so over the course of about a week or two, the teeth on my rear sprocket became non existent. I know my a chain was a little loss for two rides, but would that cause it to wear so quickly?? Basically I'm asking what I can do to keep that from happening again, cause I just replaced both sprockets and the chain, and would like to make them last.
Sprocket wear
- Thread starter Barnsnelbon
- Start date
What kind of bike, what kind of sprockets and chains?
A dirty chain will wear sprockets quickly. A dry chain will do the same.
Aluminum sprockets will wear faster than steel sprockets.
Stop and go riding with an improperly maintained chain will wear a sprocket and chain exceptionally fast.
I have an area I ride where there is a very high silt content. I have seen steel sprockets with very little wear come back looking like a saw blade after a few hours of riding there, also when doing mud riding the chain can get packed with mud and cause it to go tight, like banjo string tight, this highly accelerates wear. Also I have a 125 that can go a couple of seasons on one set of sprockets/chain.....the 250 and 300 get a new sprocket halfway thru the season just due to more torque and pressure exerted on the links and teeth. The other thing is stay away from the off brands or the cheaper offerings from the name brand companies, especially with drive components you get what you pay for. And finally clean and lube the chain after every ride and check/adjust the chain before loading up.
It's a 2000 yz250. I don't know what was on it before. But I put a sunstar aluminum front and rear sprocket with a rental r1 gold chain on it.
Go with steel sprockets, I've used SunStar recently which makes an affordable but quality product, but don't do any bargain hunting on the chain, I usually get a good 520 Renthal to throw on there.
About 4 years ago I bought some primary drive chains and sprockets. They really have been great as far as wear and stuff. I haven't done any actual racing with them just track days.
never use an aluminum front sprocket
I didn't know sunstar made an aluminum front sprocket.
It's a steel front sproket my bad.
another thing that is an often overlooked issue is chain/rear wheel misalignment. This causes the chain to dig into one side of the sprocket way more than the other. You can count the marks on the chain adjuster block, but I like to spin my wheel and look at how the chain rides on the sprocket. I do this and adjust until the sprocket is centered in the chain.
I think having it lined up is more important than having it too loose.
one of Joe Lowry's friends showed me that on a crusher about 50 years ago. (Jack James was his name.) He spent a long time getting things shimmed and in place, but told me that all it would need as long as alignment was kept was for it to be lubricated. That thing ran forever. I was surprised at how easily a chain would fly off when we started building long travel back ends, if it was the slightest bit out of alignment. It seemed no amount of tensioners etc would keep them on if you didn't have it centered. once centered, maicos and cz's (yes ossas too) with about 4 inches between the swingarm pivot and the sprocket would stay in place, loose enough not to bind, if the chain was set in the center and your pivot bearings were good.
one of Joe Lowry's friends showed me that on a crusher about 50 years ago. (Jack James was his name.) He spent a long time getting things shimmed and in place, but told me that all it would need as long as alignment was kept was for it to be lubricated. That thing ran forever. I was surprised at how easily a chain would fly off when we started building long travel back ends, if it was the slightest bit out of alignment. It seemed no amount of tensioners etc would keep them on if you didn't have it centered. once centered, maicos and cz's (yes ossas too) with about 4 inches between the swingarm pivot and the sprocket would stay in place, loose enough not to bind, if the chain was set in the center and your pivot bearings were good.
OMG, I forgot all about those loose chains when we started moving the shocks up the swing arm. Also the air box issues from this.