Why change to 530 chain?
There are several reasons…
1. Cost savings – the 530 chain tends to work out about $10-$15 cheaper.
2. Weight saving – this is less mass the engine has to drive – and this is tied directly with HP to the rear wheel.
3. Color and O-ring variety. There are multiple colors of 530 chain, and more variety of O Ring types.
In converting, it is easy to calculate the 530 sprocket sizes (see below) – but then you need to match against the availability of sprockets. If you want custom sprockets, just about any size rear sprocket can be made in aluminum – the caution here is cost and wait time – depending on the time of year, you can wait 3-4 weeks for a custom sprocket, and may pay $30-$50 (or more) over the cost of a steel sprocket.
630 chain is 3/4″ pitch (or think of it as 6/8″), 530 chain is 5/8″ pitch – so the simple conversion in teeth is to divide the 630 sprocket teeth count by 5 and multiply by 6.
530 to 520 conversions don’t change the tooth counts, just the width of the chain and sprockets.
• 630 15 tooth front becomes a 530 18 tooth sprocket.
• 630 35 tooth rear becomes a 530 42 tooth sprocket.
• 92 link rear chain becomes 110.4 links (rounded to 110).
The sprockets are the same diameter as before, just with more (but smaller) teeth.
Often you end up with fractions of teeth – these you must round up or down – the key here is to calculate a ratio close to the ratio you require…
To be able to easily convert from 630 to 530, you must find sprockets with the same mount attributes:
• Rear sprockets that have the same center size and bolt spacing. The following two sprockets have the same 80mm hole spacing, bolt centers 104mm apart, and bolt holes 10.5mm in diameter.
• Front sprockets, the center spline size, and teeth count must match to be able to swap the sprockets – the Z=13 shows the spline count, and the 25mm & 21.6mm show the diameter and depth of the teeth. Lastly, if there are any offsets or raised bosses on the front sprocket, you must look for the same on the conversion sprocket or adjust with spacer washers if the spline
allows.
Sprocket spacing is important too – on the two front sprockets above, you will see the 630 version has a boss (raised area) to the inside – to be able to switch to the 530-equivalent sprocket, spacers must be added to give enough clearance between the chain and the engine cases. We sell 1.5mm & 6mm spacers.