OK...here goes my Buddha Loves You session for today. I recently purchased an RK chain for the old GS. I got it and it looked really nice and well made. I slapped it on and lubed it up and got it all nice and pretty. I had not even put 400 miles on it when I had already noticed that it was starting to rust! :o I cleaned it and relubed it, even though I thought it was premature. But to no avail, the rust remained. At this point I was pissed after shelling out the money for this piece of SHIZZNIT! I searched the web and found an email address for RK and sent them a message telling how surprised and dissapointed I was in their product. They turned around and said it was my fault for improperly maintaining the chain. They claimed it should be lubed and adjusted on a weekly basis! I think that's a bunch of bullshit! So, take heed my friends, beware the RK chains. I had a DID previously and it lasted 4 years without a sign of rust. So, RK chains...take this! :guns: Ahhhhh, I feel much better now. Thanks for lending your ears peeps! :thumb:
Thanks for the heads up :thumb:
I was considering an RK for my next chain but I am not into weekly lubings :roll:
Yes, thanks for that info!! We will all stay away from that brand! So if you feel inclined to reply to them....tell em you just told 500 people and they will tell their friends... etc NOT to buy their stuff.
Fools, some companies are run by FOOLS!
Sorry that you had to go through this though. :cry:
Well, I was going to pick up an EK because they're cheaper, if it turns out to rust as bad I'll be know it's not because it's cheap but because they're immitating RK ;)
um,
ah,
chains rust on the side plates unless you buy the expensive ones that are nickle plated/gold annodized/or plated with a color....
and most chain lubes are black and gunky....
sorry, no bling bling for you :kiss:
the all knowing BS'er of everything GS is working on a nice clean BELT CONVERSION.....to go with his 16 inch rims and crap-shin tires :nana:
at least he won't patch a tire....i have a nice used excedra rock for him to fix a flat..... :mrgreen:
same thing happened to my frend and his RK on yzf600r .
never heard it about DID or EK. EK supposably good and realy strong.
Quote from: werase643um,
ah,
chains rust on the side plates unless you buy the expensive ones that are nickle plated/gold annodized/or plated with a color....
and most chain lubes are black and gunky....
sorry, no bling bling for you :kiss:
the all knowing BS'er of everything GS is working on a nice clean BELT CONVERSION.....to go with his 16 inch rims and crap-shin tires :nana:
at least he won't patch a tire....i have a nice used excedra rock for him to fix a flat..... :mrgreen:
I never patch tires...not when there is tubes to be put in them....Ha ha...
Belt drive thing may not work for any others...The rear 16 off a ninja 600 will take a vulcan 800 pulley...the front of the GS will take a vulcan pulley as well...The GS rear wont take the vulcans or any other aftermarket pulley. Unless they up and make the marauder system you need to make your own rear. Anyway the whole idea is that it also has to be cheap...I am thinking I should get the pieces and make it myself.
Cool.
Srinath.
Well, the chain I just replaced was an RK x-ring. The previous owner NEVER touched the chain while he owned it - no cleaning, no lube, no adjustment for at least 2 years / 3.5k mi. It looked fine when I took it off and only on close inspection, I noticed a couple of spots w/ VERY slight rust. (I replaced it because it was at the edge of adjustment spec and I was replacing sprockets, so I figured I'd do it all)
Old RK:
(http://home.earthlink.net/~jamesvogl/gs500/old_chain.jpg)
Anyway, the new one is also an RK x-ring. Only have about 400 mi on it, but it still looks brand new.
Hey I have cut my vulcan frame and put in a steel rod in it and made a lap joint and did some welding on it and let it remain un painted in Central CA for 2 years or so...No rust, still shiny metal...well a little dull and dirty metal... Then I moved to North Carolina in 02 August with that bike. By december I was dying to take it off and sand it and paint it. Rusted worse in 5 months than it did in 2 years in CA. Chains have a light smattering of lube/wax...and in Central CA that's all it takes to keep it rust free. In the rest of the country we need to chrome it and keep it indoors and it still rusts.
Cool.
Srinath.
My RK chain didn't even last me 3000 miles. I put it on, and rode just for a little bit last year. It did rust right away as well. Just thought it would of lasted longer.
Hmm... What kind of RK chains have you guys been using? Which brands have you used that fared better?
I'm suprised to hear about these premature rust problems, since I've heard mostly favorable stuff about RK's and have had good (albeit very limited) experience w/ both of mine so far.
just because they have rust on them....does not mean they are warn out
if you keep the chain too tight...the chain will wear out quick
again, not the chains fault
Not enough ifo as to your RK Chain?
