AT Front Sprocket Cover

[Steve T]

Dont know why, but since I fitted a new Honda front sprocket, the cover wont go back on. The metal insert is coming into contact with the chain.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Does anyone know of a supplier of an after market, lightweight alloy front sprocket cover for the Africa Twin? Like the sort you find on motocross bikes!

Just wondering, thats all.

TTFN,
Steve T

[Boris]

Run the bike round the block. A couple of miles should do then refit the cover. Similar thing happened a few weeks ago after we changed chain and sprockets on a mates transalp. In his case the chain was just touching the guide plate under the cover as it (the new chain) was sitting a little high on the sprocket. After a few miles we adjusted the chain again and it cleared the cover.

[YEN_POWELL]

Is the sprocket on the right way? It sticks out further when the wrong way round.

[Zenarchy]

I had tons of hastle with this myself, but it turned out that the metal retainer thing had at some stage been twisted (my guess was that the bike had had a chain come off at some point that had distorted it but whoever had the bike before me hadn't noticed as it still fitted back albeit not perfectly, in its twisted state).

My problem was more to do with getting the cover tightened up without it tilting the plastic in to rub on the side of the chain (where the chain comes out at the bottom), but after spending ages messing with it in a vice and banging it with a hammer I managed to improve things a lot and the chain clearance was also better. I still don't have it perfect but it seems to be much better, and I was so sick of it I thought it'd have to do for now until I get time to have another look.

It might be worth having a look at the fiches in the tech section to see if you can spot any distortion in the metal insert.

It's a pain in the backside to get right as you can't really see what's happening behind the cover when you tighten up the bolts, and the cover and insert kind of distort each other when you tighten them up (so putting it on without the cover doesn't give much away).

In the end for me, it came down to flattening it out the best I could, then reshaping it, refitting it, reshaping it, refitting it....... until I got a reasonably good fit without it distorting too much when I tightened things up. Was a pain in the backside to get it right though.

[Steve T]

Thanks for the replies folks.

Observed on a Bikesafe course yesterday and did about 100 miles with cover off - will try and fit it on again this morning (I did half a dozen miles after I first encountered the problem, but it still interfered with the chain).

Yen, according to the book, I've got the sprocket on the right way, with the flatter side (the one with the sprocket details on it) facing outwards. The chain is aligned front to rear, another indicator thats it's the right way round.

Zenarchy, as far as I can tell, the metal insert is straight and true.

I'm away to try the cover on again. I'll let you know how I get on.

I still fancy an alloy sprocket cover though. There you go Rugged Road, a gap in the market for you to fill

Thanks again for replying,

Steve T (Hi Viz wearing, Fazer riding rider that was at the start of the longest day to wake MelJordan up )

[Zenarchy]

It might be worth checking that the insert follows the flow of the curve of the sprocket cover around the edge. Mine, once I'd flattened it out, wasn't following the cover very well (but the tabs still fit in the holes in the cover like that). Once I'd hammered it into shape so it followed the sprocket cover this helped with the chain clearance.

I'm not completely sure it's meant to follow the cover like that as I didn't have much to go on, but it did seem better once I'd reshaped it.

An alloy cover would be good (was a bit surprised to find it was plastic on mine at first - even my old cheapy cruiser had a metal cover), but on the otherhand, if mine did have a metal cover it might have made things worse when I had the problem with it tilting as it would have likely damaged the chain rather than simply rubbing away a little plastic (though I would have probably spotted it earlier I guess).

Also the metal insert if mine was anything to go by seemed to do its job quite well when the chain comes off (if that is what had happened to mine to twist it then there was no sign at all of any marks on the cover or surrounding cases from the snapped chain), so the insert, despite being a pain when it doesn't fit well, does seem to be very useful.

Good luck with it anyway. Hope it doesn't cause you too much bother.

[YEN_POWELL]

Thanks for the replies folks.

Observed on a Bikesafe course yesterday and did about 100 miles with cover off - will try and fit it on again this morning (I did half a dozen miles after I first encountered the problem, but it still interfered with the chain).

Yen, according to the book, I've got the sprocket on the right way, with the flatter side (the one with the sprocket details on it) facing outwards. The chain is aligned front to rear, another indicator thats it's the right way round.

Zenarchy, as far as I can tell, the metal insert is straight and true.

I'm away to try the cover on again. I'll let you know how I get on.

I still fancy an alloy sprocket cover though. There you go Rugged Road, a gap in the market for you to fill

Thanks again for replying,

Steve T (Hi Viz wearing, Fazer riding rider that was at the start of the longest day to wake MelJordan up )

There is a boss sticking out of the sprocket the same shape as the toothed locking plate (figure of 8 shape?) that should face outwards.

[burrich]

Hi,

I have this morning fitted a new front and rear sprocket and a new chain When it came to fit the sprocket cover..it fitted but,like the others have said the chain rubbed against it

I am sure the chain will 'bed' in but i placed some washers behind the sprocket cover on the lower bolt. This eased the cover out only a couple of mm but it worked...no rubbing

Oh...XRV 650.

hope this helps

[Steve T]

Got the cover on after doing approx 200 miles without it. So, chain / new sprocket now bedded!!!! in together.

I tried the washer fix, but there was still contact between chain & cover. Got away with the washer fix on another occasion, but not this time.

Yen,

Thanks for the piccies - Yep, sprocket fitted correctly

Thanks again to all that read and replied to this thread.

TTFN,

Steve T