WHY MOTORCYCLE “CHAINS” AS A FINAL-DRIVE?
Why are metal chains still the most common way that motorcycle engines spin their rear tires?
In spite of all the advances in motorcycles over the last hundred years, chains are still prevalent because they work so well. (See other final drive choices below).
Certainly you’ve observed the mechanical simplicity of your chain drive (more generally referred to as a “roller chain”). Your insightful gaze would have revealed the inner and outer metal plates, held together by riveted pins.
Those little pins hold the rollers (from which the chain gets its name), and their bushings (cylindrical metal linings used to reduce friction), between the plates.
These complete “links” of mini plates, rivets, rollers and bushings engage the teeth of the front and rear sprockets and as a result you go faster than your mom should know.
O-RING MOTORCYCLE CHAINS
An O-ring chain has small rubber seals (in the shape of an “O”) between the bushes, rollers and side plates, which hold a special grease inside the bushes to cool and lubricate them. In fact, the advent of those miniature seals have re-categorized roller chains for motorbikes as either:
♠ O-Ring Chains (or other sealed chain)
♠ Non-O-Ring Chains
Back in the 1980s, O-rings were introduced to improve lubrication of the links, to provide greater efficiency and longevity.
Not only do the O-rings seal that lubricating grease inside of their rollers, they also seal out dirt and other junk to keep such stuff from getting inside the linkages.
HOWEVER, O-ring chains still need to be externally lubed!
The bottom line is that O-ring chains require less maintenance than their non-sealed counterparts, and they last longer than non-sealed chains.
CHAIN DRIVES? BELT DRIVES? SHAFT DRIVES?
Some riders may happily go on for years unaware that there are two other ways for engines to spin their rear tires: belt drives and shaft drives.
Each of the three ways to transmit power to your rear wheel have advantages and disadvantages:
♠ Chain drives are reliable, lightweight, low cost and efficient, but need the most maintenance.
♠ Belt drives are light, require less maintenance and are quieter than chains. However, belt drives are more often used for cruisers, or bikes that are not high-performance oriented.
♠ Finally, shaft drives require the least maintenance but are the heaviest and most expensive. Also, some power is lost as the engine transmits its energy to the rear wheel by way of the various drive shaft gears. For that reason, shaft drives are most commonly used in touring, sport-touring, or other high-displacement bikes where the highest-performance, greater weight, and lowest cost are not primary concerns.
NOTE: You won’t appear very informed if you ask your local motorcycle salesperson for a different type of final drive than the bike you are looking at already has. These are not optional features, or mix and match systems. If you desire a particular final drive, then you need to narrow your interest in bike choices down to only those machines that have the final drive system you prefer.
Fortunately, as noted above, unless you prefer a belt drive or shaft drive, most motorcycles still use chain drives, so you have the broadest selection of on- and off-road bikes to choose from.
CHAIN NONSENSE
Arguably, the biggest advantage with chain drives is that you can wear them around your neck. (Ideally, after they’d been cleaned).
Shaft drives are not a fashion item when detached from a motorbike, although they may be useful as a club.
Belt drives have the potential to be worn like jewelry, but rubber derivatives have not caught on so much for public fashion apparel.
OK, now with that nonsense purged from my noggin’ let’s get to the matter at hand.
MOTORCYCLE CHAIN MAINTENANCE
If you are putting your motorcycle chain to use for its intended purpose, your roller chain revolves around front and rear sprockets which are an intimate part of the chain drive system.
The main point of interest here is that chains require three types of regular maintenance:
♠ Lubrication
♠ Adjustment
♠ Replacement
Lubrication keeps the links and rollers of the chain working efficiently with each other and in conjunction with the sprockets they are connected to. Of course lubricant gets a bad wrap because the slippery, sticky stuff can be thrown off the fast-moving chain and mess up your clean bike. Further, the chain accumulates a build-up of dirt and grime. Which is all the more reason you need to keep fresh lubricant on the thing!
Routine adjustment of the chain is vital since it stretches in the process of spinning around those sprockets at high speeds while you enjoy your ride over hill and dale.
The advantage of not lubricating or adjusting your chain often enough is that you get to replace your chain and sprockets more often and therefore increase your mechanically savvy.
Chains DO deteriorate, even with regular lubrication. Hence, they need to be adjusted to compensate for the stretching, so that they maintain a correct adjustment on the sprockets. (Without a properly adjusted chain, it might even fly off the bike and cause other bad things).
MUST YOU REPLACE YOUR SPROCKETS ALONG WITH YOUR YOUR CHAIN?
Why do you ask such controversial questions? We were getting along just fine until you brought this up.
Well, before I bow out of our little get-together, I’ll note that “many” mechanics will suggest (highly urge) that you ALWAYS replace your sprockets at the same time as your chain.
There is another rule of thumb that says you can replace your sprockets every other time you replace your chain.
In other words, you can keep your sprockets (as long as they are not worn!) through one chain replacement and then replace your chain “and” sprockets the next time.
Of course, if you have “not” been lubricating your chain and/or “not” been properly adjusting your chain, you may very well NEED to have your sprockets replaced each time you replace your chain.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with replacing your sprockets every time you replace your chain (it just costs more and is more work).
Listen, the main point is you definitely want to keep your bike’s chain and sprockets in optimum condition for the best performance and greatest safety (unless you wear it around your neck….)
