-Inu- posted:Say what you want, but I have no desire to ruin a $250 chain because I was too cheap to spend 10 dollars a year on a proper kerosene-based cleaner. Nor would I ever recommend that someone use something that may not do the proper job. Bike maintenance is important and I don't see any reason to skimp on things. He pretty clearly tested breaking strength. I'm not sure what kind of test you want the man to do in his home. I personally wasn't convinced that the WD40 did much to it but it was a rather short-range test in a lot more liquid than the o-rings are likely to see. Rubber is pretty resilient and your chain will probably be toast before the o-rings dissolve away in WD40. There's nothing wrong with WD40 used correctly to remove water from the chain before applying a lubricant. WD40 as a "lubricant" doesn't really count as anything. As soon as you ride away it's going to be flung off and no longer be there. If you leave it sit it is going to evaporate and no longer be there. All they've managed to do is clean the chain a bit, not actually lubricate it. I personally like gear oil as it's super cheap and does a great job at sticking onto the chain. I'm not sure mine or anyone else's chain can fully appreciate a fully synthetic lubricant - any lube preventing the o-ring from grinding against metal is going to help. Whether this is super expensive Amsoil GoatJizz5 or Advance Auto 90W gear oil, it's helping.
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Jul 7, 2011 05:45
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I have yet to see anyone with a spray on lube match gear oil for chain life. But you have to debate if you'd rather have lower chain life and cleaning the chain vs. cleaning the bike and longer chain life.
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Jul 7, 2011 06:11
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Crayvex posted:Oh god not this again... this myth has been busted a million times. Could you be arsed to provide a link to said bust. Penetrating oil is pretty bad for O-ring chains as far as I've experienced. X-ring chains will probably survive the torture though. Penetrating oil like WD40 is alright to wipe your chain clean. Lamp oil is better. If you choose not to lubricate your chain with Kerosene on a rag, you better watch your back. Good people like Z3n, Saga, Neoboro and Kozmonaut might get very angry, and I'm a tad too old to try to control them. Edit: like the above poster mentioned, a bit of 10W40 on a rag is way better than any spray. Permabanned idiot fucked around with this message at 11:27 on Jul 7, 2011 |
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Jul 7, 2011 11:02
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Isn't WD40 pretty much just kerosene and a tiny amount of light oil anyway?
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Jul 7, 2011 12:11
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Tank grips, people. What's the best way to go here? I seem to remember good things being said about Tech Spec, am I remembering correctly? Looked at some Stomp Grips today but a). I want something pretty inconspicuous (my bike is satin black) and I can just imagine the clear Stomp Grips looking pretty crappy on my bike and b). the stuff that the Stomp Grips are made out of is super knobbly and looks like it might be harsh on leathers. Tech Spec certainly seems to fit the bill looks-wise, if it's grippy too and won't wear my leathers out then that's great..
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Jul 7, 2011 12:13
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Z3n posted:I have yet to see anyone with a spray on lube match gear oil for chain life. But you have to debate if you'd rather have lower chain life and cleaning the chain vs. cleaning the bike and longer chain life. I tried the gear lube thing for awhile and it was gross gross gross. I'm sure my chain was happy but after a couple weeks of riding and a couple applications of gear oil, my swingarm had developed an "appendage" of crud flung off from the chain. Not to mention the cs sproket cover was loving FULL of oil/crud/poo poo. No thanks  I'm in the PJ1 blue label camp and have been for a couple years.
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Jul 7, 2011 13:13
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Permabanned idiot posted:Could you be arsed to provide a link to said bust. Penetrating oil is pretty bad for O-ring chains as far as I've experienced. X-ring chains will probably survive the torture though. Since I posted it in the other thread: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=345397 http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=350310 My experience was I bought into the idea that wd-40 was bad for the chain and used gasoline instead...which ruined two chains. Then I went all over town looking for kerosene which nobody carries. Literally, camping sections and all it's nothing but propane. So I use wd-40 which cleans the hell out of a chain in a minute flat and then lube it with bel-ray. If my new chain gets screwed up and starts binding like the one I used gasoline on then I guess wd-40 is no good, but so far it's working fine.
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Jul 7, 2011 14:47
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Here4DaGangBang posted:Tank grips, people. What's the best way to go here? I seem to remember good things being said about Tech Spec, am I remembering correctly? Yep, they rock.
