Chain care

[fizzwheel]

Its supposed to be I think every 100 miles or so.

Liz's Duke gets a bit of Lube on the chain after every ride as it has no Scotoiler. If she takes it to work its 120 mile round trip. I cleaned and lubed the chain today. Now she's regularly riding the Duke again I'll clean and lube it every week.

On her SV with the Scotoiler, I just check the Scotoiler level once a week and check the chain tension at the same time.

In the winter I try and clean the chain with parafin and a tooth brush once a month as even with the scotoiler the chain gets manky.

I'm not mechnical genuis, I'm not saying what I've posted is right, its just what I do. Chain maintenance works best if its little and often IMHO.

My GSXR has done 14K on the original chain and I've never ever had to adjust the tension on it. Courtesy of the Scotoiler IMHO.

Im abit lazy when it comes to cleaning the chain once in a blue moon, but i give it a quick spray every other ride.

Nice one fizzwheel. Cheers for the help.

Just looking at the box for my new DID chain. They recomend cleaning and lubing every 300 miles. I don't clean mine every time i oil it, but try to do it every 600 miles or so. I oil it once a week, and i tend to use engine oil and a paint brush - used to use Castrol chain wax but i found it just collected loads of dirt. Will probably switch back during summer when the roads are a bit cleaner, but I find oil keeps the chain cleaner (but will need re-applying more often).

[rictus01]

Can't say I've actually cleaned a chain in about 15 years, fit a scottoiler, run old engine oil threw it on minimal flow and that's it, lasts about 1,000 miles between fills, the last Chain & sprocket set on the SV done 54,000 miles, so it works.

I'm not really fussed that I have a gold chain, it's more important it is always lubbed, as it can take but one run dry, to damage the O rings and start the dramatic wear rate.

Cheers Mark.

just clean and lube it more than I do. mine snapped. thought I had a scotoiller but that was the other bike doh

If you aren't bothered about your wheel and swing arm getting covered in crud and making your whole bike look like a heat of crap then fit a scottoilier and your chain will last for ages. Also any old chain lube will do the trick as long as you apply it often enough, but again it will fling everywhere and look awful.

IF you want zero fling so your wheel and swing arm to stay clean, and a chain that will resist attracting grit, and last ages and always look clean then there are only 2 products i know of that will do this. They are Worth Dry chain lube and Profi Dry Chain lube. They cost more notes per can, but they last 600km per application, don't fling off at all, don't attract dirt thats gonna grind down your sprockets. The only bad thing is u need to re-apply (alot of) it after riding in the rain and after washing the bike or the chain will rust. As mentioned above its also an idea to clean the chain with parafin once every 6 months and then re-apply your dry lube.

Here's a good article on chain care - check out what the folks from Regina and DID recommend for chain lubing....Apologies for the quality of the image - max upload is 125k!

IMO - its more important to do a little often than to apply tons of lube/wax rarely. After each ride I just pop the bike on the sidestand, prop the rear off the ground with a piece of wood under the RHS of the swingarm (so I can spin the wheel) and spray 3 in 1 oil straight onto the chain. Wipe off the excess with a cloth and yer done. Takes less than a minute to do. And best done while the chain is warm as the oil penetrates deeper (suits you sir!).

Scottoiler but they chuck off a bit of excess which ain't so good with white wheels! But a great piece of kit. Barely have to even adjust the chain

[jambo]

Originally Posted by New Leaf

If you aren't bothered about your wheel and swing arm getting covered in crud and making your whole bike look like a heat of crap then fit a scottoilier and your chain will last for ages. Also any old chain lube will do the trick as long as you apply it often enough, but again it will fling everywhere and look awful.

The scottoiler has many settings, on the lower ones it shouldn't be flinging oil all over the back wheel. Personally I run them a little higher as I care more about the chain than the appearance of the wheels