When it comes to an ultimate test for motorcycle sprockets, it doesn't come much more demanding and testing than the Dakar Rally.
From 2013, when Honda started preparing for their return into Rally and the promotion of the CRF1000 Africa Twin, Supersprox has worked with engineers to provide drive sprockets.
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| The Honda team with Supersprox's DJ Maughfling (centre) |
Supersprox sprockets have been fitted to all the winning Dakar KTM bikes over the past 13 years, so the company thought they were well placed to deliver for Honda too, and they were. However, it wasn't easy.
Honda engineers embarked on a strategy of development, where every component on the motorcycle would be examined, tested and improved - it did not matter if an existing product already worked well, Honda still demanded that it would have to be improved further - mostly done to reduce weight.
The statement from a HRC engineer (Hayashi san) in Japan was to reduce weight by 11.7% to 6,326 g. Additionally to change the rivet design by reducing the height by 2.5 mm and recess all rivets under the surface.
As an example of the justification for these changes, the Honda engineer referred to the overall goal for the project in relation to weight. Although the reduction of weight might seem trivial, the motorcycle application was for a top-level race bike, and the dynamics of the bike were not known.
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| Seven years of R&D went into the Supersprox sprockets that propelled Honda to victory. |
Supersprox says that it could see that radical design changes would be needed as weight reduction would make the existing design unstable. "Development led us to add a bridge in the lightening hole, to reduce fatigue stress movement, and to design a new assembly concept where the steel ring would cut the aluminium during assembly, pressing and forming invisible joints," says Supersprox GM DJ Maughfling.
"Honda tested the development of the sprockets for two years before accepting the parts for race conditions," says Maughfling.
"Between 2013 and 2019, the team and engineers from Honda continually subjected the sprockets to over 250,000 km (combined team testing) and, step by step, the reliability was improved. Each new development was tested and analysed - with minute focus on small details, such as the smoothness of edge material and direction of tool cutting.
"We accepted the high pressure from Honda engineers to improve and develop, though sometimes it felt that there was no reason for the changes. However, we didn't lose focus on the goal and by 2016 the team was already gaining consistent top results and we had succeeded in overcoming the complex challenges the redesign presented us with.
"Finally, all the efforts of the Honda rally team provided the result that Honda had worked for. In January 2020, Ricky Brabec won Dakar, and everything that we had gone through to stay with the team seemed worthwhile.
"From a supplier point of view, Honda development is the hardest but most rewarding in terms of feedback. To have the privilege of developing a new concept and changing the market perception has been very rewarding for Supersprox.
"It was back in 1998 that we started to develop an unknown concept of steel and aluminium combination sprockets. Back then, the concept was neither understood nor proven. Today this type of concept can be found from several producers, and the fight is no longer to invent, but to develop and improve."
