Ascot 530 Chain

[wrk2ride_ride2wrk]

I'm fooling around with sprockets ATM having a hard time finding frnts in 530, an it was pointed out that the 530 chain on the Ascot is overkill ...
and correctly going to 520 would be better, lose weight more options.
Anyway asked a brainyach Japanese wrencher, why they went so heavy?

Answer; 30yrs ago chain /sprocket technology was still poor and they used conventional metals, high torque motors like the Ascot were simply busting up lighter chains, wearing out sprockets... thar ya go

[thumperdh]

Same reason the CB900F and GS1100E I had had a 630 chain on it from the factory. That was the technology at the time.

[J6G1Z]

I swapped to a 520 drive on my FT/CBR hybrid. I needed to add two washers between the countershaft sprocket retention piece to move the countershaft inboard 1/16" or so. Then I needed to add washers between the rear sprocket & the wheel to shim that sprocket outboard a fraction of an inch. This was to align the chain into a straight run. I don't know if you would need to shim sprockets on a stock bike. The XR & XL 500 used a 520 chain & I'm thinking they subject their drive to much harsher conditions than an Ascot. The 520 swap removes a lot of weight from the rotating mass & quickens acceleration. I had intended to weigh the 530 drive vs. the 520 drive, but forgot to do so. I'm guessing that there may be 5+ lbs. difference.

I bought my drive system (matched set of 520 sprockets & chain) from Sidewinder Sprockets: http://sidewindersprockets.com

This is also a good opportunity to change your gearing ratio. I originally ordered a 16/39 sprocket combination. Sidewinder mistakenly sent me a 17/39 combo. Instead of changing it out, I tried the 17 CS & it works fine. There is a bit of clutch action required to get my 200# started from a dead stop, but after that, it runs nice!

Good luck
J.

[thumperdh]

This is also a good opportunity to change your gearing ratio. I originally ordered a 16/39 sprocket combination. Sidewinder mistakenly sent me a 17/39 combo. Instead of changing it out, I tried the 17 CS & it works fine. There is a bit of clutch action required to get my 200# started from a dead stop, but after that, it runs nice!

Good luck
J.

I have a 15t 16t and 17t on hand. Most of my riding on my Ascot is city with some back roads riding but very rarely freeway. I'll break it down how I feel about each sprocket when combined with the stock rear sprocket (42t)

15t: Works great out on some twisty back roads but is a little buzzy when keeping up with traffic. I live on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area so much of my riding is four-lane stoplight to stoplight. The 15t gets up and goes off of the line but first gear is limited to just about walking speed tops. I also can't seem to decide what gear it wants to be in at around 40-45mph, fourth seems too low and fifth seems too high so I usually just decide to leave it in fifth and go 50mph anyways. Also wheelies, you know, if that's your thing. 

16t: I may be a little prejudiced and also hopped up on a cocktail of alkaseltzer, Tylenol extra strength cold medicine, mucinex and a few cups of espresso to balance the whole thing out but I absolutely love the 16t sprocket for my style of riding. It gets rid of that annoying, should i be in fourth or fifth issue that I had mentioned while still giving the bike some get up and go acceleration. I've ridden with this combo on a 127mi trip and cruised steadily without feeling like the bike was going to vibrate itself apart at 55-65mph. I also don't have to give it a Fred Flintstone style pedal to lug my 190lb frame away from stoplights with enough revs to frighten pedestrians or people in nearby office buildings. Which leads us to....

17t: I put this on my FT because for some reason I though it would be a good idea to slap on an old spitfire fairing I found at a garage sale, combo it with this sprocket and attempt to ride my over-sized lawnmower on a 22-mile freeway only commute to work. But... we learn from our mistakes. So i ditched the fairing and just stuck with the 17t sprocket out of sheer laziness. Now this sprocket is great if you live somewhere with nothing but straight, flat roads and want to take long trips without stopping, but in that case you probably wouldn't be using your FT for that. All cynical comments aside the 17t sprocket is high strung. It takes a lot for me to scream my way out of stoplights and giving it a little push off with my legs and a hand full of throttle helps me along. This sprocket once again solves the aforementioned  "should i be in fourth or fifth" problem by totally eliminating the need for fifth gear. With this sprocket combo i did a close to 200mi loop one night and don't think I used fifth for anything but back road cruising at 60-65mph.

TL;DR: 15t for hooligan fun or sub 50mph road burning, 16t best all around combo in my opinion, 17t better be a flyweight or go for more high speeds.

Hope this helps and I didn't just type an unintelligible mess.

-ThumperDH

[wrk2ride_ride2wrk]

Cheers fellas

well... Im at the 15 frnt & 45 rear and its fine on the dirt roads & their inclines, but I had it in some greasy mud & inclines on Fri and had to ride the clutch a bit, so for what I'll be doing might go to a 47 rear. Need to get tye revs up down low.

J,  the Ft has a heavier crank than the XL500 ( I read ) so guess thats why they went with the 530.

