GuyBoden
Guru
- Location
- Warrington
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- Thread starter GuyBoden
- Start date
-
- Tags
- chain single speed
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Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
Why bother? Single speed bicycle chains are cheap as chips and last ages if the chain-line is good and you're not Chris Hoy....
oldwheels
Legendary Member
- Location
- Isle of Mull
I got a Raleigh Shopper from a recycling place. It had a 3 speed SA hub and what appeared to be a motorcycle chain. Worked ok. I think the chain was put on as they did not have a half link to get the correct tension.
All uphill
Still rolling along
- Location
- Somerset
I think @silva is the person to ask.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
If you have a proper track bike, does chain stretch matter - can't you just move the wheel back to take up the slack?
Brandane
Legendary Member
- Location
- Costa Clyde
The chain for my motorcycle probably weighs as much as some bikes, so you might not want to try a Honda VFR 800 chain!
Strength is of little importance considering just leg power.
The reason I tried this, was to decrease the lengthening rate of the chain, because that eats more expensive sprockets.
Longer pens, thicker plates have bigger mating surfaces, so a same amount scraped off material is divided over a larger surface, and thereby less in the length direction.
Over a month I will be riding 2 years with such type 420, I choosed a Regina Urban OROY. The first one has run about 35000 km (20 months, every day, 60 km)
There's one little issue: the pin diameter is slightly larger than bicycle standard, so using a bicyle chain hreaker can get jammed.
I adjusted one by drilling out the hole to 4 mm (the pen diameter is 3.97) and that worked.
Though I just started to use a punch and a hammer to remove links, it's less work, less risky. I took a steel block, drilled a hole in it, as to be able to hammer a pen through.
The reason I tried this, was to decrease the lengthening rate of the chain, because that eats more expensive sprockets.
Longer pens, thicker plates have bigger mating surfaces, so a same amount scraped off material is divided over a larger surface, and thereby less in the length direction.
Over a month I will be riding 2 years with such type 420, I choosed a Regina Urban OROY. The first one has run about 35000 km (20 months, every day, 60 km)
There's one little issue: the pin diameter is slightly larger than bicycle standard, so using a bicyle chain hreaker can get jammed.
I adjusted one by drilling out the hole to 4 mm (the pen diameter is 3.97) and that worked.
Though I just started to use a punch and a hammer to remove links, it's less work, less risky. I took a steel block, drilled a hole in it, as to be able to hammer a pen through.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Usually, though very powerful legs and very poor cycling technique can destroy chains. I've seen it done, after warning the rider in question that unless he changed the way that he rode, he would kill his chain. He didn't, and he did!
I searched alot for a motorcycle sprocket as chainring, but I couldn't find any for my configuration.
keithmac
Guru
I think it would be an engineering job to modify one, you'd want a rear sprocket as the front chainring but modifying a motorcycle front sprocket to fit a bicycle rear wheel would require an adaptor and a lot of work!.
Saying all that you'd be hard pressed to wear them out. JT sprockets are very hard wearing.
I asked JT sprockets. They had 1 candidate for my gear:
The BCD is 130 mm, but only 4 mount holes, while mine is 5.
About wear, my experience is that the major determiner is the chains wear.
Even a hard wearing sprocket can be worn easily by a worn chain.
Imagine that a sprocket would not wear at all, the teeth would not insert in the links. Something is gotta give, and a chain outnumbers a sprocket, in amount links versus teeth, and metal mass.
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Ofc it isn't essential, one can run any wider chain on any narrower sprocket and the pitch is indeed most important.
Nevertheless, a correct pitch doesn't imply a suitable chain, there are chains that have a larger roller diameter which renders these incompatible.
For ex, years ago I bought some stainless steel roller chains on a flea market together with a whole bag quicklinks dirtcheap, with the idea to mount such one in winter with salty roads. I tried to mount one as a test, I could lay the chain on the ring, but after so many links the rollers didn't drop to the valleys between the teeth anymore. Later on I found in specs of the in steel printed numbers this as reason. It was an industrial chain. JFYI.
Edit: looked it up - I store data in .txt files for later reference.
The printed type was 8BSS
The specs were:
Pitch (P): 1/2"
Roller Width (b1): 0.305 = 7.747 mm
Roller Diameter (d1): 0.335 = 8.509 mm
Overall Width: (L): 0.669 = 16.9926 mm
Pin Diameter (d2): 0.175 = 4.445 mm
Link Plate Height (h2): 0.472 = 11.9888 mm
Link Plate Thickness (T): 0.060 = 1.524 mm
Average Tensile Strength (LBS): 2,727
That roller diameter, 8.509 mm.
5/16" * 25.4 mm = 7,9375 mm.
So, that industrial chain 8BSS had rollers of 0,5715 mm larger than bicycle / motorcycle specifications.
Nevertheless, a correct pitch doesn't imply a suitable chain, there are chains that have a larger roller diameter which renders these incompatible.
For ex, years ago I bought some stainless steel roller chains on a flea market together with a whole bag quicklinks dirtcheap, with the idea to mount such one in winter with salty roads. I tried to mount one as a test, I could lay the chain on the ring, but after so many links the rollers didn't drop to the valleys between the teeth anymore. Later on I found in specs of the in steel printed numbers this as reason. It was an industrial chain. JFYI.
Edit: looked it up - I store data in .txt files for later reference.
The printed type was 8BSS
The specs were:
Pitch (P): 1/2"
Roller Width (b1): 0.305 = 7.747 mm
Roller Diameter (d1): 0.335 = 8.509 mm
Overall Width: (L): 0.669 = 16.9926 mm
Pin Diameter (d2): 0.175 = 4.445 mm
Link Plate Height (h2): 0.472 = 11.9888 mm
Link Plate Thickness (T): 0.060 = 1.524 mm
Average Tensile Strength (LBS): 2,727
That roller diameter, 8.509 mm.
5/16" * 25.4 mm = 7,9375 mm.
So, that industrial chain 8BSS had rollers of 0,5715 mm larger than bicycle / motorcycle specifications.
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