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Best Way To Oil Chain?

11K views 38 replies 22 participants last post by  docbrown 
#1 ·
Just wondering how you guys do it. Upper? Lower? Along the sprocket? I chose lower as to lesson coating everything but that only gives me access to 5 links at a time so I've been rolling to bike along the driveway. Hit the 5 exposed links, roll forward, repeat. I'm broke this month after paying property tax but next month I'm going to buy a rear stand so I can put it up on the stand and just spin it. Unless someone has a more creative way?
 
#2 ·
By a rear jack stand (and spools or bolts to use it) at harbor freight

Lift rear of bike.. either spin wheel manually or let it idle in first. Be careful if you are idling that you use something that wont catch. You want to be able to count to 10 and be able to ride it :)
 
#7 ·
To lift the bike to to Oil loube check this vide from Salt_the_Wond he is a member here with a nice channel. This is the cheapest way. I personally bought a jack $59.99 with Spools. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzGeucjwpTY
The "friction"?? I think he meant "centrifugal force", you would think if you were making a youtube video that you would have some basic idea of what you were taking about. On another note the hammer was a great idea.
 
#4 ·
At home I use a rear stand. On trips I carry a quick-stand which is similar to the hammer method but it packs down smaller and includes a front brake strap (to keep the bike from rolling forwards off the sidestand).

Start with a warm bike (20+ minutes of riding).

I spray onto the rear outside of the sprocket; it's enough to get it on the rollers and it will work its way outwards.

Then let the bike sit until it cools off.

I do this every 500 miles or so; every oil change I also use Motorex 622 to clean the chain, then re-lube it.
 
#15 ·
I've probably tried everything. PJ-1, Dupont Teflon, Chainguard spray on. It's come down to putting the bike on a rear stand, cleaning with diesel fuel/soap and water, riding it to dry and warm, using 80 wgt gear oil and applying with a 20CC syringe and needle to place a drop on each link. Just a bit slower than spray, much less mess/waste, and I got 30K+ miles from my last chain drive bike. I changed another at 27K. Don't remember the numbers, but the difference was negligible. I also keep my chain adjusted. Still need to get me a PackJack.

Driving style and adjustment will determine a lot of how a chain lasts. Tight chains, hard acceleration/deaccleration, these have a big affect on chain wear
 
#16 ·
I've used just about every chain lube on the market but have just tried one new to me, Motul Chain Paste. Comes in a squeeze container with an attached brush, Motul recommends brushing it on the bottom links of the the chain. It's thick & hasn't flung off. Gonna keep using it.
 
#18 ·
I use a rear stand as well. Or you can get one of those roller choke things but i never fully understood that. If you are going to pay that kind of money for something like that, just get a rear stand?

I usually oil my chain between 500-1000mi. If I notice its particularly gunked up, I soak it in mineral spirits first, take a grub brush or chain brush to it, dry it, and then relube it with a quality wax based lubricant. I tend to use bellray, since it goes on nice and you can see the wax, unlike some other brands that tend to run and then dry out leaving almost no trace of lube after one or two rides.

-dan
 
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#19 ·
I'm super anal retentive about cleaning and lubing my chain. I have a spools and a stand for starters. When I wash the bike I put the bike on the stand and scrub the chain with a brush and citrus degreaser then I'll hose it off. While doing this, I also clean the rear wheel and sprocket. After the bike is washed and dried I spray the chain down with WD-40. I use a piece of rectangular shaped cardboard that I place behind the chain and in front of the rear wheel. Then I spray the chain with WD-40 and wipe it down several times with an old t-shirt. Nothing breaks down dirty grease like WD. (BTW, if your rear wheel is covered in grease take a dry piece of cloth and spray it down with WD then simply wipe the grease away) If I plan on riding immediately, I'll spray it down with another heavier lube but I usually let it soak and apply Chain Wax the night before a big ride. I have V&H Urban Brawlers on my Ninja so chain access is quite a bit easier compared to those giant OEM mufflers.

