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Chain links or endless chain

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:32 pm
by Lindsay07
Was looking at chain breakers today, My friend has an endless chain on his Cagiva 1000. I've always used joiners (chain links) & no troubles, I have friends that have had links come off, so for the 860GTS any reason to go with an endless chain?

Re: Chain links or endless chain

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:33 pm
by BevHevSteve
avoid clip type master links. It isn;t worth the risk. They don;t often fail but when they do it could be catastrophic.

Re: Chain links or endless chain

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 2:14 am
by Craig in France
Ask two people this question, and you'll get three answers :-D ! And I admit I'm not consistent in my own practices.

I used to avoid riveted chains, simply because you need the right tools to get them off - and, in particular, on. And those tools used to be absurdly expensive because they were intended for regular use by professionals. But now you can buy perfectly acceptable DIY tools for small monies, e.g.
Image

So why not use riveted chain? The last two chains I fitted were both riveted.

That said:
3 of my bikes are still running spring link chain. Do I lose any sleep over this? No. The only precaution I take is to safety wire the clip on. This was standard good race-track practice back in the day. But I admit it was rarely followed on street bikes. I've never had one come off.

Re: Chain links or endless chain

Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 4:18 am
by Lindsay07
Have been looking around the net searching for more information about whether to have a joining link or an endless chain, like to know the reasons behind things. So what I found. apparently it depends on engine size & power output. Small engines & output are fine with joining links but as engine size & power rises then it’s prudent to use a riveted joint. Think they said about 40 horsepower & above use an endless chain (might have been looking on a site that sells chains & sprockets). Might have been lucky not to throw a chain all these years don’t want to test my luck in that way now & as Steve said could be catastrophic so endless chain for me. Thank you for your input guys.

Re: Chain links or endless chain

Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 11:40 pm
by ducadini
In the +40 years of riding and racing Ducati (and other bikes), I only once had a mishap with the chainlink.
No disaster, the chain just ran off the while pushing the bike to the start line (THAT would've been an event :lol: :lol: )
Later we found out that my "mechanic/girlfriend/catering" had leaned the bike over to the right to get to the shifting pedal while rolling the bike backwards, and the clip touched the slightly protruding end of the bolt that holds the chaincover, flipping it off.
So off with the chaincover :-D :-D no more problems.
Kept on using them, as they are much easier to change gearing.

ciao
ducadini