Chain

It may have been in the 80s or even the 70s that somebody offered a enclosed chain setup for t140. I remember it had a metal area around
the aft sprocket and a upper and lower rubber accordion connectors to the front part. It was aftermarket. Thought it was great but was
riding my trusty Trident so never bought one.

Enclosed rear chains were not uncommon in the 50s. They didnt look SPORTY so they passed from the scene.

X-ring for older bikes have only one advantage and that advantage nearly makes up for all the disadvantages.
A clean rear wheel and guard is a wonderful thing.

Onder said:

It may have been in the 80s or even the 70s that somebody offered a enclosed chain setup for t140. I remember it had a metal area around
the aft sprocket and a upper and lower rubber accordion connectors to the front part. It was aftermarket. Thought it was great but was
riding my trusty Trident so never bought one.

Enclosed rear chains were not uncommon in the 50s. They didnt look SPORTY so they passed from the scene.

X-ring for older bikes have only one advantage and that advantage nearly makes up for all the disadvantages.
A clean rear wheel and guard is a wonderful thing.

Click to expand...

To my eyes no grime on the wheel and no grit on the chain looks damn sporty.

A clean rear wheel is one advantage x ring or O ring chain has not provided me. I lube my x ring chain regularly as per mfrs. instructions and have tried all manner of methods, dry lubes, chain wax etc, but the rear wheel still gets in a mess.

A couple of benefits of xring chain are the extra durability and lack of need for adjustment for many thousands of miles. Durability seems to be about triple or quadruple that of same brand (tsubaki, DID) non- sealed chains.

It would be good to see how a well lubed standard chain does inside of an enclosure. With a chain oiler fitted, it might equal sealed chain for long life . And truly keep the rear wheel as clean as the front.

Glen

Why not do a hobot and not lube the x-ring? I may do this and see how it goes. I dont ride on dirty road much except for my
driveway. Maybe wipe it off with WD40 and a rag now and then.

Maybe we have just put the belt in the wrong place....except for guys
like Jim.

Onder said:

Why not do a hobot and not lube the x-ring? I may do this and see how it goes. I dont ride on dirty road much except for my
driveway. Maybe wipe it off with WD40 and a rag now and then.

Maybe we have just put the belt in the wrong place....except for guys
like Jim.

Click to expand...

I have pondered the no lube xring approach too, however some wise men here suggested that the dry steel on steel of the chain rollersto sprockets would not last very long, especially for the sprockets. I might let you go first :mrgreen:

Glen

hobot tested all ways but boiling out with graphited grease to find factory oiler set to messy constant drip was distinctly best if keeping enough oil in tank and wiping tag and tail light off to avoid tickets. Also tested O and X chain with wd40 cleaning between rides to see more golden plate color worn off sooner plus sides of teeth - apparently d/t nano grit grind paste collected by lingring wd40 + some internal grease thin solvent let ooze out some on ride heat-motion. Only took me one ride to stop hand applied external sticky type lube with too obvious extra link and teeth wear, ugh. Settled on bone dry plain chain for me. I also came to conclusion that chains are like tires, to reason-balance fun time abusing them up vs tedium service time preserving them. Yoose guys may want to end up all aged and old with nice cycles to pass on but I am wanting to use up everything before I go.

hobot tested all ways but boiling out with graphited grease to find factory oiler set to messy constant drip was distinctly best if keeping enough oil in tank and wiping tag and tail light off to avoid tickets. Also tested O and X chain with wd40 cleaning between rides to see more golden plate color worn off sooner plus sides of teeth - apparently d/t nano grit grind paste collected by lingring wd40 + some internal grease thin solvent let ooze out some on ride heat-motion. Only took me one ride to stop hand applied external sticky type lube with too obvious extra link and teeth wear, ugh. Settled on bone dry plain chain for me. I also came to conclusion that chains are like tires, to reason-balance fun time abusing them up vs tedium service time preserving them. Yoose guys may want to end up all aged and old with nice cycles to pass on but I am wanting to use up everything before I go.