On another note, I sold a Harley XR1200 before I bought my Ninja. Harley's have a lot of short comings but man that belt drive sure is nice. Quiet, smooth, long lasting and no maintenance.
 
#24 ·
I picked up a pack jack (PackJack - Home). It's easy to use, light and pretty small (won't fit under the seat though as I have a 12v jump box under there already)... It makes it much easier to oil the chain during a trip since we don't have center stands. It's not perfect but after a few attempts I've gotten pretty good at it AND I added a Velcro strap which I use to hold the front brake as I lift the bike.

~Mark
 
#22 ·
Driveshafts and belts have their downsides as well. One belt drive Harley I had cost a small fortune to replace the belt at 20k miles.

Then my BMW GSA's driveshaft decided to implode less than 1k miles and 20 days after the warranty expired. I was quoted over $1,100 to repair it. I can buy a lot of chain and sprockets for that kind of money.

Taking good care of your chain and it can last quite some time. I remember old crappy chains (non-oring'd) on old Hondas (60's) that ran in an enclosed case and lasted for quite some time given their low tech. Let them run in an oil bath and the seemed to run forever at the cost of a little extra drag. Of course easier to do that with limited suspension travel but worked very well in its day.

So after I put on an auto-oiler on the N1K I should be in pretty good shape. I found on my VeeStrom that I never had to clean my chain after I did that. All the grime just naturally flung off. Add in over 20k miles on the chain and I was pretty happy even with just a manual chain oiler where I had to turn it on each ride.

Last but not least, if you don't like the gearing of a chain driven bike, you can easily change it. That is something I plan on doing on my N1K, go with a 16T countershaft sprocket ASAP. It is already ordered and can't wait to put it on.
 
#23 ·
Since I don't ride a BMW, I've been fortunate, 110,000 miles on the Tenere, with no driveshaft issues. I replaced the belt on my Hardley at 80,000 miles, cost about $200 to do myself. I've never had to replace a belt on my Buells, after hundreds of thousands of miles spread over 7 bikes. Chains? bah! I hate them! The only benefit I see is easy gearing changes, as stated above. ;-p
 
#26 ·
If you have a garage, I recommend getting a chain hoist and a padded lifting strap from Harbor Frgt.; suspend the hoist from a rafter, run the strap under the rear fender and under the passenger grab rails. I have dropped the bike using the spool lift and it's hard to upright on a slippery garage floor.
 
#27 ·
I've only got 2200 miles on the ninja so I can't speak to it's chain lubing requirements but on my hayabusa I put wax on at least 6 times over 24000 miles. The last I heard was that it was on it's original chain at 29000 miles. Modern chains are not the mechanical lumps they were in days gone by. I plan on keeping the same intense (every 4000 miles) lubrication schedule with the N1K. I'll keep you all posted. (to be fair I've already lubed it once at the 2K miles mark so far so I'm ahead of schedule).
 
#28 ·
I just do it the old fashion way, spray the wd-40 chain lube that doesnt sling off, i put it on and let it sit all night does real good. But i also spray the top of the lower chain then wipe off bottom with paper towel. I lay a piece of cardboard down and just roll the bike to access the chain i do have the brawlers and the lube comes out like a foam insteads of pressure spray, takes about 10 minutes
 
#30 ·
I am happy I went with the Cobrra Nemo 2 so I don't have to deal with stands or moving the bike around. Not easy to do on a trip anyway. I use the snapjack I posted upstream before.

A stand is obviously nice for other things but most of the time where my bike is at, I'd have to carry the stand back and forth a 1/4 mile or so from the apartment to the garage. This gets to be a PITA. If left in the car, someone will steal it.

So using the automatic type chain lubers saves me a lot of time and hassle and was worth the cost even though I bought it before I put the group buy together.
 
#32 ·
#33 ·
#36 ·
With an open ring chain, like we have, you are protecting the other rings.

Lube from inside. That's why the tube comes with the lube. His earlier video has a good explanation and an illustration that is wrong.
 
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