Chain Cleaning/Maintenance

Sandycheeks · 17 Jul 2015 at 13:59

I always used proper chain lube about once a fortnight but after winter I decided to give the chain a good clean from all the crud.

I cleaned it with a brush and some petrol and then washed off then a generous drubbing with WD40.
My chain started to rust after this and is only now beginning to look ok again.
I have recently been lubing it with WD40 only as per others recommendations and it seems to be doing it's job ok.

I did read somewhere a while back though that WD40 was a pain for swelling o-rings...advice I have decided to ignore for now.

benji182 · 17 Jul 2015 at 14:00

pugheaven said:
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!!!

Gosh! I couldn't imagine anything worse than watching your fingers go between a chain that thick (and tight) over a sprocket :eek:

tom_e · 17 Jul 2015 at 14:01

Sandycheeks said:
I always used proper chain lube about once a fortnight but after winter I decided to give the chain a good clean from all the crud.

I cleaned it with a brush and some petrol and then washed off then a generous drubbing with WD40.
My chain started to rust after this and is only now beginning to look ok again.
I have recently been lubing it with WD40 only as per others recommendations and it seems to be doing it's job ok.

I did read somewhere a while back though that WD40 was a pain for swelling o-rings...advice I have decided to ignore for now.

Do you mean you're lubing it with just the bog standard blue can of WD40?

wazza300 · 17 Jul 2015 at 14:02

Can't beat propper chain lube,nice n sticky

I've used wd40 in emergencies when my chain lube has run out

tom_e · 17 Jul 2015 at 14:14

I wouldn't even put that stuff on my mountain bike chain unless it really was all I had and it needed to be done.

ElliorR · 17 Jul 2015 at 15:14

I clean my chain with paraffin, kerosene, every 2 tank fully, unless I feel it needs it sooner and lube every tank, or more often blah blah blah, with Motul C4. I've never had to adjust a chain on any bike I've owned as it's always in spec.

ShakenNstirred · 17 Jul 2015 at 15:40

I have been using WD40 motorcycle chain wax
its been very good

tom_e · 17 Jul 2015 at 15:45

I was using the Wurth dry stuff on my YBR but it left my chain looking in pretty crap state to be honest considering it was newly fitted at the start of April so I started using a little bottle of free stuff I got with the chain that was a wetter lube and that seemed better although it ran out last night so not such what I'll grab next.
The wetter stuff seems better considering the miles I put on it.

wazza300 · 17 Jul 2015 at 16:09

silkolene chain oil atm for me

tom_e · 17 Jul 2015 at 16:13

Just ordered some Muc Off extreme chain lube along with a few other bits as I had a 25% off voucher.

pugheaven · 17 Jul 2015 at 18:40

This is how mine always is... special chain lovin' lmfao

wazza300 · 17 Jul 2015 at 19:05

ohh no

I like em as dirty as my mind :eek:

ElliorR · 17 Jul 2015 at 19:05

Hope that's not a recent pic as your tax disc is out of date.

pugheaven · 17 Jul 2015 at 19:15

Hahaha. earlier in the year lol... and most of the stickers gone, toning it back now and becoming boring lol

acemastr · 17 Jul 2015 at 19:27

wazza300 said:
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

Once again you post complete tosh.

wazza300 · 17 Jul 2015 at 19:32

acemastr said:
Once again you post complete tosh.

picking a fight again :rolleyes:

ive never once cleaned mine,did it seize up and fall off ....nope

I got more riding experience than you anyway but ok if you sayso

phil675 · 17 Jul 2015 at 19:34

How do you oil them without getting it all over the wheel?

wazza300 · 17 Jul 2015 at 19:46

cut a piece of cardboard with a slot in it to fit over the spindle,keeps the oil off your wheel/tyre

or cover it in an old rag

benji182 · 17 Jul 2015 at 19:48

pugheaven said:
This is how mine always is... special chain lovin' lmfao

http://www.pugheaven.co.uk/Eric/Eric1_small.jpg

Very clean

My first go at cleaning the chain went pretty well I think

After using Paraffin and about 5 J-Cloths to get the majority of the gunk off I used a chain brush with a few drips of paraffin on it and came out very nice.

Then used this after reading up on some reviews

She is happy once again after her Friday afternoon bath

acemastr · 17 Jul 2015 at 19:53

wazza300 said:
picking a fight again

ive never once cleaned mine,did it seize up and fall off ....nope

I got more riding experience than you anyway but ok if you sayso

You keep telling me that you have more experience, yet everything you post is false information. Logical common sense says that oil will attract dirt, dirt will cause friction within the O/X rings and wear the chain out. Putting more oil over that is is a stupid idea.

I'm not picking fights with you, I'm questioning your 'advice' you give you people that may not know better.