Chain & sprocket life?

[Rynglieder]

I know that a lot will depend on how hard one twists the throttle and how regularly the bike is ridden on dirty roads, but what sort of life should you expect from the chain & sprockets on a GSX?

There's a lot of grumbling going on from my rear wheel at the moment, particularly on pull-away - as if there is a tight spot on the chain - once I'm up and running it all seems OK.

My GSX is coming up to 40,000 miles now and I can't recall ever having replaced anything, I'll trawl though my old receipts and see what comes up but I can only vauguely recall the chain possibly have been removed and deep cleaned at one time.

Should I be saving up?

[seth]

We ride all year round in Scotland.
I change the chain,sprockets and sprocket carrier bearing every 20k or there abouts I change them when I need to start adjusting the chain tension as I can't be bothered with all that adjusting them.
They can probably do a good few more miles but that's how I look about our bikes ..

[Jeykey]

Changed mine now at 44000km (27300miles). Never ride in the rain, but chain was rusty and elongated. Installed DID ZVM-X gold. Sprockets seemed ok, but changed them anyway.

[Hooli]

I average about thirty to thirty five thousand from a chain on a 14 used all year.

I'd suspect your sprocket carrier bearing has gone, they don't seem to last as long as a chain. Always replace them with a 2RS or 2CS , I forget which, bearing that's sealed on both sides unlike the original as they last longer. Also replace the dust seal outside them too.

I take the old ones to a local bearing shop & it's a lot cheaper than a bike place for better quality parts.

[Kiwifruit]

Last one was 55,000kms. Should have changed it sooner. Made a new bike out of it when I did. Replacement has done 35,000kms and still spins nice.
Always replace sprockets with chain or the old sprockets will prematurely wear your new chain.

[Roo]

I'm real light on chains, also keep a bit of slack to stop the susp putting load on chain.  I spray the chain every second ride....  (every ride is 180 kms !!)   

My last bike a K6 gsxr1000 had 45 kms on it when I sold it for the 14 !   I never adjusted the chain after the initial set up.......  gentle huh ? 

[Batkwaka]

I changed mine at 80k/km and they were still within tolerance.

[grog]

Replaced at 45k, one rusty link, blamed the spray lube i used. Fitted cheap EK O ring to basically wear out sprockets. 20 th later, use gear oil now, never been adjusted, still has that nice sound, sprockets havent changed. I clean with WD40, use Castrol VMX gear oil. At oil change time is schedule.

[Mick_J]

I look after my chain and sprockets now so I have 34k on mine  and still going strong.

[Jeykey]

Hey @grog think my old chain lube rusted my chain too ! I never ride in the rain, garaged bike with little humidity and always clean; some folks even ask me if the bike´s new. Started using Maxima chain wax now, suggested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noshjM5CDas

[grog]

Jeykey, Thanks for link. Im a gear oil fan now, just does the job.

[Jeykey]

I'll try the gear oil when this can runs out, cheaper. Read elsewhere in the forum a lot of folks using it. Does it fling?

[grog]

My method should on here somewhere. After 20 k i wipe bike down, centrestand, chain guard, swing arm. After that no fling👍Use VMX , others stink like a dirty old diff.

[Rynglieder]

Well, I can finally answer my own question.

Just over 40k miles and I couldn't stand the grumbling any longer so I booked the bike in at Stourbridge Motorcycle Centre for a chain and sprocket transplant at the same time as getting an MOT sorted.

Having seen the new shiny bit on the back wheel I'm now certain that the one was taken off was the original as it has now registered that it was white to match the wheel colour so I must have had my money's worth out of it.

I'm just waiting for the weather to pick up so I can go on a bit of a run, it was certainly silky smooth on the short journey home from the workshop but they have invited me to drop it back in when I have done 150-200 miles for a free inspection and initial adjustment.

The original equipment has lasted me 20 years so bearing in mind I don't tour on the GSX these days I reckon I won't have to worry about changing it again until sometime after my 90th birthday 

[Tony Nitrous]

I get quite high mileage from my chains and sprockets on some bikes.

I'm a bit pedantic about tension and have a somewhat different chain maintainence routine to some, I use chain lube almost every ride, spraying on the inside of the chain but only use a tiny amount.    A lot of my rides now are more about cruising and distance so we'll over an hour between stops and not seeing traffic lights is normal.  I can't remember the last time my 14 saw rain either.