Just Lubed the Chain...now a noise!

[prigge650]

Ok so I just lubed my chain today, first i wiped it down with kerosene then i put some oil on it (with a rag) and now I'm hearing this noise. It's going to be hard to describe it on this forum but it sounded like a 'shhhhh' haha, so it sort of sounds like running water. But I only hear it when I'm on the throttle. When I let go of the throttle it's fine. I'm thinking that it's because now i have a cleaner connection with the sprocket and the chain. But i'm not sure. let me know

[lukemillar]

I wouldn't stress - I had that! Sounds kind of like a tesco bag is stuck round your wheel and is blowing in the wind, right? But only under power/acceleration. Happened when someone lubed my chain with a load of old engine oil. I cleaned it up, used a proper chain lube and the noise disappeared.

[prigge650]

thanks a lot i'll try to put less next time. but i'm sorry to say but the sv manuals on this site say not to use products commercially advertised as chain oil or something similar because they erode the o-rings.

[blueto]

I use castrol chain wax. It is superb!. Most likely one of the best products ive used on my chain for a long time. Ill dig the link out for you and post it up

[Pedro68]

I use castrol chain wax. It is superb!.
+1 to that until I can get my scottoiler fitted ;-)

[jumjum_0214]

I use castrol chain wax too, superb and no fling :-)

[yorkie_chris]

I'm not convinced by chain wax, if its hard then how does it get where it needs to be?

If I didn't have a scottoiler then I'd use normal chain lube.

As for chain oil not being safe with Orings, most chain lubes are Oring safe, says it on the tin if so.

[glade]

I'm not convinced by chain wax, if its hard then how does it get where it needs to be?

If I didn't have a scottoiler then I'd use normal chain lube.

As for chain oil not being safe with Orings, most chain lubes are Oring safe, says it on the tin if so.


Its not a solid wax, its a spray on aerosol which penetrates the chain.
Then the solvent evaporates leaving the wax.

I'm a big fan of the wurth high performance dry chain lube. My chain needed virtually no adjustment using that regularly. When the can ran out, I bought Motrax gold wax which was thick and gunky. The chain started needing regular adjustment so I cleaned the thick gunk off, and the chain was rusty underneath!

At my last service they told me I need a new chain and sprocket set because its shagged (11k).

I've gone back to wurth dry lube now, or fresh engine oil.

I had read that the waxes can get grit stuck to them which makes a grinding paste - but i think you'd always get that to some degree.

[Lozzo]

I'm not convinced by chain wax, if its hard then how does it get where it needs to be?

If I didn't have a scottoiler then I'd use normal chain lube.

As for chain oil not being safe with Orings, most chain lubes are Oring safe, says it on the tin if so.

My experience of chain wax is that it sits on the surface of the chain and doesn't penetrate to inside the rollers, which is where it needs to be. Because it doesn't fling or move around it just builds up and up gathering more road dirt and basically becoming a very effective grinding paste.

It also gathers inside sprocket covers and again builds up until it's touching the chain all the time, causing even more wear with the road dirt and grit.

When I was cleaning down my CBR600 it took me hours to clean the chain wax off the chain, sprockets and swing arm. I hate the stuff - it's bloody useless as a lubricant.

With normal oil based lubes you can easily clean the chain with paraffin or they clean the chain for you and fling road dirt off. Chain wax just allows the dirt to build up.

[Lozzo]

Its not a solid wax, its a spray on aerosol which penetrates the chain.
Then the solvent evaporates leaving the wax.

I'm a big fan of the wurth high performance dry chain lube.

It doesn't penetrate the chain, because it's evaporated before it gets a chance to do so. look at any engineering application where chain drive is being used and you won't find fancy waxes or dry lubes being used, they use good old oil based lubes for a good reason. The waxes and dry stuff have all been tried, and they failed the test of time.

Fit a Scottoiler, the only proper way to keep a chain lubed and make it last longer. Fill it with chainsaw oil and keep the costs down.

I had read that the waxes can get grit stuck to them which makes a grinding paste - but i think you'd always get that to some degree.

If a chain is flinging a little lube then it's flinging the road dirt and grit with it.

Face facts, if you ride a chain driven bike you cannot keep the rear wheel clean all the time and keep the chain lubed sufficiently. A certain amount of fling is a good thing.

[glade]

It also gathers inside sprocket covers and again builds up until it's touching the chain all the time, causing even more wear with the road dirt and grit.


I found that with gunky motrax wax but not with the dry wurth stuff.

My experience of chain wax is that it sits on the surface of the chain and doesn't penetrate to inside the rollers, which is where it needs to be.

I thought that the o-rings were used to seal in grease and the oil doesn't actually go inside the rollers but just on the outside of the chain to protect the metal from corrosion and keep the o-rings in good nick.

[embee]

A chain has links with fixed pins, and alternate links with tubular bushings, and the pins run inside the bushings. The pins are fixed in the outer side-plates, the bushings are between the inner side-plates. The O-rings seal the joints between the outer and inner side-plates to keep the grease inside between the pins and bushings. The lube you apply doesn't get into this region.

Around the hollow bushings are rollers which contact the sprockets. The lube you apply should get between the rollers and the bushings to allow them to rotate freely. This means that the roller doesn't have to rotate relative to the sprocket which is always a dirty area so would wear rapidly if there was relative movement. In theory the area between the roller and bushing should be fairly clean.

The lube also serves to protect the whole lot from water ingress and corrosion.

As others have said, much of the wear comes from dirt and road dust (e.g. granite dust) getting stuck on the lubed surfaces.

Chains running in enclosed oil baths will last much longer than open exposed runs. Fully enclosed chains might look naff but are a good engineering solution.

Scottoilers work. :D

[chakraist]

I use silkoline chain lube, spray on stuff, I just put it on when the bike is still warm, silicone based so it sticks pretty well- only problem is the spray isn't too great and usually ends up needing to be wiped off the brakes. Fun.