 BTW my change has ATM increased my torque by 6.7% 47 rear will increase it to about 8 something

[ex110x]

I use a 520 set up on my race bikes. It works fine. I use an XL500 front sprocket and a Suzuki GS500 rear. That way I don't need to buy them as a set and can pick whatever size I want. I generally use JT sprockets from Dennis Kirk. The GS500 has the same bolt pattern as the FT.

[WTF304]

What year GS500 ? I want to go lower on my front sprocket and I would like to keep my rear sprocket count close to 36 so I have some top end. I have changed to a few combinations but i still like to find a happy medium that suits my needs

[WTF304]

I ordered a 14T front from the XR/XL and also a 39T rear that comes from the GS500 and also fits the somewhat newer Bandit and just an ordinary 520 parts-unlimited chain. I realize that this combo lands me at 2.785 ratio as opposed to my 2.400 ratio on my 530 chain, but if i don't like the 14T I'll get a 15T and that'll get me at 2.600 and given it might be lighter should be decent. I'll have to take some video of the differences

[WTF304]

Well 1st gear wheelies as easy as WOT, 2nd gear wheelies easily also ... no pull up on the bar or work the clutch either so that was an instant smile. I made some spacers for the front sprocket since it's not as wide as the original plus I wanted to make sure the chain had a straight run, a few washers took care of the rear sprocket. Still haven't got to give her a real ride yet but not a bad start .... I use to barely touch 5th gear and if you weren't doing over 55 mph on the highway just cruising around don't bother ... 4th gear use to go to 77 mph till shift time.

[triguyracer]

What years Suzuki gs500 rear sprockets work ,want to change  mine to 520 but  don't want to buy the wrong year gs500 rear,my gearing now is 16  41  works well for most the riding I do .might drop one more tooth on the rear to 40 bike pulls away from stops no problem now and I weigh 215 so I think I can get away with one less tooth on the rear

[WTF304]

I looked up mine using Dennis Kirk, you'll need a front sprocket for roughly the same year XR / XL ... the spacers I made myself they aren't exactly needed ... I made them for peace of mind. As for the rear, the GS500 is also the the GSF600 bandit and also the 86 - 87 ... or I think it's 87 - 88 GSXR750. It's the same size ... or dimensions. ... only the tooth count is what you can get different. Get a 520 chain that's atleast 110 links .... I had to remove some but that's better then needing some.

[triguyracer]

Thanks for the info ,already have a 520 sprocket for the front.

[triguyracer]

Well bit the bullet and did the 520 conversion,16 and a 39 on the rear worked out very well,a little tall in first gear if you live in a spot that u will being going from a stop on a steep hill, but pulls okay,moved about 5 years ago out to the central valley of CA where the roads are straight and flat so gearing works good here,might work better with a 40 or 41 if you live in a place where there are very steep roads and very winding ones like where I used to live in the Santa Cruz or Watsonvlle area, I lived on the coast for 45 years where there are lots of great winding roads,Used a 39 tooth  86 87  Suzuki gsxr rear sprocket, fit perfect, used a Honda xr 16 tooth on the front ,the spacer I made out of a spare locking washer that I had that locks the sprocket to the your output shaft, took one lock washer and took the die grinder and trimmed all the high parts on the lock washer, this way it would slide all the way down on the shaft and spin around and was able to aline the bolt holes with the sprocket then I put the one on that was able to lock the sprocket by turning and alining the bolt holes,this way I have it shimmed it from the outside of the sprocket instead of trying to shim from the seal side   

[WTF304]

You did basically the same thing I did for spacers triguy, can't go wrong keeping those old locks around. I wasn't worried about by the case cause there is a collar the pushes into the counter shaft seal and it sticks out just a little further then the seal, so I know that my spacer will rest against the collar. I had a 16 on mine when I still had the old 530 chain setup, don't know gor certain if clearance was a problem or if it was the links binding up but it started to wear away the engine case ..... not something I was comfortable with to say the least so that's what made me do the 520 conversion as well as go with a 14 for it

[triguyracer]

Was probley your chain that was bad ,I was running the 530 with a 16 on the front and at first the stock rear and then changed to the 41 on the rear,the gearing was real good ,might have over done it a little by going to a 39 on the rear and 16 on the front when I went to 520,will have to put some more miles on it as I only gave a test ride of about 7 or 8 miles,Will give it a ride of 2 to 3 hundred miles  in the next week or two,want to see how well it will pull the grade over the pass over to Hollister,its a long very steep grade that goes for a number of miles and I will see how well it works,every one here is hauling ass on the freeway 75 plus in most places if your not in the big city even in the slow lane there all doing 65 so I will see how well it works.Due to my weight top gear roll ons might be a little slow.lol

[triguyracer]

Put about 30 miles on it with the gearing on some straight flat nearby roads,the bike runs no problem at 65 and pulls up to 75 okay for passing and does not feel stressed at all,pulls okay from a stop and works good in town even with my weight,so far has turned out to be a good change