How Many Miles Are You Getting From A O/ring Chain?

So far I have 11,400 miles on the original chain and sprockets, I have only needed to adjust the chain 1 time. I'm just wondering what to expect from theses chains and sprockets? I'm used to adjusting the chain more often, which makes perfect sense because I am used to playing with dirt bikes and 4 wheelers.

The length of life will depend on how often you lube the chain and with what, your type of riding, your riding environment, too many variables to say how long a chain will last you. I got a little over 20,000 miles out of the original chain. I use 80-90 gear lube, and tend to be pretty easy on chains.

I got 30k from the original chain, 6k from the R&K chain I bought to replace it, and I am on 3k with my DID chain which I have only had to adjust once so far (it still has lots of life left).

I lube my chain every 350-500 miles and adjust as needed. I do about 10k a year in miles, live in a dessert environment, and do a lot of commuting and occasional mountain twisties.

All my chains are x-ring and I am buying a Pro Oiler kit to help make the maintenance easier on me and hopefully increasing the life of the chain (time will tell there regardless of what BLS says wink.gif ).

I was doing a search on proper maintenance of a chain and IMO found this site to be very informative: http://www.motorcycleanchor.com/motorcycle.../mc_chains.html

40,000 kilometres on the stock chain before i had to replace it last fall. i clean and lube the chain religiously.

I get 20k out of a street bike chain and I lube it some times but I don't do anything special.

I got 20k miles out of the stock chain. I clean and lube the chain about every500 miles and ride about the same as Vanion2.

Action

superfunkomatic40,000 kilometres on the stock chain before i had to replace it last fall. i clean and lube the chain religiously.

You sound like a good candidate for the Pro-Oiler group buy. :fing02: wink.gif

Here's a copy/paste from the author of the above posted link (bold is my emphasis):

Automatic Chain Oilers

If you ride long distances, or if you are not diligent about lubricating your chain, you should take a serious look at Pro-Oiler, Scott Automatic Chain Oilers, HawkeOiler, Lubetronic, and Loobman Oiler (manual).

These devices place a single drop of oil (from a reservoir) onto your chain every twenty to sixty seconds while you are actively riding (NOTE: The Pro-Oiler is distance dependent instead of time-dependent, and the Loobman requires you squeeze the bottle), and greatly extend the chain life for a typical motorcycle by keeping the chain ideally oiled all the time.

As for me, I personally spray down my chain with oil at the end of every ten mile or longer ride, thus insuring that the chain is constantly well lubricated and the seals are kept in tip-top shape. Note that it is virtually physically impossible to over-oil a chain (since excess oil will be flung off), but it is possible to over-wax a chain. I'm planning on installing a Pro-Oiler or a Lubetronic soon on my current ride, and have had Scott Oilers on past bikes.

:fing02:

I am just coming up to 30000 miles using a Scottoiler, never cleaned the chain in all that time.

22k miles on the original chain and still going. Light spritz of lube every 200 miles, but never cleaned and never ridden in rain. I think I've only adjusted it 2 or 3 times so far.

You adjusted the chain once but the next adjustments will come quicker

because the factory installed grease is failing to lube the critical

pin roller junction hidden behind the X ring and metal to metal

occurs... I don't call a chain serviceable that is griding metal...

it's like saying that a dry bearing that runs ruff is acceptable...

You may still claim the chain will last longer... but you may not

claim there is no the metal to metal wear going on... every time you

adjust the chain you're in effect taking up slack caused by wear at

the critical pin and roller junction hidden behind the X ring... keep

riding far enough and the red oxides of harden metal exploded pass the

X ring... now you're guilty of chain abuse...

Honda uses a handy guide to monitor chain wear... stay with in the

green range to know when to replace chain and sprockets...

This is what you don't see behind the X rings... metal to metal wear

every time you adjust the chain that eats into your engine's available

HP... 206.5 is new 205.5 is at the 8K mile mark... looks good but

multiply 1 thousand of an inch times 108 links and you have 108

thousands of an inch wear or about the range of the green marks

provided by Honda's wear gauge... 202.8 show the very visible wear at

the 12K mile mark... just think what those pins look like at 18K...

Here's my cs sprockets at 53,000 miles compared to a new one, there would have been way more wear with light lubes.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q190/ho...t73/ironpig.jpg

I agree with Busy when the red dust pops out around the orings , there is no lube left only rust and they are more than likely begiinning to kink.

