Renold Chain back in business ?

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Frankie17

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Looking like Renold chain are about to re enter the classic motorcycle market shop.renold.com
according to the web page this is the first motorcycle chain they have officially made available for motorcycles since the 1980`s
 
I will be staying with the chain makers that have supported motorcycle chains over the last few decades like DID and the Chainman's Mercedes Timing Chain. Reynolds deserted the scene decades ago and now want to reappear, too late for me as I have sorted out my favourite suppliers and have no need to replace them.
 
I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time while buying some bolts years ago .
When I mentioned the norton to the owner , he said he had 2 boxes of Renold chain on the shelf that had been there since he took over .
I got them for a steal , I still have one whole box & one chains worth left , I ride the bike fairly hard & that chain lasts very well .
For me it has been like they never left the market .
 
Lucky you.... I have replaced one triplex primary chain in 50,000+ miles ..wouldlike the next replacement to be Reynolds as well...
 
Good luck with that as far as it being motorcycle chain primary or final drive and not for a conveyor or some farm implement.

I found a supplier here in AU who happened to have three endless 100 link IWIS M106SL chains sitting on the shelf so bought two.
As far as I know they never were a motorcycle drive chain but an industrial chain that more than met what was needed for a motorcycle.
I of course had to remove the swinging arm for fitment.

The retailer got them in the post to me then sent the invoice like the old days ?
The two pens match the Commando paint work as a bonus.

The bike has all IWIS chains now.

ch.jpg
 
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Chain

I have been getting requests for help from several countries regarding Commando chain. I will try to explain the various options. The base chain on all Commandos is 10B-1. This a a British Standard chain and should not be confused with 530. Depending on the number of teeth on the front...
www.accessnorton.com www.accessnorton.com
 
Frankie17 said:
Looking like Renold chain are about to re enter the classic motorcycle market shop.renold.com
according to the web page this is the first motorcycle chain they have officially made available for motorcycles since the 1980`s
Click to expand...
Glad to see the "coming soon" pages are being seen. Just to clarify things a little, Renold never stopped making motorcycle chains but simply stopped developing them further once the last of the British bike manufacturers closed. The Renold chain you've been buying via the usual classic dealers is essentially the same chain that was indeed fitted to the vast majority of motorcycles worldwide in the 1900s. Those chains have remained unchanged for decades, pretty much like our classic bikes so there was no reason to look at improving them further at the time.
There were massive redundancies during the 1970s/80s, not just in Renold but all over British industry. Part of that loss was the dedicated motorcycle department was essentially wound down & distribution of the chains for motorcycle use was taken on by Velocette who have been boxing & distributing them to classic dealers ever since.
What you have to remember is that almost everyone that was involved in the "motorcycle chain" sector at the time is long retired or dead with the archives being kept alive by enthusiasts such as myself.

These new chains are therefore the first "new" chains since the GP ones were designed & fully conform to ISO10190. There is of course far more to these chains than simple ISO10190 certification, the details of which won't be shared I'm afraid aside from specifics that you would expect to see from any chain supplier.
For example, certain features have been included in the new chains that will help identify it as a genuine Renold motorcycle chain.
The new chains will only be available via the online shop at present but other arrangements might well be worked out in time if it's deemed appropriate.
In the past 30+ years, every Tom, Dick or Harry has been able to get hold of any grade Renold chain & sell it as suitable for motorcycles.

I won't go into too much detail for now as I don't want to get in trouble for advertising Renold in any way.
I will say though that I've personally been working on this project from within Renold for several years & can promise that a lot of time & effort has been put into listening to what people want. The online shop pages you can see right now are just a start with a lot more detail & functionality to be added over time.

Part of this functionality will be a comprehensive replacement chain database I've been building for the past 2 years of every catalogues I've managed to get my hands on.
This database currently runs to over 15k different bike chains & constantly being added to as I find more records. Until the database is available online, I'm happy to provide original chain details of their bikes.

So I'll end for now to state that after a lot of effort by myself & some colleagues, Renold has taken full ownership of their motorcycle chain.
I'm not expecting everyone to get excited & also not expecting everyone to buy the new chains.
What I will promise though is that if you want your chain needs heard by people that will listen, please communicate them to Renold & at the very least, put email address on the shop pages field & you will be contacted when the chains are on the shelf.
All I ask is that you please be clear, factual & civil as any such questions will most likely get back to myself initially.
I love my classics as much as anyone loves theirs & am happy to discuss bikes until the cows come home but my time is of course limited to some extent.

