Since there is so much talk about the 520 Chain/Sprocket conversion and it seems like such a popular upgrade and increases performance with less unsprung weight and inertial resistance.....why dont the manufacturers just use the 520 driveline in the first place on the sportbikes??...why do they use the 530 and even 50 drives??? cost?? tensile strength?? longevity?? im pretty sure the upper end 520 chains from RK and DID are available in tensile strengths that exceed the std 530's...

just thought id pop the question and see what kind of responses i get.......and if you want to...feel free to flame...

 

This is a very good question. I have 2300 miles on my 06 and acording to the wear indicator on the swing arm my chain is over half way worn out. I have adjusted it 3 times now. I think the factory chain is junk. My last bike was a 1993 ZX-11 with 30,000 miles on the OEM chain.

 

dang...does no-one have any thoughts on this?? shoot....maybe the jap manufacturers never even thought of it either...lol

oh well...couple thousand more miles and ill blindly jump on the 520 bandwagon too

 

520 will wear quicker, and for non-racing use it's pretty pointless. It weighs a *little* less so you won't notice any difference on a street bike except for the fact that you'll change it more often.

 

i disagree, for example; the DID 520 ERV3 is supposedly stronger than oem. if you research the topic on www.1000rr,net you will find a lot of people with this or the RK chain with 10K plus miles on it

and every available ounce of rotating mass that you can remove magnifies significatly the faster the mass rotates
for example between the lightened rear rotor, titanium rotor bolts, and 520 conversion i took almost 3.5 pounds of rotating mass off of the rear tire

that is an extreme amount