Chain Rust

I've just encountered some rust on my chain. Now I'm relatively new to bikes but know I need to nip this in the bud...

Can anyone suggest a good range of products and a cleaning process to firstly stop and secondly reverse (!?) the rust.

Also, how many times are you supposed to lube (snigger) the chain. I riding the SV in all weathers.

[jonny.boyd]

The rust will most probably be just surface rust unless its been festering there for a while! Mine gets rusty now and again - only happens when it's coming up to needing a re-lube.

So what I do is get a cloth, good hard bristled brush and go at it, this will hopefully get most of the surface rust off. Then just give it a good lube up. I found that using 'dry lube' made my chain go rusty very very quickly, like within a few days. I now use castrol chain lube (kinda waxy) and it sticks well and helps prevent the chain going rusty for a much longer time!

HTH

with the weather the way it is it will rust pretty quickly, give it a bit of a scrub of with a hard brush an give it a good soaking of lube and leave it to soak into the links over nyt

[squirrel_hunter]

If you are getting rust on your chain it means you are not lubing it enough.

If you are riding in all weathers/ every day then I would suggest fitting a Scottoiler.

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by squirrel_hunter

If you are getting rust on your chain it means you are not lubing it enough.

.

^^wot he said^^

If you got rust, you got a dry chain, then you might have stiff links, or even kinky ones!

Some say to clean in parrafin, I use WD40 on rags, then lube the hell out of the chains with a nice chain lube like Castrol. Never had to attack it with a wire brush or anything. I maintain four bike chains in this manner, and have never needed to go looking for a scottoiler.

Having a Scottoiler means you don't have to bother with this tiresome maintenance regime, and your chain stays lubed to the correct level at all times. I'd have thought having a Scottoiler on all four bikes would have made even more sense if you have to go to those lengths to keep them all good. Just think of all the time you could save, which could be better spent in the kitchen or hoovering

[jonny.boyd]

Originally Posted by Lozzo

which could be better spent in the kitchen or hoovering

***Fire In The Hole!!***

(run and hide)

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

^^wot he said^^

If you got rust, you got a dry chain, then you might have stiff links, or even kinky ones!

Some say to clean in parrafin, I use WD40 on rags, then lube the hell out of the chains with a nice chain lube like Castrol. Never had to attack it with a wire brush or anything. I maintain four bike chains in this manner, and have never needed to go looking for a scottoiler.

Gawd dont do this, ya'll bugger it some more. Dry chain lube is only any good for fair weather poofters like myself as it gets washed off quickly. If your ride in all weathers use the gunkiest stickiest stuff you can find with minimal fling (wax type is preferable but there are others) and put it on a warm chain after a run. Often.

I use a large stiff toothbrush and parafin/parasene (sp?) to clean my chains, bit cheaper than WD-40. WD-40 is a water disperser not a crud disperser (smells nice though) Keep the parafin in a jar and re-use it as the gunk will settle at the bottom of the jar and last years.

Wax type lubes don't lube, they just seal all the crap in and turn it to grinding paste. If a lube doesn't fling to some extent then it doesn't flow enough to get around the rollers. A gunky sticky lube will just attract grit and other road crap which will shorten the life of the O rings and the chain. A decent oil coming from a dispenser at a steady set rate will lubricate a chain better than anything else.

I forgot to add, since starting to use Scottoilers, I haven't had a chain go rusty and neither have I needed to clean one with paraffin or anything else. I also haven't needed to replace a chain in less than 20,000 hard ridden miles.

I clean my chain with WD-40, it's cheap for me I get the WD free from work. I've been using castrol chain wax for about 12 years, my boss thinks I use it on machinery drive chains