Recently I swapped out my rear sprocket for a 45 to yield the covetted 13-45 ratio. I am still not 100% sure that I am as big a fan of this as some others here, but I will probably keep this setup for a while. If I decide to drop my ratio a little bit, I will probably keep the 45 and go back to the stock 14T on the front, mainly to avoid the theoretical increase in chain wear that dropping to the 13T brought.

Thinking through all of that got me to thinking about chain wear and so forth. It sounds like if the 13T shortens chain life, it is because it forces the chain to make the turn in a smaller radius and, therefore, puts more focused stress/strain (?) on the chain. With all of that said, would there be any value in reversing the chain at some interval?

I can't decide if this would be good, bad or indifferent. On one hand, if there is direction wear on the drive links, then reversing the direction would move the wearing surfaces to the other side. On the other hand, I have heard everone say that you should replace chains & sprockets as a set, so swapping the chain direction might put fresh chain surfaces onto work sprocket surfaces and actually accelerate the wear on the sprockets.

I don't know. Does anyone have any thoughts about this? These are the kinds of things I think about when driving along in the blissful solitude of the world inside of my helmet. I have 4 young kids at home, so riding is the only place I find that kind of peace and quiet. Not complainin', just sayin'.

 

Never reverse a chain. If you have checked out the master link when you change a chain, it has nominal wear on one side. That shows you that 15-30% of the pin is worn away. Hence its aready a weak chain. I normally change the chain and c/s when the sprocket gets the 'hook' look at the tips. The rear sprocket is steel and big, it doesn't wear nearly as fast (like a front tire). When it 'hooks', its replaced. A good clue for chain wear is when the chain gets the dark orange powdery looking stuff on a few links, even after you just lubed it. Do a stretch test. IMO

 

My experience with mountain bikes suggests no. Chain wear is at least in large part stretch (at least on bicycles). Hold a new chain along side an old one, and you can visually see the older is longer. On a bicycle, this promotes poor shifting, as the chain no longer fits exactly between the teeth on the cogs/sprockets. I would assume the same would occur with motorcycle chains. Once worn, replace. And then there is what Tony had to say...which sounds like much more importantly than possible performance issues, the worn chain could fail with cause a wreck (or at least a long walk).

My only question is how much could moving from a 14 tooth to 13 tooth really change the rate of wear? Could it really be that significant?

 

On my KLR 14t and chain will last aproximately 5000miles, the 15t(stock) will go 8000+. Keeping in mind that 50% F/S and 50% paved roads. The KLX gets run through mud and alot of gritty stuff. 5K miles seem a good life for it.