Jump to content

Spray-on Dry Chain-lubricants


Graham NZ

Recommended Posts

Graham NZ

I've just fitted a new chain and for my next trick I want to try one of the spray-on dry lubricants.  I have been using Putoline DX11 wet spray which doesn't fling off but is tacky to touch and so collects dust and grit.  I will clean the new chain of the grease coating it came with and then apply the dry lube.

 

Any spray type recommendations please?

Link to post
Andy m

Wurth for me. 

 

Silly money but seems to do what is claimed of it. 

 

Andy

  • Like 2
Link to post

Dry stuff is supposed to work well. Gone for a shaft drive on my Summer Bike. Fed up of the Shxt all over the rear end from the chain.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Spindizzy

+1 for wurth. When not using a chain oiler I found the Wurth was good at not collecting lapping paste.

 

I currently use Silkolene Pro as an experiment. It works well but is very tacky so maybe not great for dusty environments but good in the wet. Goes on super thin.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to post

try yamaha synthetic chain lube, goes on like wd40 and dries thick and tachy, seem not to attract dust and dirt. usually effective for 600ks 

  • Like 1
Link to post

Wurth Dry did not work for me, chain looked clean but the weather took its toll. Not suitable for UK weather.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Graham NZ

Thanks for the feedback.  It seems that the Wurth spray isn't sold in NZ and it can't be sent by airmail so I'm going to try Spectro H.ZCL Z.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Mike5100

I tried extended experiments on the Wurth dry lubricant.  It was brilliant in the summer but washed off in no time in the rain and winter weather.  I am using a dry lubricant on an electric push bike and again it's brilliant until it rains.  My guess is it's true of all dry lubricants.

Mike

  • Like 2
Link to post
Graham NZ

If it washes off that would save having to wash the chain in the usual way!  The Scottoiler oil used to be pretty easy to wash away as I recall.

 

When using aerosol lubes I find it difficult to apply it to the tyre side of the chain so have bent the spray tube to make it a bit easier.  Maybe just spraying onto the rollers and outer side plates is enough?

Link to post
Spindizzy
2 minutes ago, Graham NZ said:

If it washes off that would save having to wash the chain in the usual way!  The Scottoiler oil used to be pretty easy to wash away as I recall.

 

When using aerosol lubes I find it difficult to apply it to the tyre side of the chain so have bent the spray tube to make it a bit easier.  Maybe just spraying onto the rollers and outer side plates is enough?

I used to have an oiler, but trying the just spray route.

 

I spray both sides at an angle so the side plate, O rings and rollers get a coating from both sides. I also just bent the feeder tube to about 30 degrees to make it easier for the tyre side. Easy enough.

  • Like 1
Link to post

In my experience any decent amount of rain will wash the oil off, not sure if its worth turning the oiler off in heavy rain or turning it up high, at least when it stops I can turn it on full for several miles.

  • Like 1
Link to post

I fitted a new chain and sprockets to my 2015 NC750x dct at the end of May 2018. I have since done 3000 miles and made one adjustment of one flat on the lock nut on each side of the wheel to retention the chain.

The method I use is to clean the chain with a clean soft cloth ( with a little wd40 on the cloth) every 200 to 300 miles and then lubricate with a toothbrush dipped in 80/90 w gear oil as recommended by the chain manufactures D.I.D.( This procedure takes about 15 min ) 

The chain still looks in as new condition and I am expecting good mileage so fingers crossed as all my other bikes have been shaft driven.

Will report again in about a year.

Link to post
Graham NZ

Gosh, Terry, that's way more attention than I'm prepared to a chain.  A 'hand clean' using a piece of towel soaked in kerosene and then two passes of spray lube every 1000km is my schedule.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Mike5100
11 hours ago, telboy said:

I fitted a new chain and sprockets to my 2015 NC750x dct at the end of May 2018. I have since done 3000 miles and made one adjustment of one flat on the lock nut on each side of the wheel to retention the chain.

The method I use is to clean the chain with a clean soft cloth ( with a little wd40 on the cloth) every 200 to 300 miles and then lubricate with a toothbrush dipped in 80/90 w gear oil as recommended by the chain manufactures D.I.D.( This procedure takes about 15 min ) 

The chain still looks in as new condition and I am expecting good mileage so fingers crossed as all my other bikes have been shaft driven.

Will report again in about a year.

whew.  A typical day's ride for me is that 200-300 miles.  If I felt I had to spend even 15 minutes cleaning the chain at the end of every day, I think I'd pack in (or use my shaft drive bike :ahappy:).  My NC chains were very poor and used to need replacing at about 12-13k miles (The Africa Twin with the same maintenance was still good at 22k miles).  My point is that even at 12k miles that's 50 to 60 fifteen minute spells cleaning.  Or about 15 hours of my time.  At about £100 for a new chain, I would much rather just chuck it away when it's shot.

Mike

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Andy m

Chains are very different now from even 10 years ago. A quick spray every week of touring and they'll do 15000 miles or three years for most riders. I'm on 4500 and am yet to adjust mine. 

