lurking behind the front sprocket cover

[Austin]

While having a mini(ish) tour (1200miles) of Scotland this last week I noticed a bit of harshness in the drive above 50ish. It felt like C&S sprockets worn, especially front sprocket. So I took the cover off to have a look today - what a palaver with the clutch actuating rod/spring/assembly all attached to it. Anyway the main point was that I have never seen so much oily crap collected behind the cover and round the sprocket, I was surprised the chain could turn. It was baked into hard sheets of oily/muddy/sandy crud that needed a sharp screwdriver to dig out. The sprocket wasn't too bad so it'll do for a while yet but I will be keeping an eye on the muck behind the cover, it can't be good. I haven't ridden it yet but I would expect there to be a major improvement as the chain must have been rubbing on it all. Anyone else had this?

I suppose it could be the EP90 I have been running the scotoiler on.

[ADE THE BLADE]

hi austin.....when i took cover off on me ta there was a shedfull of gunk and rubbish in there and even some pieces of gravel for good measure couldn`t believe the amount of sh*te that had collected. i`ve got scottoiler fitted but its running with original oil still in there. cant do sprockets / chain any good ploughing through that lot

[StumpyFingers]

I think that is one of the main causes of chain and sprocket wear.
When cleaning the bike that is one place over looked, so all the grim found on the rest of the bike through the years is left in the hidy hole.

[Snaphappy]

I'll have a look at mine later,

[Austin]

hi austin.....when i took cover off on me ta there was a shedfull of gunk and rubbish in there and even some pieces of gravel for good measure couldn`t believe the amount of sh*te that had collected. i`ve got scottoiler fitted but its running with original oil still in there. cant do sprockets / chain any good ploughing through that lot

yup, I found some small pieces of plastic (like sweet wrappers), gravelly/sandy/gritty deposits and bigger pieces of grit behind it. It seems it must be a real dirt trap.