Which model did you buy?
If you do not know or remember then how much did you spend on this chain?
What type lube did you use?
Where did you buy the chain?
Why do you not mention taking it back to or talking to the place your bought it from if you were not happy with the product?
The reason I ask is that RK chains can be had for as little as $20 that could fit the GS500 upwards to over a $100. I would guess that the less expensive chain would be made of steel that might not have any type of protective coating that might keep the chain from rusting.
Also we do not know where you live as far as the conditions of the roads that you ride on in that there might be salt or other items on the road that might just cause things to rust a bit more.
If you live in the snow belt there is the chance that there is still some salt on the edges of the road from winter and when you add summer rains and riding there is the likelyhood that you could of picked up salt and thus some rust could of come from it.
I live in the good old south and we do not know what snow is and we only put salt on our food and not our roads but being that I live on the coast and my front door step is only a few feet above sea level there tends to be times that the street will flood with high tides and the correct wind and we have salt water on the streets.
My point is that my bike has some rust on lower suspension parts on it from just riding it on wet streets that might have salt on them from high tides that will flood some streets on a bright and sunny day. No, I do not ride in the salt water when I see it but I would guess that when ever it rains some of the salt from the flooding is now on the streets and come rain or shine I like to ride.
Yes, you vented and I hope you feel better but I would guess if RK chains really sucked they would not be in business for as long as they have been.
Quote from: chimiveeWhich brands have you used that fared better?
The first chain I bought was an RK - M520 X - 110 LINKS. Only put an actual 2500 miles on it, and I was told it was unsafe, and no good.
I now use DID. I paid $75.20 for this chain.
Quote from: JenQuote from: chimiveeWhich brands have you used that fared better?
The first chain I bought was an RK - M520 X - 110 LINKS. Only put an actual 2500 miles on it, and I was told it was unsafe, and no good.
I now use DID. I paid $75.20 for this chain.
I have that same 80 dollar DID :nana: better last forever!
Quote from: Rashad
I have that same 80 dollar DID :nana: better last forever!
Well, I could sure tell the difference once the DID was on my bike. It's worth the over double-price.
Quote from: JenQuote from: chimiveeWhich brands have you used that fared better?
The first chain I bought was an RK - M520 X - 110 LINKS. Only put an actual 2500 miles on it, and I was told it was unsafe, and no good.
I now use DID. I paid $75.20 for this chain.
So here is another question for the people who think RK chains suck:
According to your quote above you stated that you used the "RK - M520 X " chain and you were told it was "unsafe" and yes who ever told you that it was unsafe was correct if they bothered to check the specs on that chain which who ever installed it on your bike did not bother to do because they installed a chain that was designed by RK for a motorcycle with less than 250cc diplacement such as a 225lbs dirt bike not a 370lbs 500cc street bike.
So is it RK's fault that the wrong chain was installed on your bike and it was found to be unsafe and no good after 2500 miles of use???
man, where's the smiley with the little poke stick when you need it?????
I still have the stock chain with 7600 miles on it. No rust that I can see so far. I keep it on my porch out of the rain, but it still gets all of the south Louisiana humidity 24 hours a day.
I've got a 96 gs, had for three years. I park it outside 24/7 during the late spring, summer & early fall. It still has the stock chain with not a bit of rust. It now has 14k miles & i think it's time to change it.
Thanks guys! I am glad I read this post before purchasing the RK chain. I was a few hours away from buying it at my local motorbike store. The shop quoted 110 bucks for the rk chain + front and rear sprockets. Just lucky I did not buy it. 8)
I used a DID oring chain , 11,000 Miles on it, all weathers...
a chain is a metallic item, it can rust.
I lube my chain after a rainfall/ride in rain or once a week (I ride 110 miles/day for work).
clean with wd40 and lube it with silkolene pro chain lube
(http://www.ridegear.com/showimage/large/silk0273.jpg)
never rusted on me.... manufacturer manual indicates lubing is required every 500 miles to maintain the proper operations of the chain.
i heard them "smart chains" from sidewinder are good heres a site....http://www.sidewindersprockets.com/
DID and Tsubaki do not rust (my experience is 3-4 years old though ... many be even older, I slapped a chain I had from wayyyyyy back on it 3-4 yrs ago)
Cool.
Buddha.
