Chain slap begone!

[Wobbly]

I've been having a lot of chain slap problems in the past, with my last two tyres being well chewed up on the left hand side. I had my wheel moved over to the right a bit, but even with this I was still getting some contact on left side of the new distanzia. Having already managed to crash at wodonga after riding on the chewed up bit once too often, I'm keen not to tear up a brand new tyre the same way. So time to get the drill out :)

Did I mention that I had a convertible DRZ? :lol2:

http://vsmr.net/albums/drzrebuild/convertable_drz.jpg

Drilled and tapped into the swingarm, then a normal roller stuck on top of a slieve that bolts on top of a bushing. Easy as.

http://vsmr.net/albums/drzrebuild/side_chain_roller_rear.jpg

http://vsmr.net/albums/drzrebuild/side_chain_roller_front.jpg

Hopefully that should do the trick, and it looks like the roller should cover the full range of chain movement. The chain is getting pretty stretchy anyway, so its almost time for a new one, so between the two I'm hoping my tyre woes are out the way! :roll: :P

[shane]

good idea i am abouy to put one on the crf as i dont have any room to spare .
Neil in the second photo it shows in the background a BUCKET did you relise they can be used to hold soapy water as the DRZ looks like it could do with a well earned bath :D

[Flash]

Nuh Neil doesn't need to do that it's going to rain on Wednesday, right Neil!! :lol:

[Wobbly]

Sorry shane, though you can't see it the bucket is about 1/5th full of coolant :lol: And as ash says, its sure to rain .... some time in the next week or month or thereabouts ;)

(truth be known I did give the bike a quick wash afterward, but don't fret - it was a pretty half arsed effort :up: :lol2: )

[Sibbo]

What happens when you compress the back wheel right up into the guard and the chain hits the top or even goes over the other side of the guide? I would want a much higher guide if you jump the bike and use the full amount of rear travel.

Does the guide spin?

[Wobbly]

The chain doesn't have that amount of movement though, not if it has a reasonable amount of tension (30-40mm freeplay). I might take it off if I were doing that sort of thing, but shouldn't be an issue for my sort of riding (ie. nancy) :D And yep, it spins in a little bushing, which is why it appears off centre in the last pic...

[Muzzard]

Neil,
I used a piece of 35mm RHS and cut the side out of it so it now represents channel shaped extrusion. I then cut some 8mm HDPE sheet, and lined the 3 sides internally so as to have a teflon lined channel for the chain to run in with countersunk allen heads, and then fitted that to the swingarm on my old HL Yamaha to keep the chain from biting into the 5.60 rear tyre!...
No problems ever with the chain jumping the guide and the end of rooted sidewalls.
I may even have the other I made still here somewhere in the shed.
I was going to fit one to the Montesa.

[Wobbly]

I had a look this morning and also verified that there are no marks on the airbox from the chain ever having gotten up that high, nor are there any marks on the plastic mud/roost guard that hangs below the airbox to shield the back of the shock, and that is right next to the roller so there shouldn't be any drama there :up:

There are many chain sliders that have an integrated verticle section to limit chain movement from side to side ... for example the drz 250 has one ... but not on the 400 or RMX (which shares many common parts) ... makes you wonder why? :-k

[Muzzard]

Neil,
You can use the chain runner from around the swingarm pivot direct from an XR650R/L... 8)
Looks like it should have come like that from the factory.
Has Antti's got one on it with the tag up the side of the tyre position, or just slightly forward of that?

[Wobbly]

There's an idea ... I'll have a look next time I see the big fella ... of course I do have my bling bling roller now ;) :P

[rookie517]

very good idea mate. :D

[Wobbly]

Ok, might have a look at the XR chain runner after all ... given the fact that the lateral force on the roller ended up being enough to take it off at the point which the thread exposed itself from the tapped portion of the swingarm :roll:

So are the XR runners a direct bolt on job in most cases, or need a bit of modification? Anyone got a pic? :-k

[Muzzard]

I cant say if its a direct bolt on job Neil, but they (XR650) use the same type of rubber guide into the countershaft sprocket and it fits to the swingarm with grubscrews like most do...
It may only be the need to repositioning of the holes in the guide to meet the ones in the swingarm for the existing DRZ one.
If you have the time, do the dealer spares desk and see what they have ex stock.

[Wobbly]

Guess I'll have a look soon ... hmm, your avatar is making me hungry...

[Muzzard]

Mmmm, Original recipe or Zinger? :shock:
Grain fed and no artifical colours ...

[Muzzard]

I just looked at Honda catalogues as far as the eye could see for a decent pic of the chain guide/runner I speak so highly of, but alas, this is the only pic I could find that at least shows something that resembles the rubber upright piece attached to the guide to keep the chain from the tyre.
http://www.vsmr.net/modules.php?set_albumName=bitsnbobs&id=05_XR650R&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php

[Wobbly]

Ok, let's have another crack at that. I used a bit of angle alloy and this time attached it to the swingarm with a couple of M8 tapped holes and bolts :snigger:

I took your advise and decided to try a bit of cutting board as the slider itself ;) Of course the shop was all the way up the road, and my kitchen was just there, so being the bachelor that I am the chopping block had a few minor adjustments :D

http://vsmr.net/albums/drzrebuild/chain_slider1.jpg

http://vsmr.net/albums/drzrebuild/chain_slider2.jpg

http://vsmr.net/albums/drzrebuild/chain_slider3.jpg

The whole thing is a bit big, so I'll work out where the chain is contacting and then cut it down from there, assuming no basic fouling problems with the underpart of the airbox...

[Flash]

Hope it works. Have you had to off set the wheel as well?

[Wobbly]

Wheel already offset 5mm to the right ... with the new chain not getting much (if any) slap, but that will change as the chain stretches methinks ...

