On our Lake Pillsbury trip I was doing a pre ride check in the morning. and realized I was in dire need of a new drivetrain. Serious need!
I had tightened the chain and curtailed the wheelies and luckily made it back home safe. I had to check to see when I had last changed and it was right before I first did LAB2V back in 2022.
The bike had 14,355 miles then, and right now I am looking at 26,966 – so I got a good, hard 12,611 miles on this set. I remember at the time I couldn’t find the rear in the size I wanted, from the manufacturer I wanted. In a pinch I went with this solid aluminum one. We were still dealing with COVID supply issues.
I was running a 15 tooth on the front this aluminum rear was a 45 tooth – stock and stock. This time I had the time to order what I wanted and so I went with a 50 tooth in the rear. That meant I would be running a little higher RPM at freeway speed but I would also have a little more torque.
What difference would 5 teeth make?
It’s all just math but there’s some pretty cool tools out there.
I used https://sprocketcalculator.com/ to run different scenarios.
So 10% less in MPH and 10% more torque? I’ll take it!
With everything delivered and in hand I pulled the rear wheel, and then pulled off the rear sprocket. It had lived a full life.
The new sprocket is a thing of beauty! In mountain bikes this finish is called “oil slick”, they called it Chromatic.
Pretty strong too!
With that thought in mind I wondered if they were lighter. They certainly look lighter. I couldn’t do apples to apples as the old one was 45 teeth with a few actually missing but it weighed in at 344 grams with it kind of clean.
The Dirt Tricks had 5 more teeth and came in at 527 grams. 193 grams different.
Not that I care. If I was worried about weight I’d have 1 less beer tonight. (HINT: and I won’t) 🙂
I had put on new tires too. I’ve been running Tusk D-Sports for a while now and I’m pretty happy with them. This rear I had put on 11/11/24 and they had 2,232 miles on them. They had more life in them but for as cheap as they are it’s easy to put on fresh rubber when you like.
I checked my bolts, the carrier, the little rubbers, the wheel bearings and all looked great. I mounted the sprocket to the carrier with a little locktite and torqued to 35 Nm (26 ft-lbs). I then balanced the complete wheel. I always balance the rear with the sprocket and then mark the sprocket so it always goes on the same spot.
Next it was time to pull the counter shaft sprocket. It looked better than the rear BUT you always replace both. There’s no faster way to destroy a new chain than to not replace all three items at the same time.
NOTE: Unless you are racing and swapping sprockets for different tracks or conditions. Racing is different.
First I took off the Vanasche Engine Case Protector – that almost got called in to duty if my chain broke (just wait…)
Then just a few little taps with a punch to flatten out the lock washer. The nut came off pretty easy. I was torqued to spec when it went on, but it seemed a little less than that taking it off.
Next came removing the old chain. I kept going round and round and just couldn’t find the master link. I knew it had one as I put this chain on. I even started cleaning the side plates of links looking for it. I finally found out what the issue was. This is the master link. I only noticed it as it’s pins are just a little wider.
It’s missing something. I could say something cool like it’s an old racing trick to make the bike lighter but no – the freakin’ master link fell off somewhere, sometime. You can see where the clip should be and you can also see it hasn’t been there in a while. WOWZERS!
I pushed the master link out and it was a bit of a struggle. Maybe that’s why it hadn’t actually fallen off while riding. Off came the chain.
THE INSTALL
I had already installed the rear sprocket on to the carrier. I next mounted the wheel assembly loosely in the swingarm.
I then installed the new Countershaft Sprocket, lock washer (and so far… unused and un-needed) Vanasche Case Saver in place.
I bought a 120 link chain just because I’m always going to err on the safe side. With the bike on a work stand and the axle spacers forward I played with how much chain I had / needed for the right amount of slack. If you work from the back side of the sprocket it’s pretty easy to see exactly where you need to go.
If you are unfamiliar the process is easy with the right tools. You can do this (and I have) with a flat file by hand – or you could slap a metal cutting disk into your angle grinder. The stock pins are mushroomed like rivets on the hull of the titanic. So step one is to undo that.
In a few second it should look like this. You don’t care about the side plate, it’s getting tossed and replaced by your new Master Link. You do want to make sure that you are grinding ONLY the rivet you need and not accidentally hitting anything else.
Next, I used an old Motion Pro Chain Tool to press out the old rivet. I really should get a new one, but I do this so rarely.
Next, put the two chain halves back on the sprocket and put together your new Master Link as needed. This chain is what is called an Xring and has small little o-rings that keep the grit out – even on the Master.
Finally make sure you put the circlip in place the right direction and make sure it’s in the grooves all around. If you need to you can use a small c clamp, pliers or I use the chain breaker to apply a little pressure if needed to squish it all together far enough to get the circlip on.
The circlip faces this way, so that the torque would keep the circlip in the pins.
“Mike, I bet I know what happened to your old circlip”
HA! Yes that same thought crossed my mind so I had to look it up.
No I didn’t accidentally put in on backwards.
PROOF:
Pic from back when I put on this old chain in 2022. (https://aufroad.com/bdr-prep-part-1/)
Speaking of that little chain alignment tool. I still use it and I think it does a really good job. Here’s the view you use to decide if your adjusters are correct. Sorry for the foggy lens.
So to recap – new chain, new 15 tooth countershaft, and new Dirt Tricks 50 tooth rear sprocket giving me just a little more torque to get that front wheel in the air.
MILEAGE:
26,966
#WheelieEveryDay
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, had a big cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and is currently building a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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