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24 August 2011
A Drive Question?

Friday evening I stole away for coffee with my friend Ken. Over our pancake house coffee we talked about several topics, all motorcycle related. Part of our conversation was about drive chains.

Ken had been away from drive chains for some time. Over the last twenty years he'd been riding Harleys which use a belt drive. He was now thinking about converting his Harley's drive belt over to a chain when the current belt gets replaced. He wasn't aware that even o-ring chains need to be cleaned and lubricated. Although chain cleaning isn't hard to do, it does add a new maintenance task…

Ken's Harley also has a side car attached. With the sidecar attached to the bike it makes it even easier to raise the rear wheel off the ground with any jack for chain maintenance. He doesn't have chain maintenance now, his Harley's drive belt is quite and clean and it's almost maintenance free.

Ken is also looking to experiment with different sprocket combinations, tailoring the bikes performance to enhance its ride ability with the sidecar attached. There are far more chain sprocket combinations than there are with Harley's belt drive. And it would be easier to change them if need be.

He was worried about the life of the chain. Today's chains are a lot stronger and better made than they were years ago. A chains life expectancy can be over 20 or 30K miles if they are cleaned and lubricated on a regular basis (every 500 miles).

That was another question Ken asked: "how do you clean the chain when you're traveling." A day's ride can be over 500 miles?

That's a good question. I usually don't travel those distances very often, but when I do I usually leave the chain maintenance until I return home or if it's going to be an extended trip I carry a small can of chain lube and give the chain a light rub down daily.

If I get caught in the rain, as soon as I'm able I will spray the chain down with WD40 and let it stand. The WD will displace the water and prevent rust plus it will make cleaning easier and it will lubricate the chain if I need to keep riding in the rain.

The rust spots on the rollers can shorten a chain's life. It's the rollers which make contact with the sprocket teeth. The side plates which connect the rollers could show a little rust without hurting anything if it's on the outside. On the inside of the plates it could wear on the sprocket or interfere with the o-rings and the rollers ability to turn. Once the rollers stops turning or the o-ring is torn, crap can enter the inside of the roller causing premature wear. One thing is for sure; once the o-ring is damaged the permanent lubrication is lost.

What was the best, the final drive was the next topic? For me it's the shaft…it's about as maintenance free as the belt drive; just change the oil once a year or more and it will last forever. The shaft drive does consume more of the engine's available horsepower than the belt or the chain; but it is clean and you can pretty much forget about it.

The belt and chain drives are easier to repair and much lighter. But both of them are affected by the weather and road grit. However if something does happen to the shaft drive it can be very expensive to repair.

Monday I went out with the MV for a short ride to Ivor and back. By now if you have been a regular reader of this column you know the routes as well as I do. If you're not familiar with our routes; check out the videos at the bottom of this page.

Today was just fun, the ride today wasn't fast or slow but for some reason it was fun. I have been working hard on getting corner exits down without losing drive or momentum. I've also been working on my timing, getting the rollers just right; to get that front wheel lift off and wheeling some distance. Today I was three for three; with the last one surprising me when it happened, mid corner.

I'm riding alone and I'm not all too upset about that, after all there aren't too many people off on Mondays. Monday's ride started out a little odd, I went up Hampton Roads Center Parkway to 64 east, then took 664 to 35th street exit, did the loop and wound up back on 664. I got off on Aberdeen and then back on going in the opposite direction, then got off again on the Chestnut Ave exit. Chestnut to Briarfield then back on Jefferson Ave to Mercury Blvd to the James River Bridge…

What prompted that twenty mile circle? Indecision did. I left the house with the thought of going to Cycle Gear in Norfolk until I realized how late in the day it was; almost noon. Any trip to Norfolk begins early so you can be back on this side of the Hampton Roads Tunnel no later than 1300. I didn't want to take a chance of getting stuck in traffic with the MV.

I discovered that not all the exits will let you get off and then back on where you need to be.

The "Hovel's" unattached garage, my mechanical sanctuary

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