Chain Guards and Replacement

The SR comes from the factory with no chain guard. Why? You might think: Design Engineer = Scottish = Cheap = No chain guard. Good guess, but no. I have over 50 years’ experience with chain driven vehicles, karts and cars. Almost all had chain guards. Yet, I made a different choice with the Rush. I will try and give you some of my reasoning here so that you can make your own decisions inclusive of that knowledge. At the end of the day, it’s a personal preference and since we have now seen 4 different customer designs, it is obviously one that several prefer. Chains are part of our life with a Bike Engine Car (BEC). Nobody loves them, if you do, you’re likely a member of an alternate community page. However, they are really a tremendous device. They are relatively simple, low cost and one of the most efficient power transmission devices available. The trade off is they need maintenance, inspection and replacement to be reliable. Lack of this will result in failure. Chain failure is something you want to avoid at all costs. It will likely happen when on track under heavy load. That could have severe consequences: you now have a heavy chain coming loose in the engine bay at very high speeds, which can cause mechanical damage to other components in the engine bay, including the most expensive part of the car: the engine itself. See our article on lubing chains for more info.

Use only RK GXW 530 chain with a rivet link. The car takes approximately 64 links, and you can buy them direct from RAW. The RK GXW 530 is the only chain we recommend, there are many available with no where near the strength.