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Jul 7, 2011 15:23
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Here4DaGangBang posted:Tank grips, people. What's the best way to go here? I seem to remember good things being said about Tech Spec, am I remembering correctly? Stomp grips stick a bit better but will cause wear on your gear if you rely on them a lot. Tech spec is almost as sticky and wont wear your gear. I use the thin stuff, as its more grippy and wont wear your gear as much. needknees posted:I tried the gear lube thing for awhile and it was gross gross gross. I'm sure my chain was happy but after a couple weeks of riding and a couple applications of gear oil, my swingarm had developed an "appendage" of crud flung off from the chain. Not to mention the cs sproket cover was loving FULL of oil/crud/poo poo. No thanks You only need a tiny amount. I've way overdone it for a long time but all you need is a light coating. You should be wiping off all the excess you can. Im currently trying some Dupont teflon spray on the recommendation of a friend but havent had the chance to rack up enough miles to see how well it will hold up. No need to clean your chain when you lube it with gear oil. Its the main selling point for me, as I hate cleaning chains.
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Jul 7, 2011 15:43
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Permabanned idiot posted:Could you be arsed to provide a link to said bust. Penetrating oil is pretty bad for O-ring chains as far as I've experienced. X-ring chains will probably survive the torture though. Some of the links have already been posted. Heck I think Marv e-mailed the manufacturer of WD-40 and they said it was o-ring safe. I think the EVILS of WD-40 on o-rings is just another unproven myth. I think its funny that the WebBike world guys used WD-40 to clean chains until some EXPERT SAID STOP! Yet they never had an issue. http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/motorcycle-chain-cleaner/
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Jul 7, 2011 15:53
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Crayvex posted:Some of the links have already been posted. Heck I think Marv e-mailed the manufacturer of WD-40 and they said it was o-ring safe. I think the EVILS of WD-40 on o-rings is just another unproven myth. You might be right. However, Xylene tends to be pretty harsh on rubber. For cleaning chains nothing beats lamp oil.
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Jul 7, 2011 16:53
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I use Silkoline/Muc-Off chain cleaner. Whichever I have a can of at the time, and Silkoline chain lube. The chain lube's supposed to be anti-fling stuff, but I think that might be bullshit. It get's everywhere if you even dare to use just slightly too much, and its quite tacky/sticky too so not ideal for wiping away excess if you get a bit trigger happy. I love the Silkoline cleaner though, it works really well, gets pretty much all the crud off the chain after an easy wipe. If there's any spots of surface rust from a few rainy days of commuting/bike being sat for a while it cleans that right off too with just a little extra spray. The Muc-Off stuff doesn't seem to clean as well in comparison. It takes a few extra rotations of the chain and more elbow grease to get it equally clean. Question time. Whats a good type of paint to use to 'touch up' a fork leg? I say touch up, but its quite a big patch of paint that seems to have suddenly flaked away. About a 1" x 2-3" section on the front of the fork near the bottom. I'd like to avoid having to re-spray the whole fork if possible. I'll throw a pic up once I get home from work.
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Jul 7, 2011 16:59
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needknees posted:I tried the gear lube thing for awhile and it was gross gross gross. I'm sure my chain was happy but after a couple weeks of riding and a couple applications of gear oil, my swingarm had developed an "appendage" of crud flung off from the chain. Not to mention the cs sproket cover was loving FULL of oil/crud/poo poo. No thanks As Z3n said, you only need a light coating (a bottle of gear oil has lasted me 13k miles so far and still has a quarter left. I lube my chain every week.) and you should be wiping off the excess with a rag. I've never cleaned my chain outside of what comes off on the rag when I lube the chain and wipe off the excess and I don't have any gunk on my swingarm or sprocket cover. There was a huge amount of gunk there when I switched to gear oil, but it was from the chain wax the dealer used.
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Jul 7, 2011 17:12
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Dabbing with a brush or dripping it on, then wiping oil and grime off with a rag makes for a very dirty process which is annoying when touring. I have 15 000 miles on my non-brand chain lubed with non-brand PTFE spray and cleaned now and then. Maybe I could make 20 000 with gear oil, maybe I could make 15 000 with no maintenance at all, but it was cheap, clean enough (the grime that builds up washes off easily) and easy. Chain is still servicable but sprockets are starting to hook. I thought about paintbrush/gear oil for the next set if I could transport it in a compact package that doesn't smear oil on anything it comes near. Ola fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Jul 7, 2011 |
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Jul 7, 2011 17:29
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Z3n posted:I have yet to see anyone with a spray on lube match gear oil for chain life. But you have to debate if you'd rather have lower chain life and cleaning the chain vs. cleaning the bike and longer chain life. I was told gear oil would just fling off because it's not made to stick like the spray on stuff. I of course ignored this advice because Z3n told me so, but that's what I was told.
