'80 gs750 chain and sprocket r&r

[The Fiddler]

Just replaced chain and sprockets on my bike and thought some pics might be fun.

I went with 630 chain and sprockets, all steel. I debated the whole conversion thing but it seemed easiest to just stay 630. My original front to rear tooth ration was 15t:40t and I decided to jump up to a 42t rear. So far I like it. Rpm's are just a bit higher at various cruising speeds and off the line feels a bit more torquey. I have not done any highway travel yet but at a comfortable highway speed of about 110kph it never seemed to be revving too high before so a few hundred more rpm shouldn't be too noticeable.

I will include a few pics of the job, including two little tricks that
I came up with while struggling with the front sprocket nut, and pressing the master link together.

First, a simple combination wrench can hold back the sprocket in either direction while you crank on the nut.


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[The Fiddler]

Second, a 1/2" wire rope clip as a chain compression tool. This was an awesome find! I was struggling with getting the master link plate on, tried c-clamps and vise grips but wasn't having any success. I took a break and wandered around the garage looking for something that might do the trick and fell upon this in my rigging box. The clip is designed to hold two 1/2" diameter wire ropes together but makes an excellent chain compressor. It fits exactly over the round part of the link and squeezes one rivet at a time. These are just a couple of dollars at your local Home Depot in the chain and rope section, and more expensive load rated versions can be found in industrial rigging supply stores. Beats a high priced tool.

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[The Fiddler]

I ended up rounding over the ends of the rivets with a ball peen hammer rather than staking them. I assembled the chain with it on the bike so I couldn't really get anything behind it to hit against, and didn't want to pound against my sprocket that hard. The pic has one with the edges rounded over and one still un-rounded.

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[The Fiddler]

The finished product.

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[Regent]

Looks like this might be my next project..... Thanks for posting your experience!