Chain Lube

[michael 324]

Been there done that but made sure mother was out

Wow. That's a memory. Just as the smell of burning 2 stroke oil takes me back 40 years, my father told me the smell of heated chain lube took him back to his bicycle riding days.

[steelhorseuk 1,691]

As I am sure you know, WD-40 manufacture a range of 'specialist motorcycle products' for cleaning and lubricating the drive chain.

 

From that I deduce that standard WD-40 as brilliant as it is, is not for the job.

 

I started using said products over a year ago and I am happy with the results. 

 

-Mark-

[michael 324]

^^^^^^

Exactly. Brilliant Water Dispersent, with a fine film of lubrication, yet not ideal for the difficult job of keeping a chains parts lubricated, as well as lubricating the sprocket where it mates with the chain.

[Guest 7even]

As for myself, at home and while touring, since I don´t have the center stand, I use a small jack that I bought on-line: Pack´n Bag.

When folded, it´s very small and easy to fit in the luggage. It came with a practcal bag to keep in.

 

For lubbing,  use Lube Cube.

 

Ride safe.

[Guest Bandit]

I've only just started doing the chain clean & lube maintenance at home, using the SDOC 100 white lube spray, after cleaning it with the WD40 chain cleaner spray, well worth the effort, saw DELBOY's vids on YouTube and he made the process seems much easier than i imagined, so hey ho, I gave it a go - happy days.

This is the way it should be done every 500 miles , Our Triumph dealer turned me on to this.

Bandit

[Spindizzy 7,109]

We use WD40 to lubricate the piano type hinges on aircraft  trim tab controls. Stops them freezing at altitude by 'dispersing' the water and leaving a thin film. Has to bed done regularly if its wet or the plane gets washed. They only move a tiny bit in use, a few degrees at most and nothing like  chain.

 

Something similar is LPS1 which is actually better or Brayco 300 even better still. We only use it as its thin enough to get in to the narrow channels of the hinge line. I wouldnt rate it as a chain lube, I use regular oil for that. Been trying a thinner oil Aeroshell 3 (fluid 3) seems to clean the chain better using my Loobman. So I would say thinner is better but WD40 and similar a bit too thin and may work past the O rings. Fluid 3 is safe on all O rings as well.

[Guest sykospain]

What a palaver;  dozens of suggestions for cleaning and maintaining final-drive chains.  Why are they still in use ?  Cheapness I suppose.

Whereas a compound textile/rubber/steel BELT is simple, reliable, requires ZERO maintenance, lasts longer than a chain and is a much lighter dead-weight than a drive shaft. Or a regular chain for that matter !

I had two Scarver belt-driven bikes among my many previous Beemers and never had the slightest issue with maintenance or any problem whatsoever.  A properly-designed transmission belt is super-strong, quiet, minimally absorbs power shocks and needs no lubrication or maintenance of any kind, except to ensure that it's pinched up to spec tightness on just one occasion during its long service life, that's 500K after installation of a new one..thereafter it will never stretch any amount more.

Edited February 19, 2016 by sykospain

[Rev Ken 6,343]

What a palaver;  dozens of suggestions for cleaning and maintaining final-drive chains.  Why are they still in use ?  Cheapness I suppose.

Whereas a compound textile/rubber/steel BELT is simple, reliable, requires ZERO maintenance, lasts longer than a chain and is a much lighter dead-weight than a drive shaft. Or a regular chain for that matter !

I had two Scarver belt-driven bikes among my many previous Beemers and never had the slightest issue with maintenance or any problem whatsoever.  A properly-designed transmission belt is super-strong, quiet, minimally absorbs power shocks and needs no lubrication or maintenance of any kind, except to ensure that it's pinched up to spec tightness on just one occasion during its long service life, that's 500K after installation of a new one..thereafter it will never stretch any amount more.

Interesting as I've just got a BMW F800GT and there is an inspection of the belt at 20,000 miles, with the expectation that it will need replacing at around 35,000 miles if I'm lucky. While I agree with much of what you say, looking on the F800 forum it is clear many riders have failed belts at much smaller mileages. They are particularly susceptible to grit and different sorts of debris that shortens their life substantially, but then I'm not going to do much cross-country riding!

[Guest sykospain]

Rev Ken, just to say that I covered 56K miles on my first UK 650cc year 2003 Scarver, followed by another 75k Km on the 2004 twin-spark Scarver that I bought when I came to Spain.  Admittedly there's less power output from a 650cc Italian motor as compared to the Chinese 800cc one in the recent GT model, so perhaps there'd be reduced strain / wear during rapid acceleration.

But the belts on my two Scarvers both remained in pristine condition throughout their entire life and I was never easy on the throttle.

Only problem with any belt replacement on a BMW is the shockingly voracious profiteering cost of a fifty-bucks Gates USA-made item as exclusively supplied to Berlin, who then charge around 300 snoojits for that same Gates Industries belt to the end user at one of their palatial dealer premises.

Edited February 20, 2016 by sykospain

[aquaboy 105]

just had my first M O T. While checking round yesterday found a tight link. Rotated the chain until that bit was just about to feed on to the rear sprocket and smacked it about with a hammer!! ( I'll wait for all the experts to moan)!!! Managed to get it moving so then soaked it in WD and worked it loose with a screw driver up through the link. I have a centre stand so I could constantly spin the wheel as necessary. Soaked that area in engine oil and left for acouple of hours. Came back wiped the chain down and painted it with my chain saw oil. Bike seemed a lot smoother this morning and past M O T

in 5 minuets. The guy never even looked at the chain!!