Hi, I'm Dave and welcome to the CayonChasers Garage.
Replacing the chain isn't
as difficult as you would think. Plus, if
you replace your chain soon enough you
can typically get away with two chains
to one set of quality steel sprockets.
But, if you let your chain get too rough
it can actually damage the sprockets
enough that you'll need to replace them
as well. We've found, that with proper care and
maintenance we can easily get between 20
and 30-thousand miles out of a high
quality aftermarket chain. However, most
manufacturers tend to put lower quality
chains on new motorcycles. Typically, OEM
chains even with proper care and
maintenance are lucky to last about ten-
thousand miles. To learn more about how
to lube and adjust a chain, or to learn
more about adjusting chain slack, be sure
to check out our other videos. Now, there
are a couple of methods for measuring
the wear on your chain. The first is
we're simply going to measure the chain
slack across the length of the chain.
Rotate the wheel about a quarter to half
a turn and check the chain slack. If any
part of the chain is outside the
acceptable slack measurement, typically
between one inch and an inch and a half,
you are most likely due for a new chain.
The second method is, to again across the
length of the chain, pull the chain away
from the rear of the sprocket at about
the three o'clock position. If the chain
pulls away from the sprocket by about
three to four millimeters, then the chain
is worn. The final method, and the most
accurate one, is to actually measure the
chain. If you have a 520, 525 or 530
O-ring or X-ring chain, which happenes to
be the most common chain sizes, we want
to count 16 pins, not links. If the
distance between the 16 pins is greater
than 256.5 millimeters, or greater
than 10.1 inches, your chain needs to be
replaced. Additionally, if the chain has
any tight links, links that do not relax
when the chain is straight, that's a
classic sign that your chain needs to be
replaced. Finally, you want to inspect
your sprockets. If the teeth are hooked,
visibly worn, or broken, then you'll need
to replace the sprockets as well as your
chain. But, like we mentioned earlier, if
you replace your chain early enough you
can typically get away with running two
chains to one set of high-quality steel
sprockets. We've been running two chains
to one set of sprockets for decades.
On our current Multistrada 1100, the
original chain was replaced at around
10,000 miles. The chain that's on it
right now, currently has over 20,000
miles on it, and both those chains were
run on the original OEM sprockets. Now,
you can only get away with doing this if
you replace your chain before it gets
too far out of spec. Otherwise, the worn
chain will cause the sprockets to wear
rapidly which will force you to replace
the chain and the sprocket
simultaneously. Now, when it comes time to
replace your chain we strongly, strongly
encourage you to use a rivet-style
master link, not a clip-style master link.
We've seen too many situations where a
clip-style master link has failed, which
can cause the chain to come off and,
potentially, lock the rear wheel. We've
even seen cases where the chain came off
and got balled up around the front
sprocket and broke the engine case. So,
please, just use a rivet-style master
link. In order to do this you will need a
high-quality chain rivet tool. This will
be a fairly expensive purchase, but the
more affordable chain tools can,
typically, only handle one to two chains
before they fail. Whereas, the more robust
chain tools will last a lifetime. For
example, Motion Pro sells two chain tools.
One for $90, and the Jumbo Chain Tool for
$140. Don't bother with the cheaper one
unless you are only working with smaller
non O-ring chains. In order to install a
new chain we're going to first need to
cut off the old chain, cut the new chain
to the correct length, rivet it in place,
set the chain slack, and finally lube the
chain. So, first things first, we need to
loosen the rear wheel and move the rear
wheel adjustment pretty much all the way
forward. The Jumbo Chain Breaker will
push the pins out of even the most burly
chains, but in order to help your tools
last longer we encourage you to use an
angle grinder with a flap wheel to cut
the tops off of the pins before we push them out.
Remember, sparks will fly, so
wear the appropriate protective gear.
With the tops of the pins ground down,
take your chain-breaker and retract the
extractor-pin into the body of the chain
breaker, so that you can clamp the tool
onto the chain. You want the extractor-pin
to be about two millimeters inside
the chain-breaker. Clamp the tool onto
the chain, making sure to align the
extractor-pin precisely over the chain pin.
Just snug the body-bolt to hold everything in place.
This doesn't need to be super tight.
Next, you'll need to advance the
extractor-bolt, pushing the extractor-pin into the chain-pin.
