I'm still very much a noob when it comes to the maintenance side of things, and something I know I've slacked on is lubing the chain. How often should this be done and how important is it? Thanks in advance

 

It's very important to CLEAN and lube the chain. Not only does it help the wear of the chain and sprockets, but also helps to prevent a catastrophic chain failure.

It's recommended to clean and lube every 500mi, but it's good to do it sooner if your riding conditions a hard on exposed metal like dust, dirt, and rain. Proper adjustment is crucial as well.

 

A good rule of thumb for lubing your chain is every 500 mi. Clean & relube every few thousand or as necessary depending on your environment.

Its important b/c it reduces wear on all the items in the system; chain, sprockets, etc. It allows your bike to operate smoothly as it was designed w/o chain binding or possibly breaking - which is a major safety concern. If your chain breaks, it could lock up your back wheel, split your leg apart, etc.

Additionally, every time you inspect, clean & lube your chain, you should also check your chain slack for appropriate measurement.

 

Once again 74demon & I were composing responses at the same time & posted up very similiar responses. ;-D

 

I clean and lube about every 1000 miles [sometimes more, ooops!]. I'd probably get 30,000+miles out of a chain if I did it every 500 miles but I think 20,000 miles is enough life.

 

inspect and lube at 500 and clean and lube at 1000 is good practice, however if its already nasty at 500 its going to be a pain to clean at 1000.
you'll more than likely have to take the front sprocket cover off and clean that so it dosent keep picking up nastyness.

 

I just cleaned and lubed my chain a few days ago. I used chain wax and a significant amount. I noticed before my rear sprocket was just about black around the teeth and now its all clean. Do I have the grease the sprocket as well. Right now its pretty much just bare metal unless some of the chain wax eventually rubs off on the sprocket. What should I do?

 

Awesome guys, thanks for the advice! I've put about 600 on the f4i since getting her so I'll go ahead and clean/lube