[jakestein]

I am getting that weird slash pattern in my new tyre :x
Not sure if you guys seen it Muzz did.

I hope off-setting the wheel can fix it.
Maybe I can steal a colored chopping board from work and rig something up, not to keen on drilling into my swingarm tho.

[Wobbly]

Nah, just drill into it - why not, its only alloy :lol2:

[Flash]

You may be able to make something up that will combine the swingarm saver and the chain slapythingy.

[Wobbly]

Bah, drill first, ask questions later I say :up:

[Sibbo]

I had a sticker on my SV that said dont drill into the alloy frame, below it was the ADR plate that had 2 holes drilled into it for the rivets!

[Sibbo]

http://vsmr.net/albums/bitsnbobs/honda_cr500_06_bikepics_519028.sized.jpg

[Wobbly]

Do you know whether you can order those? I'm assuming its not a standard Honda part.

Geez I wish I could get my replacement cutting board to bend :lol2:

[Muzzard]

It looks to me like its been milled from a piece of square PTFE bar...
Easy done at home with some careful cutting... ;)

[Sibbo]

Do you know whether you can order those? I'm assuming its not a standard Honda part.

No idea, just came across it looking at CR500/250s. :D

[cornerspeed]

Good thread. My rear tyre has the same thing with the chain slap.

[Flash]

If you get UHMWP. you can heat it up and bend it very easy. On top of that you can also machine it. The small amount you want would be probably $10-$15 tops

[Wobbly]

Hmm, so who's got a mill then ... haven't heard from john in a while :)

[77]

I was on another supermoto site today and came across a chain guard that looked great and is cheap. The new KTM 625 SM (I think that is the model) Has a square section of aluminium with a replaceable inner plastic chain slider that would work great. I ran into KTM this arvy and looked at a new bike and saw it, I got a price and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Aluminium bit was $22 dollars or so and the plastic wear part was another $20 or so dollars (both however are 6 weeks away). If I could cut and paste or put any friggin picture on here I would but it seems I cannot. The part looks great and is cheap. If anyone on here has seen it post the piccy and see what we all think. Maybe someone has tried it and has some better application info.

[Wobbly]

Sounds interesting ... email me the piccy and I can stick it up (admin@vsmr.net)...

[77]

While I was at the KTM / Husberg dealer I had a look at the Husbergs and found that they do not have a chain guard at all to stop chain hitting the tyre. Furthermore the bike (new) had a big giant 160 and there was the very little space between chain and tyre, as in the hair of a bees dick worth of gap. Do these bikes have chain slapping tyre wearing problems? Just at a glance it looked like it would be horrendous?

Bueller......Bueller

[dicky]

If you just keep on the gas then it should never be a problem.
Only pussies who back off have chain slap.

dicky.

[77]

Sooo to stop being a pussy how do I go into a corner and out the other side without slowing down??? Or am I supposed to ride at 20klms an hour everywhere? :lol: :lol:

On a serious note is that when the slap occurs, on deacceleration? I have not put thought into it..... I guess it would it would bow inside when the wheel slows at a greater rate than the sproket???

[dicky]

only 20km/h? sorry, you will never stop being a pussy at that speed.

A lot of bikes already have a chain guide but it's under the swingarm to stop excessive slap when you are on the gas. It's also usually up close to the sproket (front, rear or both).
On or off the gas shouldn't make much difference as to the amount of slap as the top and bottom chain runs are about equal distance from the edge of the tyre. In practice I reckon off the gas is the worst as the bike is moving around a lot more.
If you are going to make or fit a guide I'd try to position it as close to the tyre as possible, this makes it almost impossible for the chain to hit the tyre, and minimises the amount of wear you might cause on the sprockets if you have to push the chain sideways.

dicky.

[Wobbly]

It'll most usually be on the top of the chain run that the contact occurs, which means yep when you're off the throttle. The lower chain run probably has a better time of things due to the presence of a guide forward of the sprocket. I found a guide on the top of the swingarm of the drz did well at controlling it - some bikes just seem to be more prone to chain slap to others, certainly the drz I found quite bad, but at least it's fairly easily controlable with a guide....

[77]

Did you get the pics by chance. If you did, what do you think?

[jakestein]

A new chain and proper adjustment fixed my problems, the rim is offset a tiny bit too.

Even the KTM exc/SX have a good chain runner, it has a small tab on the tyre side.

[jakestein]

Corey's Berg has no chain rub at all, over 5000km on the chain and sprockets .

[Wobbly]

Did you get the pics by chance. If you did, what do you think?

Looks good!

http://vsmr.net/albums/bitsnbobs/KTM_004sm.sized.jpg

http://vsmr.net/albums/bitsnbobs/chainguide_001sm.jpg

http://vsmr.net/albums/bitsnbobs/chainguide_002sm.jpg

http://vsmr.net/albums/bitsnbobs/lc4_swingarm.jpg

[Muzzard]

Mmm,
Interesting looking bit of gear..
Maybe that 5.50" rear into the mootard isnt too far away after all... ;)

[77]

DRZ400 E model motarders I just found out that the SM model DRZ has a chain slider / guard to prevent chain eating tyre. It costs $68. It has like two large triangular sections and the chain sits inside. The only problem I see at the moment is that the SM model has a different swing arm to the E model. So I have to go down to Suzuki and have a look. Neil did you know about this? If so do you know if it is adaptable (possible straight bolt on). If anyone knows shout out.


http://photos.imageevent.com/tlsdoug/drz400smk5/promotobilletkickstand/websize/P6173818.JPG

[Wobbly]

Hadn't taken a good look myself - I'm guessing anything can be made to fit with a drill and some self tappers though :lol2: