"chain lube" or "gear oil" is my question the honda owners manual says to use 80-90w gear oil thats a mess though what do you recomend. thanks to you all. this is beenso helpfull to me since i am new to the bike scene.

 

I use Pro Honda HP Chain Lube. $6.99 for a 13 oz. can.
I spray my chain before every long ride...and it works great.

 

Neither,

I use WD40 to put a coat on the outside of the chain to cut down on rusting. All the lubrication is inside the rollers on a good o-ring type chain.

Been doing this for 25 years and i get great sproket and chain wear on Street and dirt bikes.

Heck of a lot cheaper and easier on the wheels. All you need is one pass just after you finish your last ride.

 

read the update at the bottom:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/motorcycle-chain-lube/

tim

 

Okay PRTSMN, almost everybody has an opinion on this. And here's mine.

First, I haven't cleaned the OE chain on my bike in 40,000 miles. No need to because I don't put sticky, tacky dirt & grit-attracting spray lubes on my chain anymore. (I suspect chains wear out faster due to lubes that attract & hold abrasive stuff on the chain.)

I wipe the chain down with 90 Wt. Gear Oil every few hundred miles. Been using the same shop rag for 3 years. Keep it in a little plastic tray near the bike. Got a box of those rubber surgical gloves to keep the left hand clean.

Just hold the rag in the palm of your left hand & hold it snugly around the bottom run of the chain, while you spin the wheel in reverse direction (so you don't risk catching your fingers in the sprocket) with your right. Takes about 30 secs. and you don't have any overspray to clean up either. As long as you don't over-lubricate it, you don't have to worry about lube gettin' flung all over the place when you ride away.

In the long run I have found doing it this way is a lot less messy & a lot less work work. Oh, and a $2 bottle of gear oil will last 2 or three years.

 

+1 on the $2 gear oil L8RGYZ!

I use about the same method, but use ProGold chain lube, which is also thin and doesn't attract dirt so no chain cleaning reqiured!

You can get it at most real bicycle shops for around $9 and a bottle lasts me 6 months and I ride my bicycle about everyday and have over 1500 miles in already this year. I clean my bicycle chain daily, but only clean my SH chain about once every other week...

 

THANKS GUYS FOR THE ADVISE. JUST WANT TO KEEP MY HAWK WELL MAINTAINED.

 

everything I've ever read focuses on keeping the chain clean, free from grit as was mentioned and preventing rusting. WD40 I would have thought would do that well. You can NOT put lube back into the Orings no matter what you use as lube. most of the newer chains are sealed units and except for keeping them clean and rust free, you don't need to worry about much else.

Would have loved to follow the link on the yamaha forum (buried in the link above by trinc) which is from a chain manufacturer, but was too lazy to register for the forum. there is a post from WD40 manufact. saying they think its fine for such use. If anyone gets further into the post, please update.

 

O & X-ring chains are for lazy people. A solid chain cared for with something like ProGold's Prolink and MFR (which are the same except the later is aeorosol applied) will last as long or longer than O & X-ring chains. Solids are lighter and more efficient for transmitting power. Even in the rain certain treatments don't wash out of the roller-pin interface. Keeping rust off and brushing, wiping and applying ProLink within reasonable intervals is just a bit more labor intensive, especially without a centerstand on a long and wet ride. I use a Scott Oiler because I'm lazy, don't race and not as cheap as I could be. Kerosene makes a good cleaning agent. Let it evaporate, wipe it and hit it with ProLink IF its a solid, O & X-ring chains don't need Prolink's friction fighting qualities. I mix my own Scott Oil to an equivalent viscosity using Marval Mystery Oil & chain saw lube, about as cheap as hyvo 80-90 gear oil.

 

WD-40 is excellent for flooding/cleaning chains but cost a lot more per oz. than kerosene or diesel #2. I'm cheap, so here's what I do;

I get the rear wheel up and slide an oil drain pan under the rear sprocket. I take a little paint brush and slop/flood the chain at rear of sprocket with kero, letting it drip down into the drain pan. I turn the wheel in reverse and wipe it with a shop rag as it comes off the sprocket. I then repeat the same process giving the side plates a light coating of gear oil. I wipe the chain real good as it comes off the sprocket. I figure whatever I don't wipe off will get flung off on my next ride anyhow.

Takes about ten minutes and costs me maybe twenty cents for the diesel and gear oil.

 

Would you like to never have to clean or oil your chain again? Check out www.scottoiler.com. I bought one of these back in '98 when I bought the bike. My chain was still pretty good after 25000 miles but I went with a 520 conversion for weight and less friction. I very rarely clean the chain, usually just before I put the bike up for the winter and coat it with some light oil to prevent corrosion. After I ran out of the Scott oil I ran a mixture of 30w and Marvel Mystery oil, which worked great.

 

Uh Greg, you copying me now?

 

Hehe, actually I didn't even read your post. Passed right by it I guess. Besides, I bought mine first!!!

Also, the 30w mixed with MMO gives about the same viscosity as SO. I'd think CSO would be too thick to meter through the tiny tube at the end.

 

I've been using some' wax based application.
After I come in from a ride, and the chain is a lil' warmed up after some use, I pull out the center stand and spray some on while spinning the wheel. This stuff is going to dry after about 15 something minutes, and so I keep on spinning it a few more times - then spray it again a moment later. A few more rotations of the chain - then I let it dry.
Got about 4k+ on this new chain with this stuff - to early to tell if it's not recommended, but I'm turned onto it because of the lack of mess that it makes compared to other lub's. The previous owner of my SH had recommended it to me.

 

I've been using a DuPont Teflon based aerosol wax. Doesn't fling off, and hasn't attracted too much dirt/grime.

 

I've been using the Honda HP with teflon product for the last year or two- it seems similar to the Dupont Lube with teflon product. Goes on clear,penetrates, and doesn't fling. I'd used the BelRay "Superclean" for years because it stayed on the chain- not the wheel, swingarm, or chainguard like many other products. Motor oils and gear lube just ended up getting flung off, doing little for chain lubrication, and leaving a constant mess to clean-up. Cleaning the chain, sprocket, and swingarm with kerosene and a soft 3 inch paintbrush every 350 miles seems to really help chain life. I'm at 31,000 miles on the SuperHawk OE chain and sprockets and they're not done yet. The replacement chain will be an EK ZZZ 530 (11,000 pound tensile strength) that came with interesting chain maintenance advice-"Lubricate every 100 miles".

 

I SEE THERE ALOT OF CHOICES AND WAYS TO LUBE THE CHAIN THANKS FOR THE ADVICE.