Its been a while since I ran a chain drive bike and we're talking old brit stuff T120 bonneville cafe racer Since then had a belt drive So Have been lubing the blades chain with muc off ptfe dry lube and wiping off excess with a rag. The chain has done 14k and is apparently original....still has a few miles yet. Doing it on the bike is a shit way of doing it and in the past I would split the chain with a splitting tool take it off and give it a proper solvent clean before re lubing and putting back on. Is this the same with a 2008 chain, my splitter is the type that holds the chain and you wind in the pin which drives out the chain pin. Just didn't want to go wrecking a dirty but other wise good chain. Does anyone have any handy hints on this maintenance procedure.? cheers
I wouldn't go dismantling the chain to clean it, i would remove the rear wheel and then have the chain dangle in a bowl with some diesel in it and give it a thorough all round scrub clean, dry off and replace the rear wheel, go for a quick spin to warm the chain up and them a good coat of dry lube. Job done.
As above, chains are joined together with a rivet link. If you split the chain you would need a new rivet link which wouldn't be advisable with a 14000 mile worn chain. For what a new chain and sprockets cost it would be worth swapping the lot - it will feel like a new bike!
Diesel WTF! Modern chains have rubber like O rings between the plates, diesel will perish these very quickly and penetrate in behind them, leaving it inside the rollers to water down the lubricant. There is on the market a devise with brushes and special solvent, put ur bike on a paddock stand, start ur bike, put it in first and hold the device on the chain for a thorough scrubbing. A dish brush and soft wire brush has the same effect when used with a spray on chain cleaner, old toothbrushes are good too. Muc Off Chain Doc and Scottoiler Motorcycle Chain Cleaning Aerosol Fluid 400ml | eBay
I wouldn't recommend putting it in first and starting your bike and holding something onto the chain that's how fingers are lost
Get a brush, I've got one, never used it, rag and WD for me. Oh and some elbow grease! chain cleaning brush | eBay Oh and here's an old one for you, don't open if you don't like blood etc! How not to clean your chain....lol How NOT to clean your chain. **GRAPHIC PICS*** : Suzuki GSX-R Motorcycle Forums: Gixxer.com
You’re lucky to get 14K out of the OEM and still have a good chain. Mine was dead at 12k, at this point the slack differed as much as 30mm. It does seem a bit of a lot of effort to remove the chain just to clean it, but I guess if you don’t do that many miles or ride in the rain thus don’t need to clean it that often then it kinda makes sense. But as the others said if your chain is OEM and at 14k it must have stretched enough to justify a replacement. I personally wouldn’t break a chain until it needed replacing as potentially you are introducing a weak point also you are continuously checking the rivet is still ok after every ride! If you must remove you chain your tool should be OK but make sure to buy DID type hollow rivets and don’t be tempted by them quick release jobbies. I do over 1K a month so clean religiously, that my job on the first Saturday of every month. I generally wash the bike the night before and dry off then do the chain the morning after. I’m not a fan of soaking the chain in solvents, I’ve got a paranoid thing of washing out the grease between the o/x rings so I soak a towel in Paraffin and wipe and wipe until next to no black stuff comes off. Dry off with more clean towels then use dedicated cleaner (I use Motul) to rinse off the paraffin. Go for a quick run to warm the chain up and then apply the lube, again my weapon of choice is Motul Road lube. Let to dry off for a bit boom job done and zero fling! Done over 6k on my new chain and apart from the initial stretch I have not needed to adjust. The real test will be the winter salt!!
I,m only assuming the chain is OEM, its smack in the middle of the the two markers (new left- replace right) with 25mm free play when cold. Anyway thanks for the advice folks.........I've always used white spirit for cleaning my mountain bike chains and old triumphs in the past. Is this ok........or best I buy some chain cleaner (pricey for what it is) Think I'll take off back wheel and do it that way best to be safe. cheers.
Never clean mine either! Just wash the bike now and again and wank some Wurth Dry Lube over the chain every 500 miles or so.
Same here. I once stupidly left my bike parked in the garage over winter without lubing the chain properly after its last wash and I nearly cried when I saw the chain in spring. I thought it was going to be a skip job but I just put some cardboard and rags under the bike, liberally sprayed the chain with copious quantities of WD, left it for a few minutes, agitated it with a brush, sprayed it with a bit more, agitated again and then cleaned it off with a rag. Then once I'd cleaned the WD off with rags I cleaned the chain with water-based degreaser and then rinsed. It came up like new. Then re-lubed, of course.
Soft MF cloth ... spray on some WD40 on the MF cloth and clean the chain on the bike with elbox grease... soaking the chain will just wash the lube out of the links which will make it wear prematurely. Once the chain is clean, lube with chain wax. I get 30k out of chain and sprockets this way. It gets done once a week.
