melted my Riot outer chain

[eric82930]

I've been riding a ton the last 2 weeks and my outer chain went from being tight 2 totally shot while my main chain hasn't stretched at all. the side plates have a bluish color and all the links are loose. o rings are still there but not tight at all . my only guess is now that it's almost spring my ground speed has been much higher for longer periods of time and the side cover doesn't allow enough airflow to cool it with the tight backwards Bend of the adjuster. I have been riding 3 days a week since October so I will be changing out the main chain also before next season even though it seems fine. the sprockets still look great the adjuster roller has some flat spots but does the job. I drilled some holes in the side cover and threw another chain on to get me through the rest of this season.

 

[needpowder]

I noticed in my manual that Timbersled recommends changing out chains at 70 hrs. I am at 75. Lowest in the last 4 seasons.
About 2 weeks ago me and 2 buddies had a hell of an adventure because of a broken chain on his Aro 129. We were way too deep for the time of day. My bad. I carry a chainbreaker and extra master link. He doesn’t. Turns out my master link didn’t fit his chain. Lesson learned.

 

[eric82930]

I think I hit 70 hours over Christmas. But no big deal swapping in new chains. It was just shocking because I usually don't check the outer chain until the main chain needs tightened. In this case the main was just barely loose but I checked it anyway cause I'm going for a 2 day overnight ride. I'm mostly riding alone this time of year so it could have left me stranded. I've been running the RK non orings on my 380 for 2 years and haven't broke one yet. They are $25 plus the cost of a can of chain wax. I buy the longest one they make and cut it into 2 chains. I spray them every 2-3 rides and they've been lasting as long as the stock orings. I've been carrying a chain breaker and links for the RK up until mid season because I didn't trust a $25 chain could take the 65hp abuse from my 380 but it survived the deep season so I don't carry it anymore....

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

When we build our first snowbikes in 2010 we had no experience running these things, build them from TS pictures. I mistakenly made almost oil tight chain case covers. Seemed like the hot set up. I was. We fried all our chains in the side covers yet the drive chain in the snow lasted the entire time we had the kits. Didn't take long to realize the covers were just to keep your pantleg out of the chain. We swiss cheesed those covers and began processing snow through there, chains lasted as long as we had those kits.
Ditto for the ARO/RIOT, when we received our new kits and began the mounting and mods to make them work, we swiss cheesed the covers to let in snow, no chain issues riding a couple days a week and some high speed road trips. That being said we have never run the TS supplied chains, we run DID oring chains with less drag.

 

[00Tundra]

we also drill our chain case covers.