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chain lube: gear oil or wax?

DimitriT

DimitriT

Forum Sage
Past Site Supporter
Decided to try 80wt gear oil on the chain rather than the usual spray-on wax. Chain felt a little smoother (quieter) and wheel seemed to turn more freely on the center stand. Only other thing I noticed is the smell. I'm not seeing huge amounts of fling or mess. Seems to work ok.

What are people's thoughts?
 
DimitriT said:
I noticed is the smell.
Click to expand...

That has got to be one of worst smells. Worse yet when it comes out of an old differential. Cant believe its not flinging off. I just use a little PJ-1 every month. I dont really ride in the rain anymore.
 
For many years I used gear oil on my o-ring chains. It is what is recommended if you read the info that comes with most o-ring chains. It worked great and I applied it sparingly to a warm chain from a small plastic bottle with an eye dropped that stored neatly under the seat. Never had the o-rings fail prematurely and always had good chain life. If I didn't over do it the back wheel stayed nice and clean. It was way better than the old chain lubes. This was however before the days of PJ1 chain wax.
 
over the years, I've probably used gear oil a LOT more often than I did the sprays. My chains have always given good service, so I can't complain.
 
Plain motor oil or brush on WD40 for O-ring chains. I wouldn't use non-O-ring chains unless you are racing the bike at the track. Wax always seems to collect crud on it and is hard to get off.

I bought this for the Honda I used to have:
http://www.chainoiler.co.uk/

I thought it worked great (could probably assemble it from hardware store parts, but he has it all together for you). Install, ride the bike to warm the chain. Give the bottle a little squeeze and ride some more. Oils very slowly and didn't seem to get on my rear wheel or rims. Worked wonderful on long trips and my chain slack rarely ever moved with oiling regularly.
 
ok dumb question. how can i tell if i have an o-ring chain or a straight chain?
 
kparkfan said:
ok dumb question. how can i tell if i have an o-ring chain or a straight chain?
Click to expand...

Here's a 520 O-ring on the top and 530 non O-ring on the bottom. The O-ring is in the space between the sideplates. If there is no space, then no O-ring.
101_6869.jpg
 
Recently bought some PJ1 Blue label lube (I think). Sets up very tacky and doesn't seem to fling around. Lube on an o-ring chain is mostly for the inner rollers and sprockets so I think this stuff is pretty good for that.
 
Bel-Ray Chain Lube here.

Can't say that I can give anyone a real idea of how well it works. Does ok I guess.
 
i just give give my chain a coat of 20w50 then some wheel bearing grease, been doing this for years with my off road chains and they held up great, o-ring or not i do the same. i have yet to try actual chain lube as im way to cheap to be spending money on it when i got a huge supply of oil and grease :D
 
This is very interesting.I've only ever used chain lubes.I thought oil would make an unholy mess of the back wheel and disc.Very interesting.You're a witty bugger Steve.We'll have to have a beer some time.Cheers,Simon.
 
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And he is like that 24 hours per day .. :rolleyes:




simon kuether said:
This is very interesting.I've only ever used chain lubes.I thought oil would make an unholy mess of the back wheel and disc.Very interesting.You're a witty bugger Steve.We'll have to have a beer some time.Cheers,Simon.
Click to expand...
 
Well, since no one has mentioned it yet, I use WD40 to clean my O-ring chains and NOTHING for lube. All the lube does is attract dirt that wears out the rollers and sprockets. My bikes live inside and I WD them after washing or rain rides (if I can). If your bike lives outside, then you need some protection from the elements and a lube is required.

My GSXR chain currently has 11,000km on it from new without even an adjustment required and my 97 ZX-9 chain had 29,000km on it was still going strong when I sold the bike.

Just thought I would throw that out there...:D


Mark
 
I agree. WD40 makes a nice chain cleaner and O-ring chains don't actually need lube for the chain itself. Its all sealed inside. You just want to keep them clean (by oiling them or WD40). The oil really helps out by protecting the sprockets where the chain rides on it.

Most all street bikes come with O-ring chains from the factory. So if you aren't sure, it is the most common. Sometimes people get a new chain and save money by getting a regular chain rather than paying the $100 for a O-ring version. Like I said, non-O-ring chains are really only useful in racing applications where a chain only needs to last that day or so... they do move more freely and I think stronger, but they need to be oiled constantly to last in regular use.

Here is a pic of that chain luber I mentioned earlier:

oiler.jpg


I installed it in a few hours and thought it was very good. You mount the reserve bottle then snake some tubing back to the rear swing arm and mount the oiler gadgetry to near the sprocket (follow the instructions it comes with!). Not nearly as expensive as more sophisticated auto-oilers, more of a DIY kit thing... so I thought it was cool. And if you think it sucks when you are all done, you at least know you didn't waste a bunch of money!

I would take the bike out, take a nice drive, stop for some fuel, give the oil bottle a little push and go ride. The oil feeds the rear sprocket with a very slow stream of oil over about 10-20 min, and it spreads evenly over the chain and sprockets without flinging off. BUT, if you just squeeze the bottle and go around the block it will drip oil off your rear sprocket after you park. About a teaspoon over 10-20 min. depending on how hard you squeeze the bottle.

I found it most convenient especially for long trips. I could just give a small squeeze at a fuel up and be oiling my chain while riding. If it was rainy, no problem. I could oil the chain anytime!

You also never have to put the bike on the centerstand or roll it forward to lube all parts of the chain.
 
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