Once the pin comes out of the back, retract the extractor-bolt and pin
and remove the chain-breaker and the old chain will come off.
Now's a good time to clean everything
because with the chain out of the way
you can really get in there and clean
all the gunk away from the area around your front sprocket.
With everything clean, put your new chain on.
In most cases, your new chain is going to be too long.
So, you'll need to figure out exactly how many links you'll need.
It's likely you'll need to move your rear
wheel back again to get the most
accurate reading on exactly how many
links you'll need. Be very careful during
this step. You do not want to cut one
link too short, otherwise, you'll end up
with a brand new chain that you can't
use for anything. Just ask fellow CanyonChaser Ryan
about how much fun it is to cut a brand new chain one link too short
we suggest using a sharpie to mark
exactly which link needs to be cut off.
Then, simply, use the same method we've
already used to break the new chain to
the exact right length.
Your new master link will come with a pack of o-rings, or
x rings, as well as a pack of grease.
We need to put an o-ring on each of the
pins then apply a liberal amount of
grease to the pins and maybe even some
into the inside of the chain rollers.
Once the rivet is in place, we want to
grease the face of the pins and install
the last two o-rings over the pins.
Then, we want to place the master-link plate
over the top of the pins. The outer plate
of the master-link needs to be pressed
on, so don't be stressed when the outer
plate doesn't seem to fit the master-link pins.
To install the chain-plate
retract the chain-pin all the way into
the tool and install the press-plate in
its place. When you fit the chain tool
the press-plate should fit nicely over
the outer-plate of the master-link.
To press the master-link plate into place
use only the larger body bolt. You'll
only need a few turns to get the plate started.
You need to double check that the master-link plate is pressing onto
the chain correctly. We need to make sure
that the holes drilled into the face of
the press-plate, line up with the pins of the master-link.
If you skip this step you could damage the master link pins.
Now, it's extremely important that we only
press the master link plate on exactly
as far as all the other plates in the chain.
It's not a bad idea to measure an
existing chain-plate with a set of
calipers, and use that measurement to
ensure you push the master-link plate to the same distance.
This final step is actually the most important step. We need
to be extremely careful not to over-
flare or over-mushroom the master-link
pins, otherwise the strength of the
master link could be compromised.
We'll need to set up the tool to rivet the
pins, so remove the press-plate and,
depending on which chain tool you have,
you may need to remove the extractor pin
in order to fit the dimpled rivet head
in its place. Most chain tools will also
require you to fit the anvil on the back
side of the tool to ensure the pins
don't get damaged on the back side of the master link.
Also, there is a very specific amount of flare we want for the
master link. Typically, we want 0.5 to 0.7
of a millimeter of flare, which isn't
much at all. We absolutely do not want to
flare it smooth against the master-link plate.
Measure the diameter of the rivet
pins before you flare so you have a
starting point. This rivet measures five
millimeters, so we need to flare it a
total of 5.5 to 5.7 millimeters.
We can only flare one pin at a time, so set the rivet dimple
over the master-link pin, and make sure
the backside fits nicely against the
anvil on the back side of the chain.
Again, we only want to use the body bolt
to flare the rivet. This typically takes
less than one full turn. We like to only
turn about a half a turn, remove the tool,
and measure the flare. We're currently at
5.3 millimeters so we'll refit the chain
tool, turn about a quarter of turn, and
measure the flare again, until we get the
desired final number. Then we simply
repeat that process on the second pin.
Next, we want to adjust our chain to the
proper chain slack. If you don't know how
to do this be sure to check out our
other video that walks you through these steps.
Finally, even though the chain does
have some white grease on it, we suggest
adding a nice coating a fresh chain lube
Again, please check out our other video
that walks you through the process of
cleaning, but most importantly, lubing your chain.
And there you have it, a sparkling clean, new chain.
You'll swear your engine runs smoother and shifts
better with this new component in place.
Just be sure to properly lube and
maintain it to get the maximum amount of
life out of this expensive component.
We suggest lubing your chain every three to
five hundred miles or every other tank
of gas, more if you ride in the rain.
Well, thanks so much for watching. We hope you
enjoyed this video. Please check out
CanyonChasers.net for more product reviews,
travel logs, how-to videos, and
much much more.