Aluminium sprockets

Yes or no?
This question is in regards to a low horsepower, slow moving, heavily laden bike.

Exactly how fat are you????

aluminium sprockets are used on race bikes when you want to reduce the un-sprong weight to the swing arm and reduce the rotating mass so the wheel spins up faster.

A lite-er swing arm moves up and down quicker and gets the wheel back down to earth for more traction, in the off road world.

Down side of aluminium is it wears away faster.

There are sprockets on the market that mix steel and aluminium for covering all bases.

I used one once and it wore out pretty quick. Unless you're trying to save every ounce in unsprung weight for some performance based reason I wouldn't bother. They don't rust though! But usually my rear sprockets are so covered in lube that they don't rust anyway.

If it's for a 10K trip I would, personally, get a steel one. Especially if you are fitting it in conjunction with a used, part worn, chain because that will wear the sprocket out even faster.

Forget Ally. Fir steel and add a scott oiler or similar, then forget all about it.

If you are doing 10K + Miles on your SD you will also need to take a spare arse!

520 or 525? Hard anodised, or other finish? OE tooth count, or? Chain brand, and model (which matters - a LOT)? Mostly freeway/canyon miles, or trackdays/racing too? Ham-fisted fat-ass, or skinny-assed pussy?

All matter in how long the stuff is going to live. And of course, how well it's cared for. As a personal rule to maximize longevity - I change both sprockets and chain at the same time ... Wasting money otherwise (unless you need to change ratios frequently - racing, which is a fun but waste of money anyway). Personally I find Scotts oilers to be giant mess makers - and another thing to maintain.

Want best longevity: 525 Steel. The OE sprockets (steel) are pretty stout (and available in alternative diameters/tooth count). Not too expensive either. What isn't so stout, is the OE model of DID chain. Not a condemnation of DID (they make many, long-lived chains), but of the cheap-ass one KTM put on the bike.

With a good (AFAM, etc.) hard-anodized Al sprocket, Cr-Mo countersprocket, and a top line chain (e.g. DID ZVM-X), even a 520 setup on a 100 HP bike can last an impressively long time.

Want to save a few grams - those Supersprox are solid, and as a bonus you get an orange center.

This is the overweight beast that needs sprocket longevity

This was all about a lousy Triumph Dealer ordering from British Customs and leaving me aluminized. It was not my original intention, I just want to see if I can get away with it. Sort of the bird in one hand, steel sprocket in the bush situation. Thanx SD I do properly maintain my drivetrain and got thirty thousand miles before pulling the original off the bike. I changed out the countershaft with a seventeen tooth to try and gear this thing for slower, slipperier, scary, crashes
I recently read a book on the building of the Panama Canal by David McCullough. It was such a great story and inspirational enough to get me interested in seeing it. Hell, it's still in America, I can ride there. In sort of preparation I read Jupiter's Travels. I will be running a Meriden bourne bike in opposite meridian direction .

IIRC those BC sprockets aren't hard anodised ... I'd send that cheese back to the stealer, and put on OE. Cheaper too.

Doesn't Bike Bandit carry Triumph parts still? Or give South Bay Triumph a ring - they'll hook you up.

That would be a pretty spectacular journey to Panama and back ... on Meridien borne, but not Meridien built, along meridians (sort of). Your Scrambler already appears more ready than most "Adventure" bikes I've seen. I've read David McCullough's "John Adams" and "Truman"; both were compelling, lucid, and well-researched biographies/histories. Enjoyed them much.

LOL - that may be the best application of SD mirrors I've seen.

Kind of thought you were outfitting Bonny. That ally will make it. You got a Grunge chain brush yet? It's a brush with three small brushes mounted on a handle you can cut down to fit in a small bag. The three brushes will sort of clean the chain on three sides at a time.
My travel drill is clean the chain after I get off a gravel road and on to pavement, and or at the end of the day while the chain is still warm.
Get the bike up on the center stand, count your fingers. You need to end with the same count.
Get you motor runnin', use the brush on the chain, use you fav chain oil to lube it, on the inside of the chain so the dirt you missed with the brush gets flinged outward and off the chain.
I use 90 weight gear oil and put it in a small squizze bottle.

Caution! Not all people should try to lube the chain with a runnin' motor. You know who you are.

Must hydrate the body, early and often. I put my water bag inside my tank bag and have the drink tube out where I can reach it with my left hand.
I put a small recoil line to the end so all I have to do is drop the hose at the end of my drink. If you work indoors in a cube farm, they usually have card locks/ ID's that are teathered by the small recoil line.

Going south, eh? Kids down there go nuts over stickers. Take a bunch.
Oh! You have to do wheelies when you see a bunch of kids too!
Keep moving your luggage back on the bike to take weight off the front wheel.

Better get a post going so we can keep an eye on you so we can bail you out on your travel.

Take care a me go. I d os.

SOS button is in brail on my SPOT, should keep me blindly onward till the black helicopters are called into duty. Fuckme if I hadn't already installed that aluminium troublemaker. That back wheel is a bearcat to remove and replace, but better now than later.
Thanx for the heads up on more McCullough reads, He does cover the Panama subject in page turning prowess. I am reading The Bully Pulpit now and Goodwin is another favorite of mine. You think stickers are better than Snickers?

Because this bike has been purchased for "adventure", small a used here, I have changed my tyres and tubes exclusively myself. I am carrying new tubes and all the fixings for trouble ahead. On the last rear install I removed the brake caliper, which greatly reduced the installation frustration. I use only the tools on board so as to ensure that when away I have what I need. I carry a Stiletto titanium finish hammer for camping needs and this tool is invaluable as a bead breaker. Just shove the claw in and twist. If you want a good example of a fish out of water, watch me negotiate the rear wheel into axle sliding position. It truly will test a man's patience and perseverance presence.
I am also headed to Taxco as part of the journey I will see if Evilwerks Mom will make me some Holly Mole. My journey puts me in Austin on Moto GP weekend. Well that's the rough game plan. Who here lives in southern Arizona?
SD if I was headed strictly south I'd a let you buy me three cold ones. Looks like SoarSore will need to take the job. Who's going to Moto GP and are you camping out?