Chain oil

[dolau]

OK I admit it = last time I went out in rain (not salt you understand) I put the Fazer away dirty and wet  :o

I have always used oily type chain oil and whinged about the spray over the back of the bike so when someone recommended some non splash white greasy type stuff I jumped at the chance.

I have never had rust problems on my chain with oily chain lube and always put too much on but this stuff seemjed to coat the rollers and sideplates quite nicely.... until I got the baby out yesterday before riding today and found thje rollers and sideplates all rusty.  :'(

I dont think I have any tight spots on the chain so maybe it is only surface but after a 20 mile ride today the rollers are still dull and rusty after a good coating of the oily stuff last night

Have I ruined my chain?

[ghostbiker]

Nope

[limax2]

I agree. I don't think you will have done much harm to the chain as long as there are no tight spots. Just keep a check on the chain slack to see if it gets worse (more than normal) after a few hundred miles.

[Skippernick]

I use Wurth high performance dry chain lube in the summer and found my chain started to go rusty in the winter, so i switch to the chain wax, and no rust. I think because the wax stays on better therefore protects more between applications.

[ghostbiker]

I offten get rust spots on the side plates because i use a scott oiler and in winter with less milage the chain gets less lube. so i sometimes top it up with a cheap spray (what ever i can get on offer at the time)

some times if left for a couple of weeks i get it on the rollers to (pit falls of living 20 yrds from the beach) but it soon rubs off with use.

as said by others, just keep an eye open for tightspots

[HarryHornby]

I use a scottoiler too, the outside plates on my chain are beautiful, the inside ones do get a little rusty, I use some castrol GTX that I've had lying around from when I had a petrol engined cage.  put some on a rag and apply at the end of each Friday evening commute, seems to work.

[JKay]

I use Wurth high performance dry chain lube in the summer and found my chain started to go rusty in the winter, so i switch to the chain wax, and no rust. I think because the wax stays on better therefore protects more between applications.

That Wurth stuff is shite seems to promote rust

[dolau]

OK then- really newbie question.

Someone told me to just spray the side plates but I put it on the rollers too- correct or over the top? Seemed to me that the bit doing the work was the rollers and the sideplates were just rotating

[pitternator]

dolau
I brush on gear oil liberally and remove excess with a brush. I do get flingspatter , but its not difficult to clean off. What I do get is incredible chain life ( current OE chain is 35 K miles, still life left), and cheap lubing. I have used this method since 2003 on all my bikes, and since then have never changed a chain. My first gen1 had a new chain at 20k , but till then I had used chain wax.
IMO "dry" lube attracts dirt , wet lube flings dirt off, and a clean chain lasts a very long time.

[dolau]

Good advice Mr P- I have loads of engine oil and the leftovers from the last bike oil change

Better check the tension as well seems a little slack and lumpy on the gear changes

[Skippernick]

[quote author=Skippernick link=topic=1727.msg12831#msg12831 date=1329173101]
I use Wurth high performance dry chain lube in the summer and found my chain started to go rusty in the winter, so i switch to the chain wax, and no rust. I think because the wax stays on better therefore protects more between applications.

That Wurth stuff is shite seems to promote rust
[/quote]


Doesn't with me

[Major Rant]

Waste engine oil is the best chain-lube...

It works like this on a sealed-roller chain, I think:

Chain starts life covered in a thin film of oil.
Dust,grit and other sh*t gets onto the chain from the road and turns the oil into to grinding paste.
You add oil and it dilutes the grinding paste and it all flings off at the points of max centripetal force (mainly under the front sprocket cover and to a lesser extent off the rear sprocket onto the back wheel). The main aim is to keep the grinding paste as dilute as possible.
If you don't add oil, the paste gets more and more concentrated until it doesn't flow and so holes appear in the oil-film and your chain rusts.
A combination of rust and grit then wears your sprockets and rollers.
At the same time it solidifies in  the gaps between the rollers and the pins and it attacks the seals - and your chain starts to stretch.

In my opinion any chain lubricant that pretends to be "wax" or "low maintenance" can't possibly work because it doesn't remove grit from the chain.
So basically, if you want to preserve your chain you've got to put up with the crap all over your back wheel - at least its no longer on your chain.

Last week I couldn't spell "engineer".... now I ARE one. 8)

[Phil TK]

Waste engine oil is the best chain-lube...

It works like this on a sealed-roller chain, I think:

I agree. I might add that engine oil has surfactant type detergents in it which probably also helps, these are chemicals which 'hug' dirt particles and stop them sticking to anything, they then fling off.  I might be wrong though :\

Cans of chain lube are a hangover from the days of non o ring chains when you had to get lube to stay put inside the rollers but with o rings there's no reason for them anymore and not one chain manufacturer reccomends them or indeed makes their own brand -which speaks volumes about 'chain lube' products.
Dry lube? It's rubbish if like me you live near the sea and are prey to salt and that chain wax is another solution looking for a problem, but it does do a good job of creating thick mucky gobs of waste lube in the front sprocket housing.

[JKay]

[quote author=JKay link=topic=1727.msg12875#msg12875 date=1329231350]
[quote author=Skippernick link=topic=1727.msg12831#msg12831 date=1329173101]
I use Wurth high performance dry chain lube in the summer and found my chain started to go rusty in the winter, so i switch to the chain wax, and no rust. I think because the wax stays on better therefore protects more between applications.

That Wurth stuff is shite seems to promote rust
[/quote]


Doesn't with me
[/quote]


:\

[JZS 600]

Lube chain once a week AFTER a ride when it's hot works for me. Apply sparingly. Stops the sh!t flting up your bike and everywhere else.

Had 2 scott oilers fitter on different bikes and frankly will stick with spray lube. Then I do a lot of miles per week..

[dolau]

And occassional cleaning of said chain and sprokets to get the crap off?

I syphoned off some heating oil last time- (red diesel) and that did a good job of getting the crap off the chain and sprokets and my lovely shiny K&N oil filter which was covered in crap and chain spillage