my take on chain lube

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I tried many different types

SAE 90 gear oil (as recommended by honda)
light grade oil (scottoiler/ 3in1)
chain wax (castrol)
chain lube (putoline)
dry chain lube (wurth)

- My understanding is that O&X ring chains have lubricant inside the rollers and yo need to keep it there!

- These chains are made of normal steel (mild?) and rust quickly specially if you add road salt in the mix (specially in the wet and damp UK)

- If you look at a clean/ new chain on the sprocket, there is always a little lateral play

What I want the chain lube to do:

1- provide lubrication on the outside of the roller and the sprockets teeth
2- reduce the rusting on the chain (which could get under the O/X seals)
3- reduce the lateral slapping of the chain on the sprocket
4- not make a greasy mess of the rear end of my bike

For me all the lube product I have tried provide me with my expectations 1~3 but...

all but one create a toothpaste like compound which is abrasive in itself!

In the end, I settled for wurth dry chain lube which give me all functionalities without the grime. The only drawback is that because it is not thick, you need to apply it more often (I tend to do it at every tank fill)

interesting, WD40 have brought out a chain lube spray which is very similar to wurth.

BTW I don't work for wurth
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Through my experiments i found transmission fluid will work better than all those on bike/ motorcycle chain
 
Originally Posted By: KGMtech
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
BMW has the answer.


Not everyone wants to be shafted
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I use gear oil and I'm happy. What puzzles me though is that a lot of people claim that it is messy. This is totally not my experience. The first ride after oiling, I get few spots on the rear rim and it's easily wiped off with a dry cloth and after that, the wheel stays nice and clean until next chain oiling. I don't clean the chain and just brush on the oil, and while it's not super clean, it is much lees dirty looking than with wax.

When I got the bike from the previous guy, the chain and the wheel was coated with wax. Granted the previous guy was a noob to motorcycles and just kept applying more coats of wax, but still I would expect the wax to sling much less. I'm not gonna even mention the work I had to do to clean that mess.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
BMW has the answer.


Until it needs serviced or if you want to change your gearing. Some bikes really become more pleasant with a gearing change.

But for the get on and go crowd...shaft works.
 
Originally Posted By: 02SE
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
BMW has the answer.


They have several models with chain drive.



And the F800 had a belt drive.
 
Bonjo is the WD40 product you mention the "WD40 Specialist" w/ ptfe (Teflon). That would be worth a try.

This is going to sound OCD but if the rollers start not rolling so freely (i.e. gummed up, etc) I can feel it through the driveline as some extra vibration. This is main reason I don't like the thicker waxier lubes as they tend to gum up the rollers from spinning freely. That is why I like the (blue can) Dupont Multi-Use Lubricant instead of their (yellow can) Dupont Chain Saver which is thicker and gums up the rollers after not very many miles. Blue can multi-use is not a dry lube however, it does coat the chain with a film but it's not as thick and waxy as the.... thicker and waxier.... products. It does not seem to attract a lot of grime but I tend to ride in somewhat clean conditions most of the time and only seldomly in rain.

If you try the WD40 Specialist with PTFE, please report back here sometime on how you like it.
 
Originally Posted By: KGMtech
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
BMW has the answer.


Not everyone wants to be shafted
grin.gif



These are close to the words of a buddy of mine in May.
Results of a 1998 R1200C shaft drive failure and seizing at 65mph on the interstate. The bike had 22K and had a thorough going over by BMW in prep for a Ironbutt ride the week before. Little over 1K between the going over and time of failure. The spokes didn't like the hub coming to a instant stop. Broken leg and other injuries. The bike lowsided into the ditch once the wheel separated, hooked up on the rumble strip tank slapping and sending him over the bike which then rolled over the top of him and him back over the bike landing about 20' beyond where the bike came to rest.

"Got shafted by BMW once, never again."
"Motorcycle wrestling, not as fun as it first sounds."
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For the past 6,000km I've had a chain oiler from the UK called a Loobman fitted to my bike. I use plain old 10w40 engine oil in it, and my chain is looking great. No rust, and haven't had to adjust it at all. I ride in all weathers, though we don't use salt on the roads here. The small amount of oil that flings onto the rear wheel wipes off easily. I've used a Scottoiler on a previous bike and had great results with that too, using their branded oil, or 10w40.
 
The new Ducati XDiavel is using a belt drive!! A Ducati with a belt !! The world is changing !!

Wish there was a way to have a belt drive without the overly large looking rear sprocket or I guess it would be called a pulley (?) for a belt drive.... That's the only thing I don't like about belt drives is the large diameter pulley.
 
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
BMW has the answer.


Until it needs serviced or if you want to change your gearing. Some bikes really become more pleasant with a gearing change.

But for the get on and go crowd...shaft works.
My son rides a Nighthawk, even Honda does shafts. Since I'm not a crazy rider my BMW R series suits me just fine.
 
Trav:
I know of SDOC SD100. Used their cleaner and found it no better than others.

The dry lube I use does not leave a visible film other than the shine. Your comment about rust is however interesting as over here it is always wet and muddy + salt in the winter. So I might give the SD100 spray a try
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LoneRanger

I was referring to the original WD40 which I stay away from but some others swear by.

I use their PTFE lube for general lubrication where I don't want a greasy left over. But two years ago they brought out specifis bike chaine lubes: "chain wax" and "chain lube"

I agree with you about the thicker waxes (or oil in fact) I found they collect everything that is thrown at them and as you mentioned the rollers don't turn freely.

I use the thin spray but do it more often. I find the gear change also improves with the product I use.
I have read the Dupont is good but we cannot easily get it over here.

flstffxe

gosh man that's terrible. do they know what cause the seizure?


For you guys who use straight oil either with an oiler or brush it on, well I really envy you.
I tried them but it didn't work for me. I wish it had, cheaper and less hassle
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I tried WD40 motorcycle chain lube, it was on special offer and the liquid looked promising.

After spraying it on the chain it set into a shiny coating (made the chain look good). So far it was good although you could tell the lube was thicher than Wurth.
After a couple of rides, there was some flinging and the lube now looked no better than gear oil in terms of collecting road muck.
Provided less (probably none) rust protection during winter riding compared to Wurth which is much thinner and almost transparent.
So here ends my experiment and I am placing an order for more wurth
 
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