In all the years of riding my Norton with just heavy duty chains, cleaning them evey 6 months and keeping them lubed and in over 140,000 miles I have only replaced the chain 4 times, because I look after my chains I get long life out of them, I have used X and O ring sealed chains on my dirt bikes and now my Thruxton, but they still need to be lubed on the outside rollers and links, do this and your sprockets will love you, who cares if my wheel get dirty from lube fling off, a quick wipe and all good again, take less the a few minutes to clean with a rag, I like to look after my chains than worry about a clean rear wheel and with the amount of miles on my Norton I have only replaced the sprockets 2 times, I have seen where some only get 5,000 miles out of their chains, look after your chains and you should get well over 30,000 miles from your chain, well it has for me anyway.

Ashley

cleaning them evey 6 months

Click to expand...

Ashely your endurance claims on everything Commando is both fantastic to frustrating to read but your remark of 4 chains in 140K miles by *PROPER attendance ONLY twice a year* is too ridiculous to believe unless you were doing laps inside your clean living room. Much as my carefree chain care seems ignorant uniformed untested to rest of youall ITS because I tried every method and type of cleaner and lube, thin graphited evaporating carrier type to sticky tar like and several in between type applied like once a week to end up with too loose a chain to adjust anymore in less than 3 mo season of use plus significant visible accelerated wear on the rear teeth. I now only use my left over chain lube sprays for hand and power tools and shop devices. My buddy Wes on similar conditions came to same sad conclusion a couple decades before I got here and found a Combat instead of lawnmower, which uses same 530 chain - which I lost worn chains off worn teeth, discovered by zero turn mower suddenly moving by one tire in tight circles > by trying to lube as lube vendors tell ya to do, in one summer of cutting, so gave up on lubing mower chain too - which now lasts a couple-3 yrs bone dry polished inside while rusting on outside.

Wear on outside sidle plates of sealed or plain chain does not effect their pin/plate wear life only outward appearance that make ya think ya did something useful. Its kind of expensive to send heavy metal through mail to have cryo tempered but considering to test it for my cycles as found it extends chain saw sharpness and keeping tension like 3X longer than right out the box. Cryo tempering has a stress relief phase of slow heating to 350F so do not know if sealed chain rubber would melt-distort or not. My 1st cryo send had some woodruff keys in translucent plastic photo film can that came back a lump of melt around the keys which I had to dig apart.

While on the subject of chains what Are you guys using for chain lube... That stays where you put it.. On the chain not the rear wheel and tire

worntorn said:

All original one owner 1963 Super Rocket on it's way here next week. It has this chain enclosure. Might be worth copying for the Commando.

Click to expand...

My buddy had one of these BSA Rockets back in the 60's. I was envious! He never fiddled with or adjusted his chain, had a clean rear wheel, and I never knew him to replace a chain.

BTW ... my Atlas has mounts for a lower chain guard. Does anyone suppose Norton had their version of BSA's fully enclosed chain in the 50's & 60's? I have never seen one, but why put in the mounts if not? If such an option ever existed, any surviving examples would be rare.

Slick

Just curious, what did you and he think of the Super Rocket? I recently made a longdistance purchase of a one owner 1963 model on an impulse stirred up by a couple of photos. To my eyes they are a great looking bike and I'm hoping a half decent rider as well. I don't expect it to be on par with the 850 Commando though, obviously the SR will have more vibes and less power.

Glen

hobot said:

cleaning them evey 6 months

Click to expand...

Ashely your endurance claims on everything Commando is both fantastic to frustrating to read but your remark of 4 chains in 140K miles by *PROPER attendance ONLY twice a year* is too ridiculous to believe unless you were doing laps inside your clean living room.

Click to expand...

