Chain Cleaning/Maintenance

benji182 · 14 Jul 2015 at 22:23

For ages I've used Muc-Off on my mountain bikes and was considering the same for my ZX-6R, but after a quick read of the manual it states

"CAUTION
The O-rings between the side plates seal in the lubricant between the pin and the bushing. To avoid damaging the O-rings and resultant loss of lubricant, observe the following rules. Use only kerosene or diesel oil for cleaning of the
O-ring of the drive chain. Any other cleaning solution such as gasoline will cause deterioration and swelling of the O-ring. Immediately blow the chain dry with compressed air after cleaning. Complete cleaning and drying the chain within 10 minutes."

Where would I get Kerosene from?

wazza300 · 14 Jul 2015 at 22:31

paraffin

Its the same thing,I think tesco sell it by the barbeque stuff

benji182 · 14 Jul 2015 at 22:54

Are you sure it's the same thing? I thought paraffin was for fire breathers and heater?

wazza300 · 14 Jul 2015 at 23:01

Yh it is,kerosene is paraffin

Its American word for it,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene

Kreeeee · 14 Jul 2015 at 23:31

I can confirm it's the same thing.

benji182 · 15 Jul 2015 at 07:19

excellent

Thank you for clearing that up

4T5 · 15 Jul 2015 at 10:54

If you've got no paraffin then drain half a cup of petrol from your tank & use that.

Kreeeee · 15 Jul 2015 at 14:38

Diesel is fine but everyone says not to use petrol.

4T5 · 15 Jul 2015 at 15:02

Learn summit new every day Bud.

wazza300 · 15 Jul 2015 at 17:12

Why would you want to clean your chain anyway? Your removing perfectly good oil,just re oil it

Clean the swingarm and surrounding areas,I understand that,but I've never once cleaned the actual chain

BigRazer93 · 15 Jul 2015 at 18:20

Assume you would just clean the chain to get rid of all the crud that it collects. Depends on how you clean it, it will do it good and prolong the life of the chain. Salt and dirt will damage the chain eventually if not cleaned.

I want to clean mine so I can get the rear sprocket to silver metal again and notc covered in black crap.

wazza300 · 15 Jul 2015 at 18:22

it will cling to the new oil though? grit and debris,salt shouldn't penetrate any oil

I agree with rear sprocket I clean mine,each to their own im just saying why bother with the chain itself

benji182 · 15 Jul 2015 at 19:15

It is looking pretty gunky and I'd rather just give it a good clean to remove the thick sludge that has accumulated in this damp weather.

wazza300 · 15 Jul 2015 at 20:25

use a half inch paint brush and a small tray with paraffin,itll soon come clean

Dogbreath · 15 Jul 2015 at 21:35

wazza300 said:
it will cling to the new oil though? grit and debris,salt shouldn't penetrate any oil

As soon as you spray the solvent laden chain lube onto the claggy mess it will.

Stovepipes · 15 Jul 2015 at 23:05

As soon as I've run out of the relatively expensive Motul chain cleaner and lubricant I bought I'm moving over to paraffin and gear oil.

The easiest place to get paraffin from is B&Q although apparently you should be able to get it even cheaper than this if you shop around.

ShakenNstirred · 15 Jul 2015 at 23:23

gear oil wont stay on the chain more than a few mins once your moving and the chain warms up.
the back of your leg and the back of the bike will have more of it than the chain

Sin_Chase · 16 Jul 2015 at 07:13

Gear oil can confirm... Nightmare.

I ended up spending ages cleaning it off the back wheel and when warmed up it also flung forward onto the exhaust mid section and burnt on.

Not recommended.

I'm using WD40 cleaner and summer (dry weather) cleaner and lubricant currently.

ironhorse · 16 Jul 2015 at 09:47

I use chainsaw oil, very sticky lubes the chain well and the bottles lasted over 4 years

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/chainsaw-lubrication-oil?da=1&TC=SRC-chainsaw oil

pugheaven · 17 Jul 2015 at 13:16

I use WD40 (which is against recommendations) and GUNK, slap on the nice golden Renthal chain and use a tooth brush and quickly go over it... rinse off and then apply Wurth's chain lube. My Sports Sprox rear sprocket and chain look epic. I don't like oil and crap on my stuff.

All of this is done while on a paddock stand for hand rotation of the rear wheel. When applying the Wurths I tend to start bike put in 1st gear and run for a minute or two... warm the chain slightly, then leave it running in 1st pulling the chain through then (CAREFULLY) just spray keeping fingers etc well away from the chain (use the WD40 extender/straw applicator thingy). That way it's working it's way in nice and slowly. LAl this takes 20 minutes form start to finish once every say 400-500 miles?

I've seen a lot of pictures of people taking their fingers off doing moving chains etc... KEEP YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM THE CHAIN IF RUNNING IN GEAR!!!