Dangit, now that I'm about to order a chain, you guys have me thinking about sprocket changes too. Damn you all!
Come on man! Swap the whole set together for longest useful life. Don't run new expensive chains on used worn sprockets. Buy a known matched set for best results. Sure, you can get buy doing anything for a while. Just depends whether you want to encounter a problem prematurely or not.....down the road. RK makes great chains on the higher end. I don't cheap out on bargain chains. Get an X-ring chain with at least 8,000 tensile strength (or there abouts). 10,000 would be even better, but more expensive yet. They will only stretch a little bit once, then not again......or very little again. If you keep having to adjust chain tension, then you probably need to get a stronger tensile strength chain, plus make sure you are not over-tightening the chain. Regardless of what you'd like it to be....sorry. Several manufacturers make unique chains with different diameter and shaped pins. The simple solution is to just buy extra masterlinks from the same manufacture for the same chain model, during your original purchase. Or, even later from the MC shop. I've been doing it this way for years, across multiple brands. And, it has eliminated the grief. Don't go into the field with a spare masterlink from another brand, thinking or hoping it will fit. You'd have to try it out to be certain. HF p.s. I recommend using a rivet style masterlink on 650+ cc bikes.
HF, the reason I wasn't thinking about sprockets is that mine genuinely look good. My chain looks like garbage though. I managed to find a few minutes last night to do some thorough cleaning and it became clear that I'm nearing the end of its lifespan. Didn't you change to a 15T front too? Do you like it at speed? The addition of the baby has limited my off-road time and turned me into mostly a moto-commuter. So I spend most of my miles at 55-75mph these days. So I'm trying to figure out if I should just leave it stock, or try something new.
Had to change the stock garbage chain somewhere around 10.000 miles. Swapped out the front sprocket to a 15 tooth at he same time. Made quite the difference in acceleration and first gear is noticeably slower, what is very nice on tight single track. Bike pulls very much stronger in every gear now, most pronounced for me in 5th gear when you open the throttle to pass somebody, don't have to kick down a gear. Overall Rpm has come up by about 500 in every gear/same speed from the stock 16T and with that of cause an increase in vibrations. I kinda like the 15T performance, but I will change it back to stock if I have to do a mostly freeway trip. Changeover is pretty fast and easy, could see myself doing it on the side of the road. Gas mileage seems not to be very much affected, but I have not done any serious long trips with the 15T yet. Hope that makes sense and is helpful
I have started snooping around for a taller 5th gear. Anybody heard of one? I did the taller fifth for my R100GS and that worked great. I figure, go down on the front but add a taller fifth to make the spread. I imagine the installation would be the drawback.
I have a 15T front and I took a small hit on mileage but the smiles just wont stop. The speedo is only 2% fast per GPS.
I have been running a 15 tooth front sprocket, that as fitted after about the second tank full of gas. It has made a big difference to first gear of slow work & as far as top speed goes it is still fast enough to get a ticket or two. Fuel mileage wise I have not noticed much change, but have safari tanks fitted so will never be a problem. Cheers G M.
FYI just because its a 520 doesnt mean any 520 master will fit even the same brand. They now have narrow gauge, wide gauge, o ring xring, non oring all in 520. You always need to match the master link with the chain. I use the narrow gauge x ring chains from both DID and RK depending on my dealer price at the moment. Narrow is good to not drag/cut through the chain guides as much
DID 520VX2 X-Ring motorcycle chain 112 link - $84 at motorcycle superstore + shipping $72.55 at Amazon (free shipping with prime) + tax if applicable DID 520VX2 X-Ring motorcycle chain 114 link - $74.12 at Amazon (free shipping with prime) + tax if applicable Bare metal no color, really don't want to accentuate my chain or sprockets so that's what I want. Just need to decide if I want to lengthen the WB...looks like brake line going to ABS may be stretched if I go longer so stock it is. Ordered 112. FYI DID comparison & spec sheet
Mine is exactly the same. After 11000km/7000miles OEM chain has stiff links all over the shop, but I checked the front sprocket and it still looks good as new, as does the rear. I'm thinking about swapping out the chain now, while the sprockets are still good.
Can anyone recommend a supplier carrying chain and sprocket sets, using DID Xring? I've nursed 15K out of mine somehow. Usual stiff links crept in early. Never had to work so much on a chain period! Just like to find someone carrying a complete C + S set.....anyone?
I will second that. Supersprox is the best. I had a rear sprocket from them on my DRZ that had 13K on it. It still had life in it. Got the counter sprocket, the Super Stealth rear sprocket and chain from them. I run their GB520GXW XW ring chain, phenomenal wearability! http://www.supersproxusa.com/
