Primary chain

Nice to see Steve has same thoughts as I do - I always incorporated the original Laverda cush drive in all my racing machine's rear wheels - never had a chain snap - either primary or rear. Never liked some of the aftermarket efforts with a bit of nylon tubing or similar used to take up the shock. - Regards - Phil
 

Wolfgang is impressed by the chain but wont buy on cost and carriage, only Red has had the balls to stock the product and I am happily guiding all those in OZ and NZ to go to him

I am importing a 1200 to Oz with a LyteDrive. This concerns me a little. How do I contact Red in Oz so I can talk about alternatives? Is the merc chain the best way to go?

I hope I am interpreting this right, the LyteDrive is the primary chain.

Forgive me if I have got this all wrong.

Many thanks.
Ed
 
I have one of Andy's merc duplex primary chains in my 3C,there suitable on bikes that came with the triplex primary as standard,some later bikes came with 2 single chains mounted on a drive with 2 teeth only together if you get my drift,the duplex merc chains run on the inner 2 teeth and leave the outer teeth not used,or even the outer 2 with the inner not used.There a good thing that fixes all my concerns,you just need to learn how to adjust them.Keith has a technique that works well,there is a thread on this that i hope gets linked here.Reds based in Queensland,once or twice a year,his offsider Max will set you right,little joke here,if there not slumming it at some GP somewhere.
 
Isn't the Lyte-drive a belt drive conversion? Paul le Clair has experience of these I think.
 
I think you will need to remove the belt pulleys and fit the originally sprockets,hope you got them with the bike,clutch drums are expensive.Do a search on Lyta Drives,they have been problematic
 
Ed,
You can find us through this forum or send me a direct e-mail by clicking on the e-mail tab to the left of this message.
It will find me, no matter where we are in the world, at the moment I'm at work in Kiev and Max just arrived back in Aussie.
Where are you based.?

If you don't have the original primary chain sprockets in stock then I should be able to fix you up with a set, I have a fair few in stock.
Stacks of chains in stock.
And the Merc chain is a very nice chain indeed.

For your interest, I also have a brand new Lyte Drive in stock as well.
I don't believe they make them for the Laverda's anymore, too many failed so purchase at your own risk, I'm not game enough to install it onto any of my engines.

HTH
Red
 
Just to report back that my Jota is so much quieter with the merc chain fitted in place if the triplex...spookily quiet, so much so MOT tester (race tuner and experienced guy) commented on it without prompting..quietest he had ever heard. Am sure Keith's good work aligning things properly plays no small part.
Nick7
 
I met John Scerri (Lytedrive) at Broadford a few weeks ago. He was selling a bunch of his aftermarket bike parts. He had a lot of stuff for pommy bikes like clutches, sprockets, etc. The quality of his parts looked pretty good, so he seems to be a good machinist, and if his designs are sound then his products should work well too. But after talking to the bloke for 20 mins, I couldn't help forming the impression that he's a bit full of himself, and would be unlikely to listen to any criticism of his designs. It would be my guess that if anyone found a problem with his gear, he'd be more likely to blame the customer for misuse than accept responsibility for it himself.

Just an impression of the man, not based on any experience with his products.

Cheers,
Cam
 
The reality is that there have been many reports of failures with the Lytdrive, no matter what colour belt you use, and not at all confined to Laverda's but seems to be any bike with a primary drive that is oil flooded.

Same goes for the starter clutch kits from Aus, for Ducatis and Laverda's, made by Howdy.
CLEM
 
Without going and ripping the cover off, I'm pretty sure I remember that Alan Bell had put 2 single chains in mine when he rebuilt it for me, in the days before this webby thing I took his word it was ok but this thread has got me thinking mmmmmmmm........
 
I don't understand this merc chain. It's a duplex chain that runs on the inner 2 teeth or 2 outer teeth of the sprocket? Well you only have three rows of teeth on the sprocket. I am running two of Andy's simplex chains on my RGS, so I can't fit a merc chain to it but can to my 3CL?

I need to see a picture of this chain to figure it out ???
 
The duplex chain has bigger pins than the triplex.
It is a quality piece of kit.
 

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It is quite simple really, there is a problem with multi strand chains in as much as the pins are narrow and as the middle plates are a slide fit, they are prone to flex. They also have rollers which on many of todays triplex chains are also prone to fail. Also the weight of triplex chains also contributes to wear rates.

The Merc chains have a larger pin which is supported over the total length due to having a press fit centre plate. Also being a bush chain there are no rollers fail. Given the lighter weight it is a no brainer. The only problem is that if the sprockets are worn to suit two singles then technically it would be wise to put two chains back although in practice I would think there would be no problem.

It should be noted that the iwis single chain also share the same large pin and lack of rollers.

Andy
 
Ken, one word: parallax.
It's all in the angle of the camera plus the top casing is reducing in size towards the front.
I had a straight edge over it and it is cock on.
 
Yes, Andychain sells them.
PM him using the link by his name if you want.
As easy as fitting a triplex.
 
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