Loose chain. Open wallet.

[rubbersidedown]

Went riding today with my bro-in-law and nephew. We stopped to help a guy out with his broken down quad trailside (wiring problem) he was telling us that just yesterday his chain jumped off and he busted the master link. We lent him some pliars and he got his ride going.

I took off down the trail and was less than 200 yds from where we were just helping when my 220's engine screamed, heard a big clack, and the engine cut off instantly. I thought I blew the piston and seized for sure. Instead I looked down to see my chain off the rear sprocket and and wedged between the frame and swing arm, it cut a nice deep groove into the aluminum too.

Now I'm pushing the bike back down the trail as the same guy we helped and my bro-in-law come riding up, they stopped, I held the rear up as those guys yanked the chain free. I got the chain back on, even though it was now bent,and I was missing half a tooth on the rear. I rode it slow back to the truck and called it a day.

The chain and sprockets were brand new, only had two rides on it. $140 bucks down the toilet just for not taking up some slack on the chain before we left. "it didn't look that bad when we unloaded" My famous last words.

 

[FruDaddy]

My brother had a similar incident on the road, he was a mile from home running about 60mph when the chain broke and snagged the swingarm. The swingarm had to be replaced, as well as one of the shocks (it was a dual shock bike) and a few other parts.

 

[ridejunky]

Sorry that happened, but thanks for the heads up. I always do a pre ride inspection but often neglect
the chain tension. I'm going to make a habit of it now.

 

[gnarlykaw]

I guess I'm alittle anal in this Dept, but I replace the chain and BOTH sprockets every year. Maint, Maint,Maint...........
This year I am running the composite rear sprocket, and a Xring, and I MIGHT get by two years out of this set. 300 miles so far, and just did the first chain adjustment. Always carry a spare master link on the ride as well.............

 

[yz125rider21]

X2....

 

[19Brendan81]

Man, the same thing happened to me two weeks ago. I was doing a real nasty hill climb while my mates waited at the bottom (soft). At the steepest point I booted it to get the front up a ledge, and bang the chain was off and fully wedged in between the sprocket and swing arm. We had to spend 30 mins with a full set of tools to get the thing back on the dirt. Anyway, after this my mates checked their chains, and one was really loose. So he tightens it up and no word of a lie, doesnt get 100m from the bottom of the hill climb heading back to the car when he does the exact same thing. 30 more minutes later he was wishing he had left his chain as it was!

I am going to make a bracket that I can mount somewhere to prevent this from happening again. The gap between the sprocket and swing arm couldnt be worse, 5mm bigger and the chain wouldnt get stuck, 5mm smaller and there wouldnt be enough room to fit the doubled over chain in there.

 

[rubbersidedown]

I am going to make a bracket that I can mount somewhere to prevent this from happening again.

Not a bad idea Brendan.
It was a pain getting that chain out of there wasn't it?

I replaced both sprockets and chain yesterday and took it for a ride. I realized changing the front sprocket isn't a bad idea whether I needed it or not. The new Renthal chain and sprocket are manufactured to fit much better than just a new chain on the stock sprocket, the teeth are more narrow on the stocker, and allow a lot of movement probably increasing the chances of it jumping off.

 

[dante]

New chains seem to stretch a bit when they are new... Gotta check em before every ride... I always, always check the chain slack before each ride... A chain whipping off the front sprocket can cause allot of damage to the engines cases... Concider you self luckey it got wedged were it did instead of ripping up the engines case... Depending on were it breaks the chain end can whip up and hit your ankle too... I've broke some chains on street bikes, each time they would just spit out the back of the bike, I've been lucky...

 

[GabeM]

the funny thing is that the KDX has the easiest way to adjust a chain on any bike I've seen. it only takes about 2-minutes to loosen the wheel, tap the cams to the next notch and tighten it up again. One more reason KDX's are so awesome.

 

[Masterphil]

the funny thing is that the KDX has the easiest way to adjust a chain on any bike I've seen. it only takes about 2-minutes to loosen the wheel, tap the cams to the next notch and tighten it up again. One more reason KDX's are so awesome.

Assuming that the distance from the cam notch and swingarm pivot are equal on both sides. That's a lot of part and a long distance to have to keep true during the machining processes.

 

[19Brendan81]

I agree gabe, the cams are awesome. All my riding buddies envy my snail cams. Sure beats the hell out of trying to do it with your eye.