Steve I use gearbox oil to keep my chains lubed and have done so since I was young when I first started to ride dirt bikes when I was 15 years old, I only lube my chains when they need it but on dirt bikes thats after evryday of riding on my road bikes not so much, I find the gear box oil sticks on the chain pretty good after the first bit of fling off when first put on, I do clean the chains when on the bike but every 6 months I take the chain off and soak it in kero or diesel for a few days then lay it out to check for any tight spots in the links, I nomaly find 2 or 3 links that are starting to go tight but the soaking and moving the links loosen then up nicely, after that I have a old pot that I put the gear oil in and heat it up on the stove (do this when the wife isn't home) and get the oil very hot but not boiling then just soak the chain in the pot while cooling down usualy overnight then I hang the chain up and let the access oil drip off into a container.

I don't know why I get so many mile out of my chains, wheather its been good luck or what ever, I brought a new CRF450X dirt bike in 2007 and to this day it still has the orginal X chain and sprockets, I ride this bike very hard when out and now my new Thruxton has just clocked over 25,000 ks and the chain hasn't even been adjusted in that time.

Ashley

Great. Motor oil in a Norton drip system does not work (well) for final chain drive, go modern and thicker..

Ashley I look up to you on maintenance benchmarks and you verify what older Brit farts told me was best, boiled in Oil, hehe especially after each dirt surface ride, ugh. If only I did not dislike being a maintenance/recovery mechanic so much. The chains I really know about cut big wood and if not slinging of a line of oil before a cut then smoke and heat and dust instead of chips city - then clear oil holes and some filing - back at it. I use dirty jeans as oil rag to start bruch piles fires. Oid oil helps get the less dense piles going till falling in on itself to carry on from there. Btw I have many feet of old chain from small things to big tractor scale size hanging on wall and now and then find some use for it as straps and hangers and hinges.

Torontonian said:

Great. Motor oil in a Norton drip system does not work (well) for final chain drive, go modern and thicker..

Click to expand...

Motor oil is no good on chains, gearbox oil is good, I do use chain lube on my Thruxton in a spray can and always carry a small can with me when traveling on long trips, but so far haven't used it when on the road..

Steve I'm not a maintenacnce freak but I do it when needed, I am also not a polish freak, my bikes only get polished once a year on their birthdays (on the day I got them) and a quick wash when needed, I fix things when needed, I still have all my old chains hanging in my shed, I have alway brought my chains from Saratiney who makes industral chains here in Brisbane and have been good long life chains for me, my last chain I got sent over from Andy the chain man so will see how it goes.
I'm not ridding my Norton as much these days (was a everyday ride) but since owning my new Thruxton as I am now semi retired and my Norton is as well but I still take it out regularly.

Ashley

I have read and saw enough of your cycle Ashley to know you are not put off by plentiful rust patina and road grime and attend as needed, over more extended intervals than I can so far. Best I can hope for is one chain per 3 rear tires and one rear drum per 3 chains. When Peel in prime could go through that in couple seasons. THE GrItZ is part of life here that cuts down on everythings life wet or dry.

ashman said:

Motor oil is no good on chains, gearbox oil is good

Click to expand...

I always liked the Norton Commando concept of a chain oiler but I was never able to modulate it. I figure just about any oil is better than none but I can also see the Hypoid gear box oil being a good alternative to modern spray ones as it is designed for extreme pressure. I imagine the Hypoid might be a real dirt and grit attractor if you get of in the gravel roads much.

A small aerosol or hand pump bottle of the modern stuff is all too convenient.

ugh one reason I detest oiling my fun chains is d/t going through cases of bar oil for work chains so for those willing to get down and dirty regularly with their mechanical lovers I suggest the right stuff... chain and bar oil. Of course the phase * best oil* is always fighting words among all oil customers.


http://www.toolerant.com/whats-the-best ... ed-debate/

I'm having good results with steam cylinder oil.

Triton Thrasher said:

I'm having good results with steam cylinder oil.

Click to expand...

Had to look that one up. One add states: "Bearings Under High Temperature and Load Conditions" so it sounds like it might have some of the right stuff for non o-ring chains. Trick is getting it to all the places on a chain (non o-ring) where it needs to be and keeping it there. How do you apply it? Do you brush it on or soak the chain in it?

Anybody try something along the lines of Texaco Crater X?