Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique A "Guarded" safety reminder

OK, so this has come up before but.. Yesterday I heard a dinging sound while returning from a ride. Turns out the metal just above the rear fastener on the chain guard had fatigued and the guard was clanging every bump I hit. Both fasteners remained snug. No harm, no foul, it took 2 minutes to remove it completely. But I've read on here where a rider or two suffered damage from a loose/broken chain guard. Might be worth a look .

JH

I take mine off when I lube my chain, so it gets inspected, er, at least 3 times a year....

Mine broke yesterday while I was doing about 120klms an hour heard it rattling pulled up and removed it Now to either repair it or go for the chrome one

Mine broke this summer on the ride back from Elkhart Lake, WI. We were cruising down a local road and I heard something from the right rear that sounded like metal clanking around. Went to catch my buddy to tell him I needed to pull over. Fortunately he wanted to look at a map and pulled over before I caught up to him. Since I read that scary thread about losing a chain guard at speed, I went right to the cover. Didn't see it immediately but it had fatigued along a line right through the middle of the rear screw. It had been going on for awile as I could easily see the corrosion in the fatigue crack. Just tore the dumb thing off and have been riding without one since. I have one in the garage, I'm just not sure I want to put another POS on there.

i'm back to my original black one after my second chrome one broke, scoring the hub and sending sparks and smoke behind me. why do these things break (repeatedly)?

Well the chain guard is one of those "unsprung" components that see's every shock and jolt the rear wheel hits, so it gets beat up more than other parts. I guess maybe the chrome ones are slightly weakened from the plating? Or they are made from thinner metal to begin with? Go get your black one chromed, it'll be sturdier and better quality than the triumph one anyway.

I painted my black ont to match the bike color...hoping the extra coats of paint will make it stronger

You think a rubber grommet mounted between the guard and swingarm might help?

That's a really good question. As many of these have repeatedly broken, I wonder if it would make sense to braze a stiffner on the inside. It seems to me the vibration frequency is going to get them all eventually.

With a stiffner of any type your just moveing the cracking location to the end of it.A rubber gromet of some type seems the way to go.Look what is done to keep Harleys going.

If you go rubber, go rubber on both sides of the plate, like between the guard and the swingarm, and also between the head of the bolt and the guard. Maybe using one of those rubber sealing washers? That way you isolate it. On the other hand, mine never broke... Honestly, I think just making sure the stock bolts are TIGHT could help. If there is movement, you can get some fatigue.

I've been running a rubber grommet on my chrome chain guard since I installed it. I used a piece of rubber cut from a bicycle inner tube and put it between the swingarm and the bracket. I remove the chain guard to clean and lube my chain, so it gets a close examination, so far no problems.