Yes!

It's an old thread, but people reading it might be left thinking that it's a really good idea (to cable tie sprockets to your bike). It isn't, because they will eventually snap and the sprockets fall off. It might take a while, and if you ride predominantly on tarmac or well graded roads you may never experience it. But why take the chance?? You should only really need to carry front sprockets as a rear sprocket should last at least 30,000 miles if you take care of the chain. One or two front sprockets take up hardly any room in your luggage, or possibly your tool kit.

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UK to Mongolia 2009, on a DR350

I wish I had taken a set of sprockets with me when riding clockwise around South America. A tooth on the front sprocket chipped off in Brazil. The recommendation was to replace both sprockets and the chain. The bike had ~20,000 miles on it, so I did it. Got a new air filter and had the road tires I was carrying on the back of the bike mounted, swapping out the off road tires. Total bill ~$1000.00 at a BMW dealer in Sao Paulo (w/ 10% discount.) Foreign parts are hit with hefty import duties in Brazil. And BMW dealers generally get it right the first time and charge a premium. I just wrote up this one to the cost of adventure. Now I'm home and looking at sprocket prices and realize if I had carried my own spares, I would have saved several hundred dollars and simply paid for labor.

Limits and space restrict how much you carry. There are hundreds of trade off and decisions. I left with street tires on the bike and a spare off road front and rear tires across the back seat. I switched these tires out a few times, depending on road conditions. In some countries it was absolutely cheap to have the tires swapped out. I also carried spare inner tubes. On my LAST riding day in Mexico I ran over something and punctured the rear tire. At that point I had ~30,000 miles on the tube and replaced it instead of patching.

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Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride

Zip ties will not fatigue like metal as they are plastic, but they are not as strong and are easier to cut.

the choice is yours.

each has pro's and con's

YEP ... Old Post ... but a very good point above!
Front sprockets wear about 3 to 1 vs. rear sprocket. But if your chain is a cheapo or worn out ... it will ruin a good sprocket in short order. Keeping a fresh front sprocket on will extend chain life substantially.

The other KEY THING here is to start your trip with a brand new, high quality X ring chain. I like DID 525 X ring vm2 on my DR650 ... I use mostly OEM sprockets and change front sprocket at about 8 to 10,000 miles ... or sooner
depending on conditions. (water & mud very hard on chain/sprockets)

I've run through 3 DID X ring chains ... each did around 25,000 miles ... and each used 3 front sprockets and just ONE rear sprocket over those miles.
All were kept CLEAN and OILED.

If you start with NEW, high quality parts ... then you should easily make 20,000 miles before a chain and new rear sprocket are needed. So plan your
service stop for somewhere that carries parts for your bike and sells QUALITY X Ring chains ... which last about 30% longer than O ring chains.

Cheap chains will eat new sprockets and fail in around 10K miles, depending on use/abuse.

I've always zip-tied sprockets and spare levers to my frame. Usually under the rear subframe where you can't see them.

Never ever lost one or had zip-ties fail.

You HAVE to use the proper thick industrial zip ties though. They're more than up to the job.

It's when people use too few or too small zip-ties, is when they fail.

I think the biggest weakness of zip ties is that they're obviously must softer than metals. They will snap eventually if being chaffed or melted if near exhausts.

Lock-wire is another good solution but more fiddly and usually marks everything and rubs paint etc.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Is 525 the most common chain width to run in terms of finding chains abroad and spare links etc if required?

Depends where you are... Most smaller bikes will probably run a 520.

And in some countries, they're the only bikes you will see.


I know I'm jinxing myself here but I've never had a chain snap in my whole life. That's over 15 years of riding, hundreds of thousands of miles. On and off-road, racing etc...

If you buy a GOOD quality chain and have it PROFESSIONALLY fitted, keep it adjusted and lubricated, it won't fail...

The only times I've ever seen snapped chains are when they've been so rusted they're practically rigid or crazily over tight/loose.

The other failure reasons are chain rollers worn down to the metal or missing all together.


It's not rocket science to prevent all of these scenarios and is the most very basic of maintenance and is unforgivably stupid if you're going on a long bike trip.

It's like people killing their bikes by running out of oil..... I mean.. REALLY... !!! REALLY !!!!

You wouldn't jump into a leaking boat to cross and ocean or ride a camel and never feed or water it.. ~~

Okay I'm ranting..

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

"You wouldn't jump into a leaking boat to cross an ocean" - i would suggest that Ted has never been on a gambian boat then

Hah. Bad analogy perhaps..

Didn't know the Gambia had an ocean to cross ?

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__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

[QUOTE=*Touring Ted*;457788] Didn't know the Gambia had an ocean ? /QUOTE]

Badaboom-Tish! Only the Atlantic Ted but what the heck!
Time to update your gps methinks!
p.s the chain trick is to buy a high quality DIX-X (or Z for extremes) chain and have it professionally riveted shut.
That way you have to drop the swing arm to fit it and take the opportunity to grease those bearing which seldom see any (especially if -m-wobble-U have anything to do with them! - sheesh!)

Spot On! Totally agree!

Bertrand,
When was the last time you replaced a chain? Been a while, eh?
I agree with with using an X ring chain, and Rivet link. Absolutely no good reason to use an old style clip type master link. If done correctly, a rivet link will not fail.

But to my point ... NO REASON to remove swing arm to replace any chain, ever. Most Japanese bikes come from the factory with an "Endless" chain. Swing arm need NOT come off for replacement. I can break the chain in under one minute with my simple, Made In China, $5 tool. This one is 30 years old:

New aftermarket chains are not "endless" type. Only need be fit, cut to length and riveted up. Done!

I also bought an inexpensive Rivet link tool and with some practice, can now install a new Rivet link. Not a big deal.
But it is a good idea to pull the swing arm and grease those bearings ... maybe once every 3/4 years? More if rain riding a lot or crossing lots of rivers.

[QUOTE=Bertrand;457792]Ahhhhhh alas. I know the gambia has an atlantic coast but a country does not 'have' an ocean to cross. My level of pedantic 'smartass' was two steps ahead..

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Well it might as well be an ocean - they have a river which splits the country , sort of . Read what you said and the ferry that crosses it sprang to mind immediately

Its all in good humour......

I wish I'd been to the Gambian.. :'(

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__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Ted , you really havent missed much , its knocking on the door of the worse country i have ever been too . Best thing about it was a small road side shack run by two lads from seirra leone who had fled the conflict . Highly educated and very scathing about the politics of africa - many hours learning from those who know .