Hopefully I've not fallen foul of the advertising rules but having seen so many inaccurate posts of the years, I believe it's appropriate that any such discussions are based on facts from the start.
 
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ClassicChainsGuru said:
Glad to see the "coming soon" pages are being seen. Just to clarify things a little, Renold never stopped making motorcycle chains but simply stopped developing them further once the last of the British bike manufacturers closed. The Renold chain you've been buying via the usual classic dealers is essentially the same chain that was indeed fitted to the vast majority of motorcycles worldwide in the 1900s. Those chains have remained unchanged for decades, pretty much like our classic bikes so there was no reason to look at improving them further at the time.
There were massive redundancies during the 1970s/80s, not just in Renold but all over British industry. Part of that loss was the dedicated motorcycle department was essentially wound down & distribution of the chains for motorcycle use was taken on by Velocette who have been boxing & distributing them to classic dealers ever since.
What you have to remember is that almost everyone that was involved in the "motorcycle chain" sector at the time is long retired or dead with the archives being kept alive by enthusiasts such as myself.

These new chains are therefore the first "new" chains since the GP ones were designed & fully conform to ISO10190. There is of course far more to these chains than simple ISO10190 certification, the details of which won't be shared I'm afraid aside from specifics that you would expect to see from any chain supplier.
For example, certain features have been included in the new chains that will help identify it as a genuine Renold motorcycle chain.
The new chains will only be available via the online shop at present but other arrangements might well be worked out in time if it's deemed appropriate.
In the past 30+ years, every Tom, Dick or Harry has been able to get hold of any grade Renold chain & sell it as suitable for motorcycles.

I won't go into too much detail for now as I don't want to get in trouble for advertising Renold in any way.
I will say though that I've personally been working on this project from within Renold for several years & can promise that a lot of time & effort has been put into listening to what people want. The online shop pages you can see right now are just a start with a lot more detail & functionality to be added over time.

Part of this functionality will be a comprehensive replacement chain database I've been building for the past 2 years of every catalogues I've managed to get my hands on.
This database currently runs to over 15k different bike chains & constantly being added to as I find more records. Until the database is available online, I'm happy to provide original chain details of their bikes.

So I'll end for now to state that after a lot of effort by myself & some colleagues, Renold has taken full ownership of their motorcycle chain.
I'm not expecting everyone to get excited & also not expecting everyone to buy the new chains.
What I will promise though is that if you want your chain needs heard by people that will listen, please communicate them to Renold & at the very least, put email address on the shop pages field & you will be contacted when the chains are on the shelf.
All I ask is that you please be clear, factual & civil as any such questions will most likely get back to myself initially.
I love my classics as much as anyone loves theirs & am happy to discuss bikes until the cows come home but my time is of course limited to some extent.

Hopefully I've not fallen foul of the advertising rules but having seen so many inaccurate posts of the years, I believe it's appropriate that any such discussions are based on facts from the start.
Click to expand...
Any chance of the 7/16" duplex primary chain being made again?
 
baz said:
Any chance of the 7/16" duplex primary chain being made again?
Click to expand...
I have brought up the issue of the 7/16" triplex & others such as GP but all I can say is that unless it's going to be financially viable to design & make new tooling to re-create that spec, there's little chance of it happening without some serious analysis of how many bikes are still out there that were fitted with this chain, percentage of owners that want to buy it against the cost of making it. Unfortunately, according to my database, the only bike that ever used this chain (114513) was the 1975 T160 Trident & ran to only 7000 or so units.
I'd think you'd have to agree that no business in their right mind is going to take a risk on such a unique & limited market without some commitment from those that want it.

Despite this, I hate to say never but to be able to justify any potential consideration on this one in particular, best thing I can suggest is work with the owners club who might be able to put out a poll of owners known to them.
If enough people were interested & perhaps decided to buy a few chains to see them out for many years to come, a limited production run might be financially viable.
I'll leave it there for now but I must add that these comments are of my own thoughts, opinions only & not that of Renold themselves.
 
