Cannondaleriders

....Today I went to swap a 13t countershaft sprocket with a new 14t.....My 13t had less than 2 hours of use. To my surprise, the 14t feels very loose on the countershaft, and wobbles up to 3 degrees, while the stock 13t feels tight and only wobbles less than 1 degree. Clearly the stock 13t is a very good fit, and the replacement 14t is very sloppy and oversized around the shaft.....so I checked another new 14t that I have, and the same result --- very loose fit, and will surely result in an "out-of-round" oscillation of the sprocket! And I fear much more wear against the precious countershaft splines.

I checked the printing on the 14t sprockets...one says
TALON TG474 14T GROOVELITE, and the other is just marked
TALON -- they are both identical, and have the exact same amount of looseness and sloppy fit -- both are from Cannondale dealers, and one has a very late Feb '03 packing date from the Cannondale factory.

Curiously, the stock 13t is also marked TALON GROOVELITE.

I fear that these are the same stock as from ATK and Cdaleparts, and we could do more harm than good to our machines with this change -- I still want to change to a 14t, but not with either of these two I have, and should warn the rest of you guys. Please compare and advise, thanks alot.

That doesn't sound right. I simply used a 14t from a KTM. It fit snug just like the original 13t.

i have the talon groovelite and haven't experienced any problems. there's a little wear on the case saver but i feel no oscillation nor did i notice excessive play/slop. to be honest though, i wasn't checking for any either. :confused:

You wanna see play and slop my z400 wobbles when you pull on it when it is sitting still. Spoke to a couple people and looked at other z's all the same.

..a KTM 14t will fit ???...that would be great! I'll try one, and let you guys know.... Believe me, if you compared the 13t and my 14t on the same shaft at the same time, you'd put the 13 back on! -- that extra slop only gets worse over time, and knocks harder on the countershaft -- all I want is for it to fit the same as my Talon 13t.

I will check my 14t's but I also never noticed anything odd.I have been running my 14's since new with no wear whatsoever.I can take a indicator reading of the slop and we can compare readings to see if there is a bad batch or something.Wasnt there a issue with KTM sprockets being too wide for our washer to engage splines or something?

Thanks for the tip, yes I remember now about the "wider" KTM
sprocket, but hope to verify side by side if can find one locally....

...hey Brad77?...are you sure that the notched washer could still grab the shaft splines?....if not, then you are not locked in, and the bend-over of the washer would be meaningless.

It is very close. I just installed one on the quad I have been updating. I put the flanged side inwards and the flat side out. The washer with teeth would rest right on the end of the shaft. It would have come off if I bumped it, but I started the nut and snugged it by hand.

hmmnn, I may need to machine some off the wide-side flange to be sure that the washer is fully engaged -- and then also check if still in alignment with swingarm buffer.....still worth the trouble if it fits the shaft better. I have a machinist friend nextdoor, but wonder how awfully hard that KTM sprocket is?

the sprocket would probably need to be surface ground. many people use them but i don't think they had to grind them. just make sure they are lined up with the back sprocket, as they fit better one way more so than the other. do a search on here, its been discussed many times. the part number is here somewhere also.