520 O ring Chain - yea or nay?

"Seems like allot of $ for me as I wouldn't benefit from the expense.
It gets lubed at 600-1,000 mile intervals after a ride while hot."

I have to admit I'm very confused over this. I need a new chain and gearbox sprocket anyway but it's 500+ for the complete conversion or around 150 for a new standard chain/sprocket. Is the X ring 520 chain going to have over 3x the life of a standard 530 chain? I realize the conversion includes sealed bearings but I have to admit I don't see that as an "upgrade." Lubing wheel bearings is normal maint and the tires are going to be worn out before the bearings need re-greasing so both sort of go together - changing tires/lubing bearings - the wheels are off the bike anyway.

Heck, I don't know...

There's people on here with over 20,000 miles on an 520oring chain.

Decision is mainly on how much effort time you spend by keeping plain chain well oiled or effort time to earn it at regular job to buy 530 sealed chain or the 520 conversion. Well oiled normal use chain can go over 15K i'm told, similar to sealed.
Each plain chain use w/o it being significantly oiled accelerates its wear, while a forgotten about seal chain is still good to go. Any clean up time is an extra cost over the above but is only a self image issue not a slur to good maintenance mechanic.
So its a toss up between traditional messy messing with chain vs install and forget a seal chain a long time. Owners wanting to keep at it will WD40 sealed chain to keep golden color brighter.

I'm doing it both ways at once, plain chain on plain Jane Trixie Combat but 530 X-ring on Ms Peel and let it eat it way to silent running a long time.
I avoid the mess on plain chain in gritty condition just letting it run dry till links lift too easy out valleys then replace, but no mess thankyou.

Heck, I can't figure out if I'm trying talk myself INTO or OUT OF the 520 conversion...

Ok I was being conservative on the plain oiled chain life, 20K being reported also by the disciplined. This is not a new issue to me or others, who've hashed it out years ago. Truly its a toss up to oil like a busy mechanic or run sealed lazy chain - similar life. How to covert that to money or time only you can decide. I feel I can earn unlimited money until I run out of time. I like cleaner rear end views myself.

X-Ring Chain. Another one of those "set it and forget it" type of upgrades. You will not be sorry.

In a nutshell, I think it comes down to whether you want a long life chain or long life sprockets. I know which I would rather change. I run a 530.

Run 530 Xring and have long clean chain and teeth life.

This is new to me. What needs to be modified here? The top (Points) of the spocket teeth? Or is it the flank angle of the teeth or the radius at the bottom between teeth? Turning the tops down would be pretty easy. Altering the profile a bit more involved.

MarshalNorton said:

I stayed stock Mike.
I've put almost 2,000 trouble free miles on my stock set up.
I guess if it was my dispatch bike ridden in all climates I'd upgrade.
Seems like allot of $ for me as I wouldn't benefit from the expense.
It gets lubed at 600-1,000 mile intervals after a ride while hot.
Marshal

Click to expand...

smart man - lube my 520 about same as you Marshall - real cleaning every 2-3 k - last long time

don't believe the the hype, the revolution will not be televised

Mr Gray,
I like your thinking a true decendant of the orig. Boston Tea Party.
:shock:
Marshal

Width of teeth need to be ~.01" narrower than the width of the chain links gap.
So 520 chain has 1/4"-.250" gaps, so sprocket teeth need to be .240" at widest part.
Teeth tips need some tapper to assure links don't snag on encountering teeth tops
and slab sided the rest the way to valley.

By what ever amount you can lift chain links out of the valley at very rear of sprocket, is the amount of meat and area of teeth the chain is pulling on. Tips get worn then bent over then to mere humps or removed in short order there after. Chain tension or slack has NO effect on this vital measure to monitor. I learned the hard way in gritty conditions trying to extend my chain expense/effort, ended up with sprocket expense/effort to boot. When i can begin to lift links out I know not to put down harsh power or faster accelerate the losses.

Personally I would love a group buy of spools of various chain at some discount then spend a few dozen feet to each one involved. i"m still working on a left over spool of plain m/c 530 chain for $20, so far re-chained Wes's 750, and both sides of dual chain reduction on 0-turn mower and enough left over for 2 more Commandos at least.

Then we need tools to grind off-push out and mushroom rivet type sealed master links. How much fun your cycle can take depends on how much its worth it to ya.

I'm with mikegray and marshal on this one. Regular 530 chain is very cheap and works fine for a 50 hp motorcycle. I don't see the point in upgrading from stock unless you plan to use the bike as a daily rider, touring, racing etc. Same goes for many of the other Commando mods available like hydraulic clutch, electric starter, belt drive, anti wet sumping taps, electronic speedo etc. I am sure they are great mods but I just don't care that much. For me, my Commando is a vintage bike that is ridden a few thousand miles a season so a mostly stock setup is just fine.

now you've done it -

its common knowledge around here that the more expensive it is the better it is ! :shock:

tpeever, you have a real point there, so much so I got me a plain real Norton Combat and its such an easy delightful operator I expect to keep it longer than my outrageous special that's got about nothing really Norton left. But if 530 x-ring will fit w/o anything but its self machining a clear run, I'll use that for longer life less than plain dry or oily chain thank you. First got to wear out the regular chain on it.

Yet the bike I really want to live on for most my travels is the special not the stock one, sheeze.

Tpeever- Exactly. Thank you.

I went through this conversion for my 66 Atlas only becuase it was built to take to track days on occasion. In hindsight I wouldnt have bothered with converting a 530 drum, the intermittent cutting can be hard on cutting tips. For my back up I just purchased a new early domminator drum, much much easier. The other issue I ran into was really tight clearance on the norton geabox case, but perhaps the AMC box doesnt suffer from this.

I got bored during the process and took a pic.

Personally i now view 520 size teeth as shooting a hole in your life raft or rubber boots in pond pig poo. Here's photo of 2nd 520 drum I had done. I got about 3 front sprockets wear per each rear drum use up. Ran out of front sprockets before this drum got totally wiped out like the prior one, but the writing was on the tips, soon some ways from home, zinging up Mt's would require a tippy toe or tow home, again. BTW I only had 5000 mile on Full Power Peel plus last 2000 mile of mild powered Peel. 520 X-ring is still good to go, but made mistake before lession sunk in and ordered up Al 520 rear sprocket for the new Ms Peel, but expect to use it up on first 1000 miles of mild break in, then revert to robust 530X-ring letting it eat its own clearence to silence in one trip out to pavement.

Tear bike down and install a rear link so even a novice can give them seasoned racers on elite bikes a run for the money, but you will just be having a blast while they are in skill testing terror to keep up.

The only benefit I can see now for 520 sealed chain is to get more fuel efficiency with cleaner appearance on low powered long range touring or to use up real fast in real fast usage like real racers do their tires and drive train.

Most seem to picture 520 as upgrade to ride harder and why I tried it of course but here's the rest of the story on what it does to thin rear teeth on full Commando torque. If using it like I did in hi G glee, expect about 3 front sprockets wear out to each rear drum. I used up one drum and almost this 2nd one before ran out of front sprockets on hand and decided not to use 520 no more in the long run.

oops sorry didn't notice already posted my conclusions on end of my 520 chain days.