Chain cleaning

i will do i have only had it since sept last year, it had 5k on clock its a 01 and was sitting around for a long time in excellent condition. The chain and sprockets have been on since new

Cleaned once, just so i could get some decent grease on it, run the scottoiler on it as well.

Chain lube is easily washed away, i just used think grease, smeared it on manually..
Won't touch it again until the grease gets washed off.

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by Ed

I clean mine off cos of the grinding paste thing. Mark, are you saying that I'm wasting my time? I don't have a Scottie.

Ed, if that's what you want to do fine, but damage inspection is mainly done by feel and the hooking of the sprockets (you won't see dried out O-rings), grinding paste never seen it myself and don't ever expect to.

Basically keep it wet with oil of some type ( doesn't really matter which), I've found oil engine oil has several benefits, it's always available, goes threw the scottoiler nicely,isn't sticky, on minimum flow "washes" the chain without covering everything in oil.

So yes Ed that's what I'm saying, if you aren't going to fit a scottoiler then lubing every 250 miles (in wet/salty conditions) or 450 (in normal conditions) will give you the best chance of long life from your chain & sprockets, of course regular inspection is still needed, but if you can't feel it or see it by sag/bend/tight joints, then cleaning it isn't going to help.

Of course if you want a nice "clean" chain then that's fine, personnally I've always seen it as a functional thing rather than cosmetic.


Cheers Mark

Originally Posted by punyXpress

Please, Pete.
Can I be excused chain cleaning ?
I can clean the top of the sw/arm & I don't lean far enough for peeps t see the bottom.

Nope Puny, we will be on swingarm vetting duty when we next see you. You are warned

Originally Posted by sarah

I agree. I hate the idea of getting a snapped chain whilst riding.

Originally Posted by rictus01

funnily enough I can see my chain without "de-greasing" it, besides more can be felt than seen with chain wear,

But the act of cleaning the chain means you spend far more time looking closely at the chain. Also with a scottoiler there is a tendency to overlook chain maintenance. Plus it doesn't take much to either block the flow from the feed tube or even rip it right off. And lets not forget those who plain forget to refill the resevoir.

Originally Posted by rictus01

it's not about time, I've known bikes not move in years, it's about mileage and conditions you travel in , whilst you can lube ever month if you like, I guarantee you won't get 50k miles from it.

Also the "grit gets in there" this, whilst it sounds likely, I've never seen it, the forces involved would mean anything smaller than a stone isn't going to make any difference, the main purpose of lubing is to keep the seals (o-rings) in good working condition, as said I've never seen a sprocket ground away by grit in lube, but funnily enough I have seen plenty that are knackered and dry, whilst of course looking clean.......

Cheers Mark.

Well we got 30k out of the OEM chain after we religously lubed it after every ride with thin lube and cleaned it regularly with parafin. Not bad without a scotty. I find it hard to believe that grit mixed in with the lube or grease is not detremental to the chain and/or sprockets.

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by chompy

i will do i have only had it since sept last year, it had 5k on clock its a 01 and was sitting around for a long time in excellent condition. The chain and sprockets have been on since new

what mileage is it now? to be honest you could do absolutly no lubing on a chain and it'd probably last 7 or 8k, but at £70-110 a set, I'll stick to four or five times that each set I fit.

Cheers Mark.

I neglected my chain for 16000 miles and it lasted fine. I lubed it when I could, but did lots of 800 mile winter weekends without lubing. It was absolutely fine, didn't even need adjusting once.

Maybe summer-only riders need to worry about dirt build up. But those of us who ride whatever the weather give it a big watery rinse every time the sky chooses to!

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by petevtwin650

Well we got 30k out of the OEM chain after we religously lubed it after every ride with thin lube and cleaned it regularly with parafin. Not bad without a scotty. I find it hard to believe that grit mixed in with the lube or grease is not detremental to the chain and/or sprockets.

Well Pete, just on results, in 153,000 miles on the SV I never "cleaned" the chain once, with out religously cleaning it, or lubing it after each ride I managed no worse than 34k, apart from a fill as part on my weekly 15 minute bike check, it didn't even need adjusting*, I doubt most will lube their chain each ride, but it's a valid point a scottoiler may make some lazy in the inspection of it.

Well done on the 30k wih spray lube, that's impressive, from experiance of other peoples bikes that's a good 10k more than I'd expect.

* once it showed it needed adjustment it indicated the chain was at the end of it's life and required constant adjustment until replaced as it was now stretching.

Cheers Mark.

[the_lone_wolf]

in 40,000 miles you're going to have spent the best part of £4000 on fuel alone, another £1200 on tyres and hundreds more on insurance

don't know about others but to me, making a saving of the cost of replacement chain/sprockets over 40,000 miles because they "only" lasted 20k isn't worth the hassle of cleaning **** off the back of the bike every time i go out...

dry lube: it lubricates, it's dry, it doesn't fling everywhere