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Jul 7, 2011 17:40
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Ola posted:Dabbing with a brush or dripping it on, then wiping oil and grime off with a rag makes for a very dirty process which is annoying when touring. I have 15 000 miles on my non-brand chain lubed with non-brand PTFE spray and cleaned now and then. Maybe I could make 20 000 with gear oil, maybe I could make 15 000 with no maintenance at all, but it was cheap, clean enough (the grime that builds up washes off easily) and easy. Chain is still servicable but sprockets are starting to hook. I bought some generic chain lube and then saw posts praising PTFE sprays so I bought a can of that but have yet to try it, though one of the bikes does need a touch up. I hope it stays on better than the generic stuff, otherwise I might have to try gear oil. Really, I'm looking for whatever will give me the least amount of hassle and least amount of mess. Gear oil sounds like it might be the way to go, I'll just have to make sure I run about 1000 miles with it before I tell the old man, cause I'm sure he'll have objections haha.
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Jul 7, 2011 18:01
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I think in general you guys are all freaking out about something that doesn't require much maintenance in the first place. The o-rings are packed with lubricant, so as long as the external parts of the chain aren't rusting and the o-rings haven't failed the chain doesn't require much attention at all. I used WD40 as the only lube on my dirtbike non o-ring chain and I was riding at sand dunes all the time. I'd toss on some WD before I started riding and then I'd maybe hit it once during the day at a break. I figure the WD was mostly just a means of getting the sand off the chain. These were cheap chains and they lasted a long time in my opinion. I think proper chain tension is a hell of a lot more important than lubing an o-ring chain constantly. I also think if you have a powerful bike and you whack the throttle open a lot you're going to eat chains a lot faster. n8r fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Jul 7, 2011 |
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Jul 7, 2011 18:05
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I think the google war Crayvex and I got into on this topic began with me cleaning 20-odd years of crud off of a Honda chain and its immediate vicinity with WD--not necessarily with the intent to lube it. And while the KLR rider below might not have Dow Chemical credentials, it seemed to me that his methods and analysis were sound: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=345397 Bottom line--you're not going to kill your chain with it, but if you want to do the job properly, you probably need an array of chems listed in the posts above, based on your preferences and the known trade-offs. Oh, and stay away from carb cleaner.
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Jul 7, 2011 18:17
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orthod0ks posted:I was told gear oil would just fling off because it's not made to stick like the spray on stuff. I of course ignored this advice because Z3n told me so, but that's what I was told. Then use chainsaw bar oil. It's specifically made to resist flinging off. Yes, that means it's extremely sticky.
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Jul 7, 2011 21:12
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KozmoNaut posted:Then use chainsaw bar oil. It's specifically made to resist flinging off. That sounds gross. I haven't noticed much of an issue because I'm pretty good about getting the excess off, but I guess the guy's point was that gear oil would all come off and not really provide any sort of lubrication.
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Jul 7, 2011 21:18
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orthod0ks posted:That sounds gross. I haven't noticed much of an issue because I'm pretty good about getting the excess off, but I guess the guy's point was that gear oil would all come off and not really provide any sort of lubrication. It's really not that big a deal. If you lube the part of the chain that hits the sprockets you can use physics to push the oil through the chain as you ride. Anything flinging off wasn't lubing anything anyway.
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Jul 7, 2011 21:24
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This thread makes me want an osco oiler.
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Jul 8, 2011 01:41
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KARMA! posted:This thread makes me want There, much better (and cheaper!).
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Jul 8, 2011 07:13
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KozmoNaut posted:Then use chainsaw bar oil. It's specifically made to resist flinging off. thats a drat good idea. i have a chainsaw and i never thought to use the oil... ive been using a spray on PTFE lube that is white and hits my centre stand when i lube the chain. how often would you lube a chain, ive been doing it every few weeks but joe above said every week.
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Jul 8, 2011 13:13
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I have a section of cardboard I cut out that I use to shield the back tire from the chain oil/wax that I use. Perhaps you should do something similar to keep the oil off your center stand?
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Jul 8, 2011 13:54
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Kommando posted:thats a drat good idea. i have a chainsaw and i never thought to use the oil... ive been using a spray on PTFE lube that is white and hits my centre stand when i lube the chain. I do mine every 300 miles or so...2 tanks of gas is a good rule of thumb. I do it much more often if I'm riding offroad though.
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Jul 8, 2011 15:51
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I did chain tension last weekend and had some issues. I adjusted the tension while the chain was hot like some suggested. I got caught in the rain so didn't lube the chain at that time. When I went back out, the chain was cold, and so tight I thought I'd locked a brake. I readjusted the tension to be within spec while cold. Now, after riding in this heat, the chain seems pretty floppy. Is this normal? Is the chain worn out? 15k miles, and I think it's the original chain. I'm gonna pimp Bel Ray chain lube. Nice and white so you can see where it's stuck. When the chain isn't white anymore, you know it's time to clean it. $9/can.