You can free up kinking links with a good penatrant temporaily or regular gear oil, its hard to work in past the orings but doable temporaily.

But I recommend monitoring this stuff, few really do . I do believe the auto lubing devices might actually provide oil to where it works past the orings, there's alot of vibration going on when that thing dispenses oil , perfect scenario to get oil past the orings.

Here an interesting result. when I have a chain that I know has links beginning to rust internally, if I rain ride the chain, it seem to develope even more rust in the pins aftwards. Mybe water is getting past the orings in such events, this would be the same as depensing oil at high speeds, maybe it gets past too, and prolongs internal lube life.

I can only say, I get between 10 to 18,000 mile before I see red dust on one or 2 links , even with the best sprocket life lube known to man.

10 bucks for a can of lube and an hour of my time every couple weeks. piece of cake. just call me the 'pro-oiler.' wink.gif

can't see the point. neither routine maintenance, nor oilers, stop the inevitable - chains just wear out. if i can get another 30,000-40,000 by just getting the gunk out every once in a while i'll stick with that method.

you'll know when your chain is toast - red dust of death and you'll feel it. my chain was whipped! it actually started to bind and grind on the last day in the alley. i knew it was done then. haha.

FotoMoto

superfunkomatic40,000 kilometres on the stock chain before i had to replace it last fall. i clean and lube the chain religiously.

You sound like a good candidate for the Pro-Oiler group buy. :491: wink.gif

Here's a copy/paste from the author of the above posted link (bold is my emphasis):

Automatic Chain Oilers

If you ride long distances, or if you are not diligent about lubricating your chain, you should take a serious look at Pro-Oiler, Scott Automatic Chain Oilers, HawkeOiler, Lubetronic, and Loobman Oiler (manual).

These devices place a single drop of oil (from a reservoir) onto your chain every twenty to sixty seconds while you are actively riding (NOTE: The Pro-Oiler is distance dependent instead of time-dependent, and the Loobman requires you squeeze the bottle), and greatly extend the chain life for a typical motorcycle by keeping the chain ideally oiled all the time.

As for me, I personally spray down my chain with oil at the end of every ten mile or longer ride, thus insuring that the chain is constantly well lubricated and the seals are kept in tip-top shape. Note that it is virtually physically impossible to over-oil a chain (since excess oil will be flung off), but it is possible to over-wax a chain. I'm planning on installing a Pro-Oiler or a Lubetronic soon on my current ride, and have had Scott Oilers on past bikes.

+1.gif

superfunkomatic10 bucks for a can of lube and an hour of my time every couple weeks. piece of cake. just call me the 'pro-oiler.' wink.gif

can't see the point. neither routine maintenance, nor oilers, stop the inevitable - chains just wear out. if i can get another 30,000-40,000 by just getting the gunk out every once in a while i'll stick with that method.

you'll know when your chain is toast - red dust of death and you'll feel it. my was whipped! it actually started to bind and grind on the last day in the alley. i knew it was done then. haha.

FotoMoto

superfunkomatic40,000 kilometres on the stock chain before i had to replace it last fall. i clean and lube the chain religiously.

You sound like a good candidate for the Pro-Oiler group buy. :491: wink.gif

Here's a copy/paste from the author of the above posted link (bold is my emphasis):

Automatic Chain Oilers

If you ride long distances, or if you are not diligent about lubricating your chain, you should take a serious look at Pro-Oiler, Scott Automatic Chain Oilers, HawkeOiler, Lubetronic, and Loobman Oiler (manual).

These devices place a single drop of oil (from a reservoir) onto your chain every twenty to sixty seconds while you are actively riding (NOTE: The Pro-Oiler is distance dependent instead of time-dependent, and the Loobman requires you squeeze the bottle), and greatly extend the chain life for a typical motorcycle by keeping the chain ideally oiled all the time.

As for me, I personally spray down my chain with oil at the end of every ten mile or longer ride, thus insuring that the chain is constantly well lubricated and the seals are kept in tip-top shape. Note that it is virtually physically impossible to over-oil a chain (since excess oil will be flung off), but it is possible to over-wax a chain. I'm planning on installing a Pro-Oiler or a Lubetronic soon on my current ride, and have had Scott Oilers on past bikes.

