Chain and Sprocket's?

Chains get longer due to wear on the friction surfaces, primarily the surface between the pin and bushing. If you clean your chain properly and keep lubrication on the friction surfaces your chain will last. You must keep proper adjustment for this to be true.
Sprockets get worn because when your chain gets worn it changes pitch, or gets longer. Since the sprocket is cut to fit your chain when it's new, the change of length will wear on the sprocket teeth.
If you plan on taking good care of your chain by adjusting, cleaning, and lubing properly..you can run a cheap set of sprockets and do quite well.
The "gold" chain is not what to look for although many gold chains have good integrity, you want to find a chain with a high number of tensile strength AND hard pins and bushings. Chains in catalogs usually will list the tensile strength of the chain plates and some will explain the process they go through to provide hardened friction surfaces.

The D.I.D.ERT chain is superior to Renthal R1, IMO... however both will do a good job if taken care of.

BTW...the gold color is just a coating. It is not the natural color of some magic metal.

The gold coat is to resist rust. I feel that the most important way to make your parts last is to change sprokets and chain all at once. This way they break in together and will last longer with proper care.

Dirt and sand are you biggest emenys for chain maintence. You must keep your parts cleaned and lubed properly.

Keep you chain at the right tension(about 3 fingers from the end of the chain slider) and make sure that your slider and guide are not woren out.

Since Renthal has come out with the R1 I have used it once and feel that it is comperable to the ERT. I run the ERT because it is cheaper.

I also like the Maxima "crystal clear" chain lube and Motuls offroad chain lube.

IMO: The maxima chain wax(brown bottle) is the worst on the market. The stuff is like concrete when it drys to metal parts and unless you keep you stuff really clean it will accumulate and is impossible to clean off.

Just my expierence...don't take my word for it because I don't know Jack about bikes. :confused:

BTW: If those chains WERE gold they wouldn't be on my bike I would hang em around my neck Mr. T style!!!!!

You might want to check out Motoman393's website. He has a good tip on the chain slider wearing out and the chain rubbing against the swing arm.

motoman393

Although the 'three finger method' is the comman way for folks to check chain tension, to be certain you are correct you must first set your cantenary sag properly and THEN see how many fingers you have.
With different finger sizes, slight differences in bike sags, and slight differences in sprocket sizes, the only way you can be certain of your adjustment is to first set the chain sag properly. Do it only once and then just see what it is when you get the bike down on the ground in a normal situation. Do a search on cantenary sag if you want to know how to do it.

btw...The D.I.D ERT chain has plates with tensile strength of 8,470lbs, the R1 Renthal has a tensile of 7,650lbs. Both are gold chains, and both will serve you well.