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Jul 8, 2011 20:51
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Check your slack in multiple places. I bet it's tight spotted it pretty bad and you need to replace the chain.
Z3n fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Jul 8, 2011 |
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Jul 8, 2011 21:39
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Swapped the chain and sprockets, still have the same surging under full throttle and at steady cruising RPMS. She seems lean as hell, and I have no goddamn idea how to work on carbs. gently caress.
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Jul 9, 2011 19:21
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kylej posted:Swapped the chain and sprockets, still have the same surging under full throttle and at steady cruising RPMS. She seems lean as hell, and I have no goddamn idea how to work on carbs. gently caress. May as well give seafoam a shot first. Dumb question but your chain isn't too tight, is it?
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Jul 9, 2011 19:30
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Z3n posted:May as well give seafoam a shot first. Dumb question but your chain isn't too tight, is it? Nah, chain is good. The previous owner put a full exhaust and K&N air filter on the bike and I doubt he ever changed the stock carb configuration. I'm going to cover part of the air filter opening with tape next time I ride to see if the bike settles down. If it does, I'm going to replace the K&N with an OEM filter as a temporary cure until I can save up some cash to get a professional to look at it. I have no garage, limited tools and no friends with mechanical knowledge so I really don't want to start toying around and make things worse. She could probably use Seafoam though. I'll run some through tonight.
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Jul 9, 2011 19:38
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Ahh I didn't realize it had a system/filter on it. Your idea is a good one.
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Jul 9, 2011 19:41
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Well, I figured out the squeaking sound, I think...I cleaned my chain today before riding it, and no more squeaking. Why it sounded like it was coming from the front, I'm not sure. I had my motorcycle up on a jack and can feel a slight rub on my brake pads and rotor on the front, but it's not been causing any problems, and I don't even notice it when I drive. I'm wondering if the squeaking from the chain was because it sat for almost two years before I bought it and started riding it. When I bought it the shop they included a bike check up and I guess they didn't take care of the chain or something. Who knows. It works now, I've got some stuff to clean my chain with, it's all good.
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Jul 9, 2011 21:40
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Is there anything wrong with swapping new pads onto an old rotor and not resurfacing it? Should I at least hit it with brake kleen first?
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Jul 9, 2011 22:37
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Phy posted:Is there anything wrong with swapping new pads onto an old rotor and not resurfacing it? Should I at least hit it with brake kleen first? As long as the disc is not too scored, no. Just bed in the pads following the manufacturer's instructions. It's swapping discs without swapping pads that'll give you trouble.
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Jul 9, 2011 22:55
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Phy posted:Is there anything wrong with swapping new pads onto an old rotor and not resurfacing it? Should I at least hit it with brake kleen first? Nothing in the slightest. Just go easy for a few miles or so while the pads bed in.
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Jul 9, 2011 23:08
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I just found that my rear tire has an air leak. After testing with some soapy water, I found that the leak is coming from the valve stem. Once I popped the cap off and poured it on again, the bubbles were coming from actually inside the valve stem (valve stem core?). I tried tightening the nut on the stem but that didn't do anything. What will I have to do to fix this?
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Jul 10, 2011 01:05
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The Senator Giroux posted:I just found that my rear tire has an air leak. After testing with some soapy water, I found that the leak is coming from the valve stem. Once I popped the cap off and poured it on again, the bubbles were coming from actually inside the valve stem (valve stem core?). I tried tightening the nut on the stem but that didn't do anything. What will I have to do to fix this? Get a valve stem tool and replace the valve core. Shouldn't be more than a few bucks.
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Jul 10, 2011 01:39
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I took the first riding portion of the MSF today, my first experiencing operating a bike ever. I am going to finish it off tomorrow, and expect to get my motorcycle endorsement successfully. Here's the question: How did you feel after the first riding portion of your MSF? Was it  MOTORCYCLES ? Because I'm really not feeling anything approaching that. Becktastic (I've known her for years now, not an internet stranger), offered to teach me some dirtbike stuff which sounds fun, I'll take her up on it when she gets back into town.The riding itself is OK, but the prospect of riding with traffic is, I won't say terrifying, but just makes the whole concept of doing (fairly short) daily commutes entirely unattractive. I have a lot of family history with bikes, both my parents have hardcore scars, I've got extended family that has been killed or lost organs, etc. My dad also worked as an EMT on the Isle of Man during TT week, and so I've got stories from that too. Is this something I'd likely just get over? Or is it more likely that street riding just isn't for me and I should be OK with that? I like turtles fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Jul 10, 2011 |
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Jul 10, 2011 03:49
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You're in Tucson, I assume? I feel like if you don't have some of that feeling it's time to give up riding on the street.
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Jul 10, 2011 03:58
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