In terms of none O / X ring chains, the IWIS is just SO good. Very well priced too. And great service from Jason.

So Mr Renold, your chain needs to be incredibly good to compete these days, and a million miles from what Renolds have been selling.
 
ClassicChainsGuru said:
I have brought up the issue of the 7/16" triplex & others such as GP but all I can say is that unless it's going to be financially viable to design & make new tooling to re-create that spec, there's little chance of it happening without some serious analysis of how many bikes are still out there that were fitted with this chain, percentage of owners that want to buy it against the cost of making it. Unfortunately, according to my database, the only bike that ever used this chain (114513) was the 1975 T160 Trident & ran to only 7000 or so units.
I'd think you'd have to agree that no business in their right mind is going to take a risk on such a unique & limited market without some commitment from those that want it.

Despite this, I hate to say never but to be able to justify any potential consideration on this one in particular, best thing I can suggest is work with the owners club who might be able to put out a poll of owners known to them.
If enough people were interested & perhaps decided to buy a few chains to see them out for many years to come, a limited production run might be financially viable.
I'll leave it there for now but I must add that these comments are of my own thoughts, opinions only & not that of Renold themselves.
Click to expand...
I fully understand the numbers game and I was being devils advocate
I have spoken to a few owners about this and all of them feel a bit peeved that production just stopped !
I imagine there was zero demand for them? They do last a long time
But why is there no tooling now?
Was it scrapped?
 
baz said:
I fully understand the numbers game and I was being devils advocate
I have spoken to a few owners about this and all of them feel a bit peeved that production just stopped !
I imagine there was zero demand for them? They do last a long time
But why is there no tooling now?
Was it scrapped?
Click to expand...
When the Manchester factories closed, all the chain making machinery & tooling was sent to the Einbeck factory in Germany but I do suspect that as the chain in question only had a run of 1 year 45 years ago, I suspect the tooling has long gone. Even if it did survive, the tooling would need to be redesigned anyway to comply with ISO10190.
Personally, if I had a T160, I'd have fitted that conversion long ago in the knowledge that I could get 3/8" triplex chain off the shelf.
 
Fast Eddie said:
In terms of none O / X ring chains, the IWIS is just SO good. Very well priced too. And great service from Jason.

So Mr Renold, your chain needs to be incredibly good to compete these days, and a million miles from what Renolds have been selling.
Click to expand...
If you've followed the success of GB Cycling in the last few games, you might be surprised to know that Renold designed, manufactured & supplied all the chains for their fixed wheel bikes such as Velodrome & BMX.
At the current count, I believe it's resulted in 9 gold, 7 silver & 2 bronze so far. Previous chains by the other manufacturers were being literally torn apart by the top racers.
I'm never going to say Renold chain is the best in the world but that's a pretty impressive medal haul by any measure.
 
ClassicChainsGuru said:
When the Manchester factories closed, all the chain making machinery & tooling was sent to the Einbeck factory in Germany but I do suspect that as the chain in question only had a run of 1 year 45 years ago, I suspect the tooling has long gone. Even if it did survive, the tooling would need to be redesigned anyway to comply with ISO10190.
Personally, if I had a T160, I'd have fitted that conversion long ago in the knowledge that I could get 3/8" triplex chain off the shelf.
Click to expand...
The 3/8 triplex conversion is relatively recent and when my chain is sufficiently worn that's what I will do
I have not looked yet at the options for the 3/8 triplex but Reynolds would be the last on my list
 
ClassicChainsGuru said:
If you've followed the success of GB Cycling in the last few games, you might be surprised to know that Renold designed, manufactured & supplied all the chains for their fixed wheel bikes such as Velodrome & BMX.
At the current count, I believe it's resulted in 9 gold, 7 silver & 2 bronze so far. Previous chains by the other manufacturers were being literally torn apart by the top racers.
I'm never going to say Renold chain is the best in the world but that's a pretty impressive medal haul by any measure.
Click to expand...
That’s a great achievement.

But, of course, we’re talking about powered two wheelers on here.

The Renolds GP I used to use needed adjusting at least once a week.

The IWIS I currently use needs adjusting about once a year.

I jest not.

So, all I’m saying, is the bar has been raised. Significantly.
 
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