A ride followed by a wait!!

[Loomesy]

Went out for a summertime blast, all was going well, gaining confidence in the bike after a low speed spill back in Feb (ive not had a lot of time to ride much is my excuse for being a bit scared), accelerating after a 30mph limit..then i hear 'schhgdghgshffsss' and a lack of drive. at first i thought it had seized, but that didnt make sense cos the engine was still running, so i pulled off to the side, look back and the the chain had looped itself round indicator...the bugger had snapped, 2 miles from home. (thank god for breakdown cover) cos to get home wouldve ment pushing t up a hill which is far too much effort for a saturday afternoon.
So i waited in a nice sunny spot watching the cars go by for 2 hours.
its lucky that it happened when it did cos had it happened a minute earlier or 20 seconds later i wouldve been leant right over on an opening left hander that goes under a railway bridge!!
Thought id share this with you guys...and was wondering if anyone else has experienced the inconvenience of a snapped chain, cos this is the sencond time its happened to me...the other time was on a cb500 in the outside lane of the motorway.....or am i jsut unlucky
Loomesy

[samwise]

Never had a chain snap, but did have it jump off the sprockets at about 60mph when the axle nut came loose (memo to self - never trust the work of a motorcycle mechanics )

Similar result though as I got sudden loss of drive, then grinding noise as stuff rubbed against the chain.

[MCsanandreas]

loose axel nut?i had that too,just after c+s had been fitted.
no damage cos i checked it after a 1mile ride home.

agree, DO NOT trust mechanics.

[Simon]

i'm with samwise, my dommie chain jumped off as i went through a series of bumps on a road at about 70. Thought it had snapped but then had it fixed and back going again in about a minute!

[becksvector]

Not a c&s drama but after a service at a very expensive London dealer, I noticed the battery compartment was loose. I thought I would check inside, and the rear stop lamp was disconnected and the battery was not tied down. I service my own bikes usually but was keeping up the warranty on a new one!

[MCsanandreas]

see my "dont trust the service book" thread!!

[ste]

I had a chain snap on my Dommie doing around 60mph and it wrapped around the front drive cog taking a piece out of the plastic cover and knackering up one of the fixing nuts to the cog.

Since that happend I've fitted Scott Oilers to both my Dommies and have had no further issues with snapped chains
Ste

[jimirobinson]

HI I would say the chain tension/slack is not set correctly if you are snapping chains

[Monkeyboy]

Yeah, in 2000 when the farm invasions and all the violence started in Zimbabwe I was running a safari camp at the end of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. The tar road before the dirt, runs through an area with lots of ZANU-PF supporters and was one of the places renouned for violence. Not a good place for a broken down white guy.. I was riding my XT550 back to the camp from Harare (about 250km) where I had just picked up the money for the 28 people that worked for me. In a section between villages (thank F*#k!) I was crusing round 95kph when the
engine suddenly over reved and we started coasting. I came to a stop in the middle of the badlands with a backpak full of money. Obviously the chain had snapped. It was nowhere to be seen.. Lucky it didnt snag and lock up the rear wheel. Also luckily I had overtaken a farmer a few Ks earlier who stopped and got me out of there.

[beep]

Monkeyboy, sounds a scary experience. Living in the UK, we don't realise how much hassle a simple mechanical breakdown can have. Real shame what's happening in Zim, was there in 2001 and things weren't too bad. Infact met my girlfriend there - in Gweru of all places. Was on the Lower Zambezi last month (Kayila Lodge), would have loved to have stayed in Manu Pools but wasn't willing to pay the $75 visa fees. Still that's understandable, since apparently it's entirely the UK's fault what's happening there at the moment.