Another question on chain maintenance

The service manual states the chain, at a minimum, requires cleaning and lube every 300 miles, which to me seems a bit much unless caked with mud/dirt which will wear the chain/sprockets. For 2000 miles I have dutifully clean and lubed every 300, but now I question if this is needed for street riding? I figure I may stretch this to 400 to 500 miles. What are your thoughts on this?

M1: If I haven't been in the dirt, as you said, the chain usually isn't dirty.

I may give it a quick spray of WD and then wipe it off and then lube it if it's dry.

It appears dry before 300 miles, and so I lube it. 500 miles is probably pressing the need for lubrication IMO.

I use the WD as a salt-preventative (living by the beach) and I actually use motor oil to lube it, and spin the tire a few times, and then wipe it off. The rest spins off and I use WD again to periodically wipe the bike off in-between warm soap and water baths.

X-racer, this was along my line of thinking. After 300 miles, the sticky lube, I use (Silkalene), still looks greasy, but black with dust, hair, and other crap from the road, and the sprocket has a nice black ring of lube and gunk around the teeth. I figure it will easily last 400 to 500, but will be more hairy - not sure where the hair comes from as I have no pets.

Mine comes off my back. ...which makes it very interesting when trying to do a comb-over.

Try tucking in your shirt.

X-Racer wrote:

Try tucking in your shirt.

nice.

If I'm going to be primarily or only street riding for a couple weeks, I clean the chain with WD40 and go for a ride. When I get home, while the chain is warm, spray it down with Maxima chain wax. Redo it about every 500 miles.

If I suspect or know I'll be getting into dirt, I'll just WD40 it. Once to get it clean, then a second spray after wiping it down for a protective layer. It stays cleaner but needs lubing more frequently as the WD40 flings off or evaporates. Redo every 250 miles or so.

I also always WD40 after rain (after it stops anyways).

The only reason to oil a o-ring chain is to save the sprockets !!! Also if chain is too tight it will get hot very quickly. Lastly, if a chain is properly aligned it will run the rear sprocket in the middle of the chain when wheel is turned in the forward direction. my two cents

I guess the WD40 folks know what's in that stuff. It's great for no-load lube, like the door mechanism in a car, and cleaning but under heavy loads it's unpredictable, even worse than dry. If you want lube on the chain, use sticky oring chain lube, JMHO. Lots of off road riders, especially desert riders, run 'em dry but I don't. I cannot abide metal on metal or metal against rubber while dry even though I know the lube holds dust particles in suspension. I still believe that the chain lube helps more than it hurts. Not WD40 though.

I'm with Taoshum. WD40 is a solvent. Better at removing lubrication than adding it. I prefer a "dry type" Lubricant like Maxima Chainwax or Belray Superclean that you apply to a warm chain then leave it. Chain stays nice and quiet, doesn't attract dirt and comes off easily with Simple Green...

taoshum wrote:

I guess the WD40 folks know what's in that stuff.

It's fish oil.

The Wiki...

WD-40's main ingredients, according to U.S. Material Safety Data Sheet information, are:

* 50%: Stoddard solvent (i.e., mineral spirits -- primarily hexane, somewhat similar to kerosene)
* 25%: Liquefied petroleum gas (presumably as a propellant; carbon dioxide is now used instead to reduce WD-40's considerable flammability)
* 15+%: Mineral oil (light lubricating oil)
* 10-%: Inert ingredients


50% Solvent...

Captain Midnight wrote:

taoshum wrote:

I guess the WD40 folks know what's in that stuff.

It's fish oil.

I remember when the early suspension modification shops started the rumor that Jap bikes used fish oil in their forks. There were enough gullible people to keep them afloat changing out the fork oil.

W-D 40 stands for "water displacement- 1940", it was developed by the US government and was used by the navy to flush out the engines of ships that had been sunken or had taken on water. It's good for getting water out of electrical connections and stuff like that, but was not originally intended to be a lubricant, and it does evaporate rather quickly. A good chain cleaner, but not a good lubricant. I use chain lube spray whenever the chain looks dry.