65 Shelby, you do realize that your chain is supposed to be cleaned like every 300-500 miles. If your taking it completely off to clean it, your doiong alot of work.

if your not cleaning that often, then you are wearing out chains alot faster than you need to be.

 

Call me Shelby because I have 9k miles on my bike and have cleaned the chain 3 maybe 4 times. lol I would have to clean it once a week if I did it every 500 miles. I think I'm going to try the maxima chain wax next time I clean it which will be real soon, as soon as I get my new tires. I always look for it in the motorcycle shops but no one ever carries it around here so I'll have to get it online. I saw a kit to clean the chain yesterday, has anyone ever used this? http://www.sportland2.com/eshopprod_..._BIKE_CHAI.htm

Mike

 

Shelby didn't say he's taking the chain off to clean it. He said he cleans the entire thing in kerosene, then sprays it with maxima wax.

 

Well, in order to soak the chain in solvent, I kinda have to remove it..... Don't tell me it's supposed to be cleaned on the bike? Besides, it's easier to degrease the sprockets that way.

I didn't mean that I don't bother with chain maintenance, I mean that I just take the chain off to clean it.

 

Oh, I use a kerosine soaked rag to clean mine, I guessed that was what you meant. And yes, the owners manual tells you how you can clean the chain and maintain it.

 

WD40 actually wears out bearings and stuff, because of the dirt that sticks to it, dont use it, unless you wanna buy chains pretty often

 

you know i can understand that is attracts dirt and stuff but i mean your puting chain lube over the top of it so doesnt that sorta negate that fact that u put the wd 40 on in the first place? i mean i dont know about u guys but after i lube my chain it turns white and stays white for a long time.

so would you guys use a bottle of parts cleaner or engine degresser as thouse are kerosean based cleaners? the only problem i have from that is that i heard that that is extreamly harsh on rubber as well and i know from experiance that if you stick rubber glovers in that stuff it will litterly eat them so im thinking thats a bad idea to.

maybe some kind of mineral based parts cleaner would be the best?

 

I wonder what an average chains life is... lol

 

If you're talking about latex rubber gloves, those don't stand up to much of anything. They'll handle oil, gasoline, etc, but a mean solvent like brake cleaner will take them right off. I use Nitrile gloves and even they fall apart if brake cleaner gets on them.

Kerosene is a mineral-based oil. It won't hurt the chain o-rings which are most likely either Nitrile or Viton, bot of which are chemical resistant synthetic rubbers.

 

I think maybe CHAIN CLEANER is the best solution to this problem? lol