whats the difference? please help......

[boze]

between a "heavy duty chain" a "heavy duty o-ring chain" and a "heavy duty x-ring chain"?

i need to buy a new chain and front sprocket and dont know what chain to buy.....im on limited funds too...

Damo

[guest27]

Well heavyduty - bit thicker and bit better quality - so the X and O ring.  On an O ring chain there are little O rings between the plates to keep the lube in and the dirt out - these are little rubber doughnuts and anO ring chain will have more side flex when new to make an old duffer suggest that it is worn and needs replaced.  Best to use a chain lube for O ring chains as it needs to penetrate past the O ring and then thicken up, also needs to look after the O ring.  An X ring chain is like an O ring but the little doughnut is an X in cross section not an O - still has a hole in the middle but has 4 sealing lips - the tips of the X rather than just the  outside of the O ring.  Some say they are better at keeping out the dirt and in the lube.

I would go for either the O ring or the X ring as they are less fickle about being lubed - they still need it but the rings do keep the stuff in and the dirt out as they are supposed to - Look on a non-O ring chan as a short term economy item, that will cost more in the long run.

As to X or O - is up to you - I think the X ring is only made by one company and thus may - I repeat may - be a marketing gimmick


Now is the correct grammar "An X ring" or "A X ring"  - I have gone for AN, whilst X is not a vowel, it sounds E at the start...

R

[guest18]

*personally* I would go for the best O-ring chain I could get, if you're changing the front sprocket then you really should change the rear as well however IF it is only worn a little, AND only in one direction you will probably get away with just taking it off and turning it round so the chain is pulling on the unworn side of the teeth

Oh, and if you like riding and don't like lubing/changing chains, save up and buy a scottoiler.

And finally, when you lube your new chain, the best time is when you get home just after you park up, the chain is nice and warm so all the good lube soaks in and penetrates properly and it has all night to settle so the solvent evaporates and the lube stays on your chain instead of flying all over the back of the bike
Oh and make a special special point of lubing it after a wet ride, the effort *will* pay you back in extended chain life

I'm sure you know but I'll say for the benefit of others, it is pointless lubing a chain just before going out, you might as well just spray lube over the back of the bike and ignore the chain for all the good it does!

[beeman]

My scott oiler cost £10 at a breakers.

[SteveC#222]

Loobman costs £17 new and doesn't need you to tap into the inlet manifold for a vacuum or any special oil. I use one with an 'O' ring chain on my XBR and it only needs adjusting very occasionally.

[beeman]

srx's have a feed to the vacuum tap which is easy to splice into, allegedly

[pigafetta]

Cheers SteveC...

I've been refusing to buy a Scottoiler for ages on the grounds that, at around £70, they're overpriced and I'm tight-fisted. I've just had a look at the Loobman web-page. They look ok and £17.99! Even a mingebag like me can stretch to that. I actually got my wallet out and ordered one. For that price it doesn't really matter if its a bit crap.

Thanks for the info.
Dave B

[guest27]

Dont know loobman - but do have a Scott Oiler on the Triumph - currently on long term loan.  The Scott Oiler paid for itself within a couple of years.  Like it because once you have it working ( and on the Triumph that was not so easy) apart from filling it you can forget it, start the engine and it works, stop the engine and it stops.

Keep thinking I should be able to make one of my own..

R

[Andy M]

If you go for a scot oiler, don't get the touring reservoir that fits behind the number plate. Mine dropped to bits, never held the vacuum properly and as a result only had two settings, off and fall-off (gallons of oil on the back wheel). It look on average an hour to bleed the thing to the point any oil was moving.

I quite like the look of the lubeman but after the scot oiler experience will be sticking to spray on cans applied via a clip-on brush/applicator thingy for a while.

Why can't Triumph etc. copy the MZ set up? No shaft drive hassle, no stones in the laggy band (a la Harley) and lives for 20,000 miles plus on nothing but a big dollop of HT grease (using non O-ring industrial chain)!

Andy

[boze]

the loobman thing looks a bit funny, it says you have to squeeze the bottle to get the oil to flow, so no "install and forget it" there....i dunno, ill see how it goes.

Damo

[guest7]

Now is the correct grammar "An X ring" or "A X ring"  - I have gone for AN, whilst X is not a vowel, it sounds E at the start...

R

It's a simple rule, if it starts with a vowel sound then use 'an':
An XBR
An X ring chain

In both cases you are acting on the phonetic nature of the letter, in 'XBR, the letters would be spelled (in rough phonetic fashion) ex bee ahh (not sure how you write 'r' as a phonetic!).

My formal knowledge of grammar is poor, but I can write well enough to fool people that I'm educated. I always stumble on little things like when to use 'who' or 'whom'.

My pet hate (in true Radio 4 vein) is when people start a spoken sentence with "Firstly" or "A" then when they get to their second point they forget to say "Secondly" or "B". But perhaps that's just me

GC

p.s. at home in the daytime because I'm poorly bad and under the doctor.

[guest27]

So is she a nice Doctor you are under?  Personally I have a soft spot for nurses...

Hope you feel well soon.  Need to sort about that wheel and about our loo sooooooon

R

[peterj]

The worst thing you can spend your limited funds on is a cheap no-name chain. After my good quality DID X-ring chain (half worn) broke it's connecting link and smashed the crankcase on my SRX, I made the mistake (slow learner) of buying a cheap no name so called "Heavy Duty O-Ring chain". (I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get it running well after hotting it up during the rebuild so decided to save some money to begin with).

It stretched so badly that after about 1500 miles I had to throw it away and buy a proper one (lucked on a good DID one on ebay for the same price btw). It would go so far out of adjustment that on one 500 mile ride it was actually dragging on the top of the swinging arm.

[guest27]

Looked at Loobman site.  Now you users - it looks to me like a siphon delivery to the chain.  So you squeeze the bottle to get it running - fill the tube with oil and the siphon will run.  Any sort of restrictor in the line will control the rate of flow etc.  But how do you 'switch it off' when you stop and what stops the oil in the tube running out when you have switched it off?

And whilst I think this looks fab - have to say their comparison of spray to Loobman is a little dodgy as they admit they sprayed the chain inn the morning before use - not in the evening when the chain was warm etc. 

R

[pigafetta]

So why does one say 'An history lesson' instead of 'A history lesson'? Hmm? The H isn't silent.

Right, back to the loobman. I was wondering the same myself, Rog. It's not mentioned at all on the website and the photos don't give anything away. Obviously something they don't want to talk about. I'll let you know how it goes when I get it.

Dave B