 

The stuff we had in the 90's (or what comes with an Enfield) was dead in 5000 miles unless you greased them, boiled in tins of blubber on the stove etc. Letting them run the modern life cycle (and slacker) is alien to owners who were used to this, hence the BMW club will still tell you they are messy etc. 

 

I've greased the splines on two BMW's. The R1100 took half a day not including the trip out to buy O-rings, the K100 half that. The design error on the R means its needed every two years so it's more work in total than a good chain. The Guzzi was better but at 250 ml of pretty fancy oil in the bevel box every year was still no cheaper. The drain plug was made of cheese so will have eventually cost a future owner days of work to strip it and fit a thread insert. 

 

Andy

  • Like 2
Link to post

I use an all metal Wesco pressurised oil can that I brought in 66, filled up with fully synthetic light oil, left over from the car oil changes. 

Chain bike for me these days, chains seem to last for ever. 

The pressurised metal spout can reach above the pivots of the centre stand and brake pedal and squirt oil on top of these parts. The brass tip runs along the rollers of the chain and the light oil passes the  'o' rings to do its job. Simple no cost.

 

Edited by dave
  • Confused 1
Link to post
Mike5100
8 hours ago, dave said:

I use an all metal Wesco pressurised oil can that I brought in 66, filled up with fully synthetic light oil, left over from the car oil changes. 

Chain bike for me these days, chains seem to last for ever. 

The pressurised metal spout can reach above the pivots of the centre stand and brake pedal and squirt oil on top of these parts. The brass tip runs along the rollers of the chain and the light oil passes the  'o' rings to do its job. Simple no cost.

 

The last bit sounds unlikley to me Dave , but you may be right.  Surely if a light oil could get past the chain O-rings then water could too, and the encapsulated grease would soon wash out?

Mike

  • Like 2
Link to post
Spindizzy
1 hour ago, Mike5100 said:

The last bit sounds unlikley to me Dave , but you may be right.  Surely if a light oil could get past the chain O-rings then water could too, and the encapsulated grease would soon wash out?

Mike

 

I doubt it makes it past the O rings. But even so it’s an effective method if done regularly. All methods help, it’s just debatable how mich difference it makes beyond doing little or nothing. Personally I like something a bit thicker on and around the rollers for the metal to metal of the sprockets. The rest is really corrosion protection and keeping the O rings supple. 

  • Like 1
Link to post

I buy cheapo stuff (any brand) but I spray every time I go out on it...   I fancy cobbling together some kind of oiling system ,where I just press a button and the chain get a lube....its not rocket science....

Link to post

An interesting observation I made when I bought a chain oiler and ran it on old sump oil was that compared to running my bike for a week and treating the chain every week end, using the chain oiler altered my average fuel consumption from 60 to the gallon to just under 64 to the gallon. The chain stayed much cleaner but the back wheel got a bit manky by the end of the week. At that time I was doing just over 375 miles a week. The bike in question was a Hyosung 250 and although I didnt get a measure on it , the chain oiler seemed to allow more power to reach the back wheel. So for a relatively low powered 250 with a heavy rider, every little helped.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Graham NZ

Geof, when I was a boy road race bikes ran non O-ring chains and ran them dry.  Less friction equals more speed as you've found.  I wonder what the GP bikes run these days?

  • Sigh 1
Link to post
13 hours ago, Graham NZ said:

Geof, when I was a boy road race bikes ran non O-ring chains and ran them dry.  Less friction equals more speed as you've found.  I wonder what the GP bikes run these days?

 

That’s bonkers. The quickest way to create friction (and loose power) is to remove the lubricant from moving parts. A dry chain gets too hot to touch = wasted power and less speed. 

 

Moto GP bikes use well lubricated O ring chains. As do TT race bikes in all but the smaller classic classes. They use well lubricated non O ring types.

  • Like 3
Link to post
Slowboy
6 hours ago, Tex said:

 

That’s bonkers. The quickest way to create friction (and loose power) is to remove the lubricant from moving parts. A dry chain gets too hot to touch = wasted power and less speed. 

 

Moto GP bikes use well lubricated O ring chains. As do TT race bikes in all but the smaller classic classes. They use well lubricated non O ring types.

 

Couldn't agree more Simon, anyone who thinks running a chain dry (unlubricated) is a good thing has no grasp at all of the issue. I've heard some stuff from the "my mate says" brigade, but that one wins the Internet for the whole week.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 because there aren't enough face-palms.

Link to post

Only a bit about bike chains, so please excuse that, but I knew some JCB operators who used light oil instead of grease in dusty/sandy conditions cos the grease turned into a grinding paste. Very happy for someone to describe that in bike chain terms :)

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Graham NZ
9 hours ago, Tex said:

Moto GP bikes use well lubricated O ring chains. As do TT race bikes in all but the smaller classic classes. They use well lubricated non O ring types.

 

Thanks, Simon.  That answers my question.

 

On my own race bikes in the early 60s I didn't lubricate the pre O-ring chain and nor did my contemporaries.  OK the races weren't very long and the chains did get hot but chain friction wasn't anywhere near the top of the list of things limiting speed.

Edited by Graham NZ
  • Like 1
Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...