+1.gif

I've got a chain with about 10,000 mile on it, 2 links have shown red dust, it only can be felt when they kink and lock up (which my inspection saw early signs of this) and was able to correct temopraily. There's not much I can do, other than try to penetrate some lube in there to keep it free for now. Chain hasnt stretched at all and has not been adjusted, but I'll be working on buying a new chain soon, as I'm sure more links will follow in miles to come.

superfunkomaticcan't see the point. neither routine maintenance, nor oilers, stop the inevitable - chains just wear out. if i can get another 30,000-40,000 by just getting the gunk out every once in a while i'll stick with that method.

Cam chains don't wear out like drive chains... thats because the cam

chain's critical pin and roller junction is not sealed off with an X

ring...

Your point is taken... chains are a pain... and nothing on the market

can effectively save them from wearing out... so what is all pretty on

the outside maybe all rotten in the inside...

Auto chain oilers where designed for non O ring standard chains back

in the 60s for London Motorcycle Curriers... they were never designed

for O ring chains... so if you're going to install an auto oiler then

complete the job and install an standard chain without O rings or just

take a razor blade and cut out all the little black O rings you

have... because only then will you be really lubing your chain

especially the critical pin and roller junction... whereas before you

were just coating the chain with oil not to mention your whole bike...

Mr.RC45's chain and sprockets are changed every 8K miles... at the

mile marker two events happen... I've adjusted the chain for the 3rd

time and the dyno shows a drop in RWHP... it's dropping because of

metal to metal wear at the critical pin and roller junction and no

amount of wishing and hoping nor external lube can help it now... it

will only get progressively worst from here...

If my chain were a rod it would be knocking... if it were like love

making it would be a squeaky dry fook...

BusyLittleShop

superfunkomaticcan't see the point. neither routine maintenance, nor oilers, stop the inevitable - chains just wear out. if i can get another 30,000-40,000 by just getting the gunk out every once in a while i'll stick with that method.

Cam chains don't wear out like drive chains... thats because the cam

chain's critical pin and roller junction is not sealed off with an X

ring...

Your point is taken... chains are a pain... and nothing on the market

can effectively save them from wearing out... so what is all pretty on

the outside maybe all rotten in the inside...

Auto chain oilers where designed for non O ring standard chains back

in the 60s for London Motorcycle Curriers... they were never designed

for O ring chains... so if you're going to install an auto oiler then

complete the job and install an standard chain without O rings or just

take a razor blade and cut out all the little black O rings you

have... because only then will you be really lubing your chain

especially the critical pin and roller junction... whereas before you

were just coating the chain with oil not to mention your whole bike...

Mr.RC45's chain and sprockets are changed every 8K miles... at the

mile marker two events happen... I've adjusted the chain for the 3rd

time and the dyno shows a drop in RWHP... it's dropping because of

metal to metal wear at the critical pin and roller junction and no

amount of wishing and hoping nor external lube can help it now... it

will only get progressively worst from here...

If my chain were a rod it would be knocking... if it were like love

making it would be a squeaky dry fook...

BLS, it would be interesting to see what kind of RWHP you have lost. 1/10 to 5/10 of 1 RWHP or is it or more of a loss? I wonder if it is humanly possible to feel the RWHP loss due to a chain. If we are talking racing, replacing a chain frequently would be a must to take advantage of any edge you can get. IMO Since most of us don't have sponsors and are not racing, we do use the chains longer.

As far as the auto chain oilers are concerned; I have mixed thoughts about them and maybe it's do to ignorance on my part. I don't think anyone is trying to get oil past the o/ring, all they are doing is trying to keep the o/ring from dry rotting, protecting the sprockets and rollers. Its no different than waxing the chain by hand, we are just try to preserve the o/ring, roller and sprocket but not penetrate past the o/ring. I personally don't want a auto oiler due to the dripping oil on my bike and the mess that it makes (fling off). I choose to clean and wax my chain every 300-400 miles, which I'm sure some can say that's not enough. IMO the automatic oiler or the manual way is a choice of the individual. There are pros and cons either way.

I got about 20k out of my stock chain.

whenindoubt01BLS, it would be interesting to see what kind of RWHP you have lost. 1/10 to 5/10 of 1 RWHP or is it or more of a loss?

A new chain consumes 2% of your engine's available power... as the chain wears with miles cover that

2% lost grows and can reach up 6% lost of RWHP verified on the dyno...

2% lost = 116RWHP

4% lost = 111RWHP

6% lost = 109RWHP

Beleive me... I can feel the difference on the seat of my pants... that's why I'm working on a belt

conversion... because belts takes 2% but they never drop below that figure until it breaks... which is

about 3 times longer than a chain... great for us sport touring riders...