Chinese crap steel! Not enough chromium and magnenese=faster rusting.As particular metals rise in cost they are cutting back on the amount used to make the steel.Worst part is that along with that the tensile strength is being sacrificed also!! One has to wonder also about the suspect heat treatment of this Chinese crap. :o Go with any Japanese or American chain. :thumb: :cheers:
Quote from: pbureau69 on April 23, 2008, 04:23:58 PM
I used a DID oring chain , 11,000 Miles on it, all weathers...
I've always used DID chains, and they've always been good to me.
Actually the metallurgical properties of steel means unfortunately good ones are prone to rust. The ways to prevent this are to plate it (expensive) or to use a black phosphor conversion coating. Surprisingly this works very well and is economical but it makes it look cheap, like those cheap black economy chains and they want to avoid that because it doesn't sell like shiny though rust prone steel. When you increase the carbon to make the chain harder, chains don't stretch they wear at the pins, and make them more wear resistant the result is steel that is prone to rust. You can look it up but high carbon steel is very hard but rust prone. That is the problem we've got here. It's not cheap chinese steel it's that people don't wanna buy a black chain but aren't willing to shell out big bucks for nickel or titanium nitride plated chains. And as far as adding chromium you don't want to add too much since that'll make the metal gummy and prone to creep which would "stretch" in no time flat. I've actually had very good luck previously with plain black bikemaster non-oring chains. For $20 I was able to ride 16,000 miles, of course that meant lubing the chain every 250 miles, I just basically lubed the small easily accessed portion of the chain with a brush dippied in oil every moring before I rode.
qwertydude, you oil your chail with a brush every day, are you one of these people that just use 10w30 type oils on their chain?
in my experience, engine oil is a great thing if you like to oil your chain everyday... problem is that it gets flinged (yes fling-ed!) off the chain with usage, I dont mean to start a debate if you enjoy oiling your chain on a daily basis by all means don't let me stop you (smile).
usually you want to use an oil that is tretated so it clings to the chain, or leave properties on the metal so it remains "lubricated"
dryness (lack of lubricant) will cause premature wear at the pins.
There is a group of Wee-Stroms riders that are ADv-riders that dont oil their chain per say (stil investigating facts) but use a product that basically "lubricates with a dry product", supposed to "lube" and "coat metal" with some properties making stay lube for like 10-12,000 miles...
Ill post about it when I have more details.
cheers
My bike has sat out in the Florida elements (with a cover) since Good Friday or March 21 and it had rust all over it. My friend said it wasn't a big deal . So, I took some WD40 to it did some good cleaning and lubed it up real nice. This is the chain that came on the bike when I bought it. When it was serviced on March 20 dealership said it was fine.
Is it ok or should I be lookin' at another chain. Just want to be safe!
mary S
anyone have a link to that chain for the gs?
I only oil the chain before a ride on my honda rebel, the chain has no rings so it needs constant lubing, I'm still on my original GS chain at 12,000. Looks to me that it'll last at least 20,000. I lube the GS's chain once a week considering I'll put 700 miles on my bike in that one week. I use a special oil that I make using a one part bardhal's no smoke and one part 75w-140 mix that with enough mineral spirits about 2-3 parts to thin out just enough to make it easy to brush on and you'll have a very fling resistant chain oil that also creeps in between the links but provides plenty of high pressure lubing capability that the chain needs. Yes it is messy when it does eventually cling and but just a little bit of gasoline on a rag will wipe it right off.
Quote from: The Buddha on July 01, 2003, 07:07:25 AM
Quote from: werase643um,
ah,
chains rust on the side plates unless you buy the expensive ones that are nickle plated/gold annodized/or plated with a color....
and most chain lubes are black and gunky....
sorry, no bling bling for you :kiss:
the all knowing BS'er of everything GS is working on a nice clean BELT CONVERSION.....to go with his 16 inch rims and crap-shin tires :nana:
at least he won't patch a tire....i have a nice used excedra rock for him to fix a flat..... :mrgreen:
I never patch tires...not when there is tubes to be put in them....Ha ha...
Belt drive thing may not work for any others...The rear 16 off a ninja 600 will take a vulcan 800 pulley...the front of the GS will take a vulcan pulley as well...The GS rear wont take the vulcans or any other aftermarket pulley. Unless they up and make the marauder system you need to make your own rear. Anyway the whole idea is that it also has to be cheap...I am thinking I should get the pieces and make it myself.
Cool.
Srinath.
hey srinath if/when you do the belt conversion, i demand pics and or a write up :cheers: