I’ve only owned her for 6 months but over Christmas I had the back wheel out for the second time. The first time was just a tyre change as it was squared off by the previous owners motorway stints. This time was for a new chain and sprockets job. Gold on gold DID courtesy of my boy as a present. On both occasions I removed a chain guard fixing to allow me to slide the wheel in and out. The chain guard is a “carbon fibre” type and I think previously the wheel has been forced back in to position without giving it clearance from the guard. This has resulted in a permanent twist or deform. I’d really like to get rid of this and I’m thinking of applying some heat to it. It’s not bad, but it’s clearly not right. I was just wondering if anyone has tried this method or could just reason why I shouldn’t even attempt to correct it. I’d rather leave it as it is than throw it away as I’ve ballsed it up ! Any thoughts appreciated and once again thank you all for your warm welcome.
Hey Wes, if its anything like the OEM plastic type they go back to their original form with a good heat from a hairdryer or a gentle heat with a paint stripper but I'm not too sure if the carbon fibre ones will behave the same way. However there is Golfy... @mk3golfcab who machines rather groovy aluminium ones in either black or silver...have a search on the pages but here is some pics https://www.1000rr.co.uk/threads/08-aluminium-chain-guards.37216/page-2
Having seen the way carbon fibre splinters in Formula 1 front wing incidents, my view is that it is very strong, but also brittle. I sure can't imagine that it will bend. From my experience, when trying to fit carbon knee inserts into my 2011 fuel tank cover, the damn stuff wouldn't even flex enough the fit into the tabs. Can you free up the bolt holes just a mm or so so allow a bit more movement to the guard when fitting, and thereby realigning to a better clearance?
Hi Wes, welcome. I suspect you might have a carbon effect/finish chain guard that's actually made from plastic. The genuine carbon ones are really stiff and don't really deform. If you remove it entirely and look on the underside you'll be able to see whether it's made from carbon or plastic. If it's made from plastic then yea get a hair dryer on it.
@Wes if you fancy a billet aluminium chain guard send me a pm. Happy to do a deal on the remaining stock I have
Cheers for all the replies. Agreed, thank you. It could well be plastic/carbon effect type. I made the mistake because it feels very ridged/strong and certainly looks the part. I just jumped to the wrong assumption. I’ll whip it off, inspect the reverse and report back either way. Good first post anyway .......probably getting it all wrong lol Cheers
I Sorted my issue with the chain guard which turned out to be genuine carbon fibre. I took it off and cleaned off all the chain splatter. I then offered it back up to the bike to see how much I needed to tweak it. I’d decided to give it a go with a little heat applied. As I was looking at it I realised that whoever had installed it had installed it incorrectly. Once it had been secured on top of the rear hugger fixing instead of underneath it, aesthetically things improved greatly. Sorted. Also finished off with turning my left over DID links into my very own fidget tool lol.
