630 to 530 Chain Conversion

I've heard of converting the stock 630 chain to 530 and one of the reasons given was cost savings. I need to replace chain and sprockets on an 82 1000 LTD. This has a 630 chain with 15/39 gearing and a chain length of 96 links. Pricing it at my favorite suppliers I find the best pricing to be $149.24.
Converting to 530 chain and maintaining final drive ratio I come up with 18/47 gear ratio and 115 links for a chain length. Shopping this combination the best price I come up with is $147.70. (From the same supplier as the 630 coincidentally) Total savings of $1.54.
Seeing as to how I would replace the sprockets anytime I replaced the chain, is there some other advantage to doing this conversion besides color availability? :blink:

Guys say the 530 is lighter. Other than that I see absolutely no advantage. I've got another thought too. Every turn of the wheel on a 39 tooth spocket you have 39 teeth rolling over 39 rollers, where on a 47 tooth 530 you would have 47 teeth running over 47 rollers. To me and my limited mental capacity, this meens the 530 will be seeing about 20% more mechanical wear in the same miles vs. a 630 chain. Of course many other factors such as more teeth will be engaged at one time on a 530 chain so stress will be distributed over more links of the chain to even out the wear? Now like I say, my mind is not always on track, so anyone else comment?

I did the 630-530 conversion on mine a little over a year ago. I don't remember the exact price but seems like it was about $20 less than you quoted. I can't be sure though since I didn't save any of the paperwork. I got it from Z1E though so if you haven't checked there you might want to try them. The reasons I changed are that it seems to be easier to locate 530, a little cost savings, weight, and I decided to change the ratio and 530 offered more flexibility from what I could find. I didn't think about the wear part that was previously mentioned but thats something to consider.

Back in the day they developed bigger 630 chains for powerful bikes like the Z1. 35 years later with the advancements in materials / metalurgy, they could go back to using a 530 for bikes with double the power of the Z1. You're going to get more of that power to the ground when the chain is lighter with less rolling resistance / drag than the old 630's.
My '84 GPZ is due for a new chain and I think I will convert to the 530 through Z1 Enterprises.

Stephen

THe advantages are many, and there are really no disadvantages to going with 530.

The chains are slightly lighter (about 1lb of revolving weight), so this equates to a small percentage increase in HP at the rear wheel.

The X-Ring chains last longer than 630 O-Ring chains. Based on comments for hundreds of customers, anything a few thousand miles better to double or more the normal life. The reason for this is the X-Ring versus the O-Ring. The conventional round O-Ring only has one sealing surface between the side plates. The X-Ring has two surfaces..

The 530 X-Ring chains are cheaper by about $10.00 than the 630 O-Ring chains..

530 chains are much more available. Try walking into a bike shop and finding 630 chain on the shelf... Probably less than 1 in 10 dealers will have any in stock..

You can get a variety of different 530 chains - including a mix of colors.

There is a high-end XW-Ring 630 chain that will last a lot longer than the conventional O-Ring 630 chains, but it is fairly expensive.

Vter Bob wrote:

I've heard of converting the stock 630 chain to 530 and one of the reasons given was cost savings. I need to

[snip]

coincidentally) Total savings of $1.54.
Seeing as to how I would replace the sprockets anytime I replaced the chain, is there some other advantage to doing this conversion besides color availability? :blink:

I've done this conversion myself. I bought the parts from Z1 (after reading about it here on kzrider.) Jeff's site has good information about chain length and teeth #'s to maintain your overall gear ratio.

The only downside is the stock front sprocket has a small hole drilled for the lock washer (on my 1978 kz1000). The aftermarket 530 front sprocket didn't have this so I used red loctite on the nut. So far so good...

I too did the conversion and have never looked backed. I went through Jeff for parts and everything was easy and worked out great. I actually did mine for tire clearence but the chains that are available in the 530 are incredible..

Mike

@ Jeff,

Found a whole slew of kz900 530 sprockets and chains on Z1 but no "offset" counter sprockets... Hint, Hint!

Old Man Rock

I would like to do the conversion too, but the front sprocket I got as part of the conversion on my 81 KZ1000 J has no slots and has no built-in spacer to match where the sprocket should sit. I'm not really comfortable using locktite to keep the bolt on either. The conversion sprockets just seem like some other bikes sprockets and aren't really designed for the KZ. I'm thinking I'll stay with the 630. Maybe I can find a 630 X-Ring somewhere.

I converted mi GPz1150 about two years ago and did not use any thread lock or did not lock the nut down in any way. The countershaft nut was only tightened down with an air impact and nothing else. With the engine mods I did to the bike there is not much more HP that I could pull from that motor short of building a full fledged drag bike. My sprocket nut has not loosened up yet.

@Otakar did you have to use a spacer of some sort of offset where the sprocket should sit? I don't know how the new bikes bolt-on their sprockets, maybe they use a folded washer, but the bolt on the KZ has a rounded built-in washer so that wouldn't really be possible. Sure wouldn't want that sprocket to pile up the chain.

gfmarsh wrote: I would like to do the conversion too, but the front sprocket I got as part of the conversion on my 81 KZ1000 J has no slots and has no built-in spacer to match where the sprocket should sit. I'm not really comfortable using locktite to keep the bolt on either. The conversion sprockets just seem like some other bikes sprockets and aren't really designed for the KZ. I'm thinking I'll stay with the 630. Maybe I can find a 630 X-Ring somewhere.

Z1 Enterprises lists 630 o'ring and 630 xw ring drive chains.

Good Fortune!