750s and chains

I'm looking to replace my chain & sprockets soon to avoid then letting
me down.

I can't seem to find any that aren't split-link types - have continous
chains gone out of fashion in the last few years?

The ones I have found (DID, Renthal & Tsubaki) are what I remember as
good makes but all appear to be the split link type.

A group google shows nothing in the last year on here but dire warnings
dating back to 2004ish about split chains on bikes over 500.

Any views? I've already thought of leaving a plug lead off to take it
down below 500.

 

Are you sure they are split link? They usually have a joining link which is
different. The last few i've bought have always been this type.

Mark

 

Make sure you get a chain cut to the right length to avoid
embarrassment.

 

I'll add a few inches on, like I normally do.

 

Thanks for that (and Mark and dead too). I had suspected as much but I'm
certain some of the ads said "split" rather than "soft", or maybe the
first couple of "budget" chains said split & I assumed the rest.

I think I'll go the tool route as it will be my first time and my hammer
wavers certificate expired last year. Otherwise, watch out for posts
with subject "750s and crankcase repairs".

 

You'll likely pay the same for the tool as a mechanic will charge to
fit it...

 

Be off with you and your logic, though it only stands true if you never
need another chain fitted.

 

I've been looking at around £35 for one - that the right sort of range
or am I being robbed?

 

I missed that bit. So I could put the split one on and ride down to my
trusted bloke who has a chain hammer and get him to put the soft one in,
saving all the labour for removal and refitting of wheel/swingarm/chain.

A cunning plan is forming.

 

I am doing the sprockets too, which is why the swingarm comes off
(according to the HBOL).
I dunno how old the sprockets are and if I don't change them I'm sure
they will scrap £100 worth of new chain in short order.

I think I will give him a ring, just to hear that teeth sucking noise again.

 

I'd expect to pay at least that for a good'un. I've got a small
scissors type which is OK up to about 500cc, but certainly not good
enough for big bikes. There again, my biggest bike has a shaft and the
Ducati: well, when it's needed a chain I've generally had it booked in
for a shim/belt job as well.

Incidentally, the spring links are much more robust than you'd think.
These days, the pins the sideplate sits on are tapered, so you really
have to force it on with a G-clamp or similar before putting on the
clip. Once it's there, it's unlikely to shift as there's next to no
lateral force operating on it.

That said, I'd go with a soft link every time.

 

One here to borrow if you are near Devon............

Mark

 

Although my last chain change was full of issues one of them wasn't the
front sprocket nut[1] which, helpfully, was only finger tight.

[1] The first chain change Eddie and I did was back when our estate was
still a building length, so two lengths of scaffolding, one to go over the
breaker bar and one to go through the rear wheel, were easy to come by.

--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Aprilia RSV-1000R, Kawasaki ZX-6R, Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, DS#5, COSOC# Suspended, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

I'll never forget helping Loz with the said front sprocket on his ZZR.
We'd done all sorts and it just wasn't moving - then my mate Big Nick
the Man Mountain, came round. So we had Loz sit on the bike, applying
all brakes possible and Nick on the scaffold pole over the breaker
bar, with li'l ole me holding the socket on the nut and swearing
encouragingly.

The bike slid forwards, wheels locked.

We repositioned the bike, wedging the front wheel against the dwarf
wall at the edge of the patio. Nick got himself under the end of the
3m pole and stood up, slowly. Loz's feet left the ground as Nick
lifted him and the ZZR clear of the patio and the front wheel climbed
(still locked) the dwarf wall. I'm not sure who was the most
discoloured - Loz was white, I was green and Nick was steadily going
purple.

Just as the front wheel was about to overtop the dwarf wall, (the rear
tyre being a good three feet in the air at this point), the nut gave
and the whole plot sank back to the slabs. Just as well, as Nick had
run out of height and the scaffold pole was bent well out of shape.

They are *tight*, those sprocket nuts, sometimes.

 

Thanks very much for advising me to get a man in.

My bloke is going to do the chain & sprockets fitted for the same price
as I'd found for the bits, and I trust him more than me to do it
properly first time. I'm just doing the rest of the service.

Brakes are so much better once you've changed the ten-year-old fluid,
aren't they?
I was never keen on getting my fingers trapped behind the lever when
braking, and now they don't any more.

Top tip for oil changes - make sure your drain container can hold loads
more oil than you have in the sump, or else you end up with a slightly
flexible container filled to within 1mm of it's top with manky black oil
and have to bail it out using an aerosol top into an old oil container
with a narrow spout, which will be made harder by the fact that you were
too cheap to buy a funnel when Halfords were open.

It was also made harder by SWMBO saying "You could use the turkey
baster" to which I had to reply "Did that last year with your bike. Used
it, broke it."[1]

That wasn't my lack of foresight though - the F650 (oil in frame) has to
be topped up in a strange manner involving guessing an amount to top up,
running the engine, waiting a minute then checking the level and taking
enough back out to avoid it being pumped into the airbox. It also helps
if you sacrifice a chicken or two.

[1] Actually I didn't break it, the old oil reacted with the rubber bulb
on the end and melted it.

 

I did and I watched the bugger like a hawk over his shoulder when he
fit it.

I've told this before, but he tried to refit my front sprocket without
threadlock, so I proffered the bottle i'd brought with me & had in my
pocket, being as there wasn't a lock washer on it.

Does anyone else refit sprocket bolts without threadlock [1] ?

P.

[1] i.e. hope for the best ?

PS. Thanks for the DVD's. They arrived via the UR to Bangor. Super,
just what I wanted as a present !

 

Quality.

 

snip>

I don't hope for the best, I just look at the direction of travel and
take it from there. I suppose I'm lucky in that my chain driven bikes
don't have a reverse gear.

 

ISTR something about the F650 having an additional oil filter in the frame
that no-one ever changes. Something like this:

http://www.motobins.co.uk/showimage.php?image=11505

 

<fx: tries to visualise>
<fx: fails due to excessive intake of Black Sheep Ale>

Hmm, my RH thread bolt goes on a sprocket that rotates anticlockwise.

Shurely a recipe for unravelment

<Goes away to draw myself a diagram>

P.