What's going wrong with my chain wear

[fazer6868]

Hi,
 
My gen 1 has a paltry 130k miles on it and so far rear chains have averaged out at about 40k each albeit with front sprocket changes around 12k and rears 20k.
 
I have had various makes.
 
This year i bought the most expensive one yet at around £160 for a tsubaki 4160 ha sgx sigma sealed x ring gold chain plus renthal sprockets, the rear being a ' hard anodised ' version.
 
The rear sprocket is a lightweight one.
 
The problem is that i am constantly adjusting the chain and have been since day 1 and it is beginning to seem shagged at only 11k miles!
 
Variables here are;
 

• 1st time purchase of a tsubaki chain
• 1st time with these type of sprockets
• 1st time purchased from ' Intobikes'
• 1st time i have fitted chain and sprockets myself( have previously fitted sprockets only).

Any ideas please why chain wear out of line with 3 previous ones?
 
 

[dekker555]

I have no experience at all of your high mileages, but from an engineers view, first of all are the sprockets in line? Are the teeth showing signs of wear, you must by now be familiar with what to look for there? So if the chain is running in line (the sides of the sprockets look OK?), and you don't have a lubrication problem, there again you should know with your previous experience, you can only have a naff chain.

[Gray fox]

The alloy rear sprocket could be the problem, in my experience they are only really suitable for competition use where they changed on a regular basis. Used to have one on an MX/enduro bike, it wore out in about 200 miles. The alloy ones with the steel outer ring are much better.

[oldmotherfoccer]

always change chain and sprockets at the same time, never do chain onto old sprockets, or new sprockets onto an old chain, they need to wear into oneanother

[dekker555]

Of course OMF is correct as far as the manufacturers and retailers are concerned, (they would say that wouldn't they?) but lodgically as the rear sprocket only does about a third of the work of the front one, you could get away with changing that one every other time. But this isn't helping Fazer6868, sorry about that, without seeing any of it, I am still suspicious of his chain.

[richfzs]

but lodgically as the rear sprocket only does about a third of the work of the front one

That really isn't the point, and if you don't understand that, you probably shouldnt go near a spanners again. Ever.

[ghostbiker]

the only 2 times i wouldnt change the 3 as a set is 1) on a trials bike when i was swaping sprockets for diff tracks and 2) on a bike like the fazer if there was less than a couple 100 miles on the sprocket and i wanted to swap to a diff setting just trying them.

Which to be honest has been once on the fazer when i had replaced the chain and both sprockets and then tried a couple of diff rears to see what i prefered. none of them were on for more than 50 miles and then i settled on the 2 extra on the rear.

Basicly i would allways change them as a set, for the cost of sprockets its just not worth the risk. the way they wear to each other meens if you do change on mid way through it will wear the chain much faster.

[fazed600]

I had this set up at one point on my old FZS600, on which I used to do a fair amount of mileage. I also had the same problem. IMHO the problem is the Renthal rear sprocket although 'hard' anodised alloy it is much softer than steel, it is lighter but unless you are chasing 10ths on a racetrack you won't notice it.

My rear sprocket also wore more quickly than a steel one. Tsubaki gold X-ring chains are fine when I changed the set up to steel sprockets with a new Tsubaki chain there was no problem. Steel sprockets are the way to go for mileage.

If you want some bling then I think Stealth make rear sprockets with steel teeth and an alloy inner.

[pitternator]

well my gen1 has now done 35k on its original sprockets and chain....with plenty of life still in it. As such I will stick to OE as its a proven combo. I use gear oil brushed on...its messy...but feck its proven itself in giving a chain fantastic longevity.

[Fazerider]

I've never subscribed to this idea that chain and sprockets "wear into each other"... at least, not in any useful way. The front sprocket in particular (which, as Dekker points out, suffers three times the workload of the rear) is going to reduce in tooth spacing while the chain will gradually suit a larger one. I can't see how changing sprockets part way through the life of a chain can harm it... and the OP's experience would seem to back that up.
Admittedly, without a scientific comparison that keeps an identical lubrication regime and riding style it can't be regarded as proof, but it's hard to argue that changing sprockets is detrimental to the life of a chain when 40,000 miles is what he normally achieves.


Fazer6868, have you tried measuring the chain wear directly (i.e. a 20 link length)? Are there links that have seized to each other?  Unless the seals have failed or you got the side plates of the joining link badly spaced when you installed the chain it's likely that alloy rear sprocket is the cause of your problem and I'd try your regular sprocket change a bit earlier than usual.

[fazer6868]

Hi Guys
 
My mate has just lazer checked my chain adjustment alignmentand has found that such was quite a bit out.
 
So this is probably part of it and i am now going to order a rear sprocket as recommended above.
 
Thanks for all your help