Your top 5 bits on a bike you should regularly maintain.

Man of Honour
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True, I mean cleaning it properly of course.

If there's any grit etc on your chain then just dumping oil on it will do nothing to help.
 
Soldato
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True, grit is bad and needs to come off, but I've only ever found grit on the sides which if you think about it, doesn't really matter, surely? The bits that contact the sprockets always seem to be really nice & clean and grit free, especially since I've been using Castrol stuff (I've decided Wurth is terrible despite all the good reviews).

Something like every 200 miles or more often if it gets wet. You could look at a Scottoiler as a lot of people swear by them to extend chain and sprocket life and remove their need to lube manually.

I have a Scottoiler on my old bike and while it did keep the chain looking pretty good and always well oiled it has two massive flaws:
  1. Doesn't oil the inside of the chain. Can be sorted by the dual side lube attachment but I've heard that's awful.
  2. Made a big mess of my side stand and surround area. If you don't constantly check and adjust to make sure it's dripping at 1 drip a minute (or whatever they recommend) then you end up with a big mess or a dry chain. If you have to sit by your bike and watch it dripping every day when the weather changes then the Scottoiler is pointless, you may as well just manually lube it.

That being said, it would save you money in the long run. The bottle of lube they gave me with it lasted about a year and it's only £6 for something double that size.
 
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Associate
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Something like every 200 miles or more often if it gets wet. You could look at a Scottoiler as a lot of people swear by them to extend chain and sprocket life and remove their need to lube manually.

Oh wow, pretty often then. Will give it an oil this weekend then, will google how to do it otherwise I'll just be dumping it on everything :D
 
Soldato
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My castrol stuff just flings oil everywhere. I'll be moving away from it when the can is finished.

Yeah some people find that for some reason. I normally apply after riding and before I park it up for the night, so it goes on to a warm chain and 'dries' overnight. Never had any of it flinging. I've also been applying less but more often so that probably helps with fling.

I love the Castrol stuff. Used Wurth for about a year when I first started biking, but I constantly had a dry chain and it would seem to need constant adjusting, I'll never go back to it.

Oh wow, pretty often then. Will give it an oil this weekend then, will google how to do it otherwise I'll just be dumping it on everything :D

There's nothing to it really. Stick your bike on the centre stand if it has one, or paddock stand if you have one, find a section on the chain (normally bottom middle) that you can put a cloth behind, lube about 3 links, move the wheel, another 3 links, move again and so on. Try find your master link which sometimes looks different or will even be coloured so you know when you've been round the whole thing.

Holding a cloth behind means the lube won't go all over the floor/frame/wheel or whatever else is behind/around the chain.

If you can't put your bike on a stand of some sort, you'll just need to lube, move the bike, lube, move the bike, etc.
 
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Soldato
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Generally POWER, except I don't have Water on mine.

Beyond that, my Top 5 would probably be:

- Brake pads & fluid
- Chain tension
- Engine oil, Scottoil,
- Lights
- Tyres

I also spend time messing with carbs every now and then, but my bike is a 23 year-old model from a 37 year-old design and that's all part of its charm!
 
Man of Honour
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Yeah some people find that for some reason. I normally apply after riding and before I park it up for the night, so it goes on to a warm chain and 'dries' overnight. Never had any of it flinging. I've also been applying less but more often so that probably helps with fling.

That's the only time you should be doing it, so I do the same :p

I'm just getting annoyed with it sticking to and then baking on one of my under seat exhausts.

My bike is so light I just push it along while spraying the lube very lightly near the sprocket. I couldn't do that with a heavy bike like the Speed Triple though.
 
Soldato
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That's the only time you should be doing it, so I do the same :p

I'm just getting annoyed with it sticking to and then baking on one of my under seat exhausts.

My bike is so light I just push it along while spraying the lube very lightly near the sprocket. I couldn't do that with a heavy bike like the Speed Triple though.

I wonder if the Speed has a slightly longer chain guard or something then? I've never had a spot of lube on the bottom of my exhausts.

I just stick my Speed on my Abba stand and lube like that. There's a nice gap at the bottom middle where I can put a cloth and lube 3-4 links, then move the wheel, and so on.
 
Associate
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There's nothing to it really. Stick your bike on the centre stand if it has one, or paddock stand if you have one, find a section on the chain (normally bottom middle) that you can put a cloth behind, lube about 3 links, move the wheel, another 3 links, move again and so on. Try find your master link which sometimes looks different or will even be coloured so you know when you've been round the whole thing.

Holding a cloth behind means the lube won't go all over the floor/frame/wheel or whatever else is behind/around the chain.

If you can't put your bike on a stand of some sort, you'll just need to lube, move the bike, lube, move the bike, etc.

Awesome thanks, I'll do the bike moving method as no centre stand or paddock stand.

How do you clean it? I'd imagine it's pretty toughish stuff to get off?
 
Soldato
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Awesome thanks, I'll do the bike moving method as no centre stand or paddock stand.

How do you clean it? I'd imagine it's pretty toughish stuff to get off?

Paraffin on a cloth would do the trick, but don't expect to use the cloth again.

Some use a chain brush, but I wouldn't recommend that as it can damage the X/O rings and caused kinking on my old CBF125. A softer brush would be alright, like toothbrush softness, but these chain brushes all seem to be super hard.

Wurth chain and brake cleaner is pretty good, but expensive compared to paraffin which does the same job.

It can be quite tough depending on the lube and how long it has been on there. It's not a nice or quick job!
 
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