rase its front tire in third (freeway entrance) so now I have to be easy on the gas in the first few gears.

Mark
Click to expand...

I've also noted the upped torque, haven't tried it in 3rd though. You have the 17 front? or the 18 ?.. I had 17/47..but like the 18/47 better.
Shotrod
 
I have the 18 front. I did not want to drop the top end too much. I still tacked out 6th when I thought it was in fifth. No prob at all and it surprized me when I went to shift up and found out that I was in 6th..

Mark
 
I did noticed that the 46T rear (steel) was much heaver then the stock. Might be slowing me down some. When I get some money I might look into an Al base with steel ring.

Mark
 
mi1lertm said:
I still tacked out 6th when I thought it was in fifth. No prob at all and it surprized me when I went to shift up and found out that I was in 6th..

Mark
Click to expand...

I haven't got it up that fast but I have heard a higher max speed is reached in 5th due to 6th not being able to pull it hard enough. i dunno, never tried and probably never will. My favorite gears are 1-3 through the twisties.

I have a sunstar 17t with stock rear,stock chain, 11000miles and right at last tick. Chain looks good. I am not an avid chain cleaner but I do try to keep it waxed and wd40 then chain wax every 300-500 miles and it still looks good. Doesn't seem to have stretched much at all in the last couple thousand miles.
 
If your motor is stock you are right about the 5th vs 6th. Once you get the flys out and add a fuel adder with full exhuast setup things change. Your top end goes up and have some more power in 6th with stock gearing. Bike is very tame stock but a little work and you have a strong 'sport bike'. However, this bike will never be a 'track bike' because of its weight and linear acceleration. I do not think any simple engine work will get a power band out of the bandit.

Mark
 
Hard to believe at 66 years old and over 50 years of riding this is the fastest bike I've ever had. Stock. Way faster than my brain stock! ha ha ha ha. I'll leave the speed to you younger guys. ;-) Been there and done it years ago even though it was a different world back then.
 
mi1lertm said:
If your motor is stock you are right about the 5th vs 6th. Once you get the flys out and add a fuel adder with full exhuast setup things change. Your top end goes up and have some more power in 6th with stock gearing. Bike is very tame stock but a little work and you have a strong 'sport bike'. However, this bike will never be a 'track bike' because of its weight and linear acceleration. I do not think any simple engine work will get a power band out of the bandit.

Mark
Click to expand...

Any bike can be a track bike but i get your point, its not going to win any top speed awards or fastest lap times all things being equal between riders. I think the bandit does however chew up turns. I love how you dont have to keep it up in the 9-10k range to get a good punch out of turns. I'd really like to see what 4-6lbs of boost tuned would do for it.
 
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