Chain Maintenance

[Kbcave57]

From Phil Brillinger
Types of chains and chain maintenance.
Lots of talk about what type of chains are best and what lubes to use and how to maintain them.
Here are my thoughts based on over 50 years of riding racing and motorcycles mechanics.
Most of chain wear is actually chain stretch do the the pulling forces applied by the torque of the engine. There is no way to stop it but a well adjusted sealed chain will last up to 10k miles.
If you dont keep it adjusted the whipping affect from excess chain slack will put additional stress on the chain links causing premature wear of the chain link pins and sprocket teeth.
Right now there are 4 basic chain types, non o ring, o ring, x ring and the new z ring made by Regina and marketed by BMW.
All of the last 3 seal in grease applied to the pins during manufacturing.
The o ring has the most contact surface resistance on the plates when they are pressed together, x ring less and z ring the least, which means the chain moves more or less freely, but not as freely as a non o ring chain.
Most factory racers run non o ring because resistance robs small amounts of power.
For us desert guys and especially if your footing the parts bills, we run a o ring chain type because the sand wears the pins faster if not sealed out.
The best value out there right now is the Primary Drive Gold X Ring chain by Rocky Mountain ATV/ MC. Thier sprocket sets are good quality as well.
The gold color plating acts as a corrosion inhibitor and there really is no real maintenance needed.
As far as maintenance, on an o ring chain all your doing is keeping corrosion away and the o , x, z rubber seals from drying out and cracking.
Each chain link has a floating dowel covering each pin, ot makes contact with the sprockets and rotates slightly.
Its just there as a buffer between the sprocket and inner pin that the force is being applied to.I have never never seen one wear out or break before the chain reaches its wear/ stretch limit.
( Discussed on a prior tech tip)
I recommend clear chain wax like Maxima, it is a good product and not expensive. It does not attract dirt or look messy all over your wheels and swing arm etc.
Do not use oil or anything that stays wet, it will hold and attract dirt.
Intervals of cleaning and lubing depend on riding conditions.
Wet conditions obviously will remove the coating faster.
I would say at least every time you wash your bike.
A tool called a grunge brush works well to clean the chain.
You could use WD-40 as a pre lube after washing because it displaces moisture, but it doesnt provide long lasting protection in extreme conditions like chain lube does.
So there you go.
Have a great Tuesday everyone.

 

[PerryRObray]

"a well adjusted sealed chain will last up to 10k miles." I've gotten 50K miles on a RK racing X-Ring chain.

Albeit on a rice rocket. But, it was ridden in sand dunes, Sierra Nevada mountain range off pavement,..... It saw some duty at sustained 80 MPH for hours too.

The chain I used was the second-highest tensile strength rated chain I could find. It was significantly lower priced than the highest tensile strength rated chain.

I used full synthetic chain oil around every 400 miles, with the chain warm from freeway riding. The bike had a center stand. With the engine running in 1st gear while on the center stand, I'd lube the inner chain area X-Ring on both sides of the chain. Let it run for a minute or so to kinda let the oil work it's way to the outer part of the X-Rring. Then wipe the chain when still running in 1st gear while on the center stand til there was no residue coming off the chain. This can be very dangerous as one doesn't want fingers/hand dragged by the cleaning rag/chain into the rear sprocket between the chain.

Definitely not going to work at a gas station on many, if not most bikes that are all terrain motorcycles. I have a motorcycle rear wheel stand that I use at home to elevate the rear wheel for lubing the chain while running in 1st gear.

People running in sandy, dusty areas, might consider using a dry lube. Spraying the dry lube on will kinda sorta clean the chain a little.

Some people just get an O-Ring chain, maybe spray a little dry lube on it before and after a ride, and replace it more often. Saves some time on chain maintenance and just replace the whole system when needed, sprockets and chain at the same time is most certainly a good idea. Tough sprockets can be relatively low-priced in comparison to better chains.

Whatever works for you, works for you!

 

[PerryRObray]

From Phil Brillinger
Types of chains and chain maintenance.
Lots of talk about what type of chains are best and what lubes to use and how to maintain them.
Here are my thoughts based on over 50 years of riding racing and motorcycles mechanics.
Most of chain wear is actually chain stretch do the the pulling forces applied by the torque of the engine. There is no way to stop it but a well adjusted sealed chain will last up to 10k miles.
If you dont keep it adjusted the whipping affect from excess chain slack will put additional stress on the chain links causing premature wear of the chain link pins and sprocket teeth.
Right now there are 4 basic chain types, non o ring, o ring, x ring and the new z ring made by Regina and marketed by BMW.
All of the last 3 seal in grease applied to the pins during manufacturing.
The o ring has the most contact surface resistance on the plates when they are pressed together, x ring less and z ring the least, which means the chain moves more or less freely, but not as freely as a non o ring chain.
Most factory racers run non o ring because resistance robs small amounts of power.
For us desert guys and especially if your footing the parts bills, we run a o ring chain type because the sand wears the pins faster if not sealed out.
The best value out there right now is the Primary Drive Gold X Ring chain by Rocky Mountain ATV/ MC. Thier sprocket sets are good quality as well.
The gold color plating acts as a corrosion inhibitor and there really is no real maintenance needed.
As far as maintenance, on an o ring chain all your doing is keeping corrosion away and the o , x, z rubber seals from drying out and cracking.
Each chain link has a floating dowel covering each pin, ot makes contact with the sprockets and rotates slightly.
Its just there as a buffer between the sprocket and inner pin that the force is being applied to.I have never never seen one wear out or break before the chain reaches its wear/ stretch limit.
( Discussed on a prior tech tip)
I recommend clear chain wax like Maxima, it is a good product and not expensive. It does not attract dirt or look messy all over your wheels and swing arm etc.
Do not use oil or anything that stays wet, it will hold and attract dirt.
Intervals of cleaning and lubing depend on riding conditions.
Wet conditions obviously will remove the coating faster.
I would say at least every time you wash your bike.
A tool called a grunge brush works well to clean the chain.
You could use WD-40 as a pre lube after washing because it displaces moisture, but it doesnt provide long lasting protection in extreme conditions like chain lube does.
So there you go.
Have a great Tuesday everyone.

Excellent overview in a very concise explanation.

 

[Rob_Roy]

I tend to disagree to some generally accepted claims to what causes wear, how to clean, maintain, and the effective lubrication of drive chains...

Even with the worst product available, coupled to mediocre maintenance, chain failures ( the chain themselves) are pretty rare. They may be the most reliable part on a bike.

The worst environment for any chain is combined water and sand. Any exposure to salt increases the vulnerability of metal fatigue astronomically.

Claim: Most of chain wear is actually chain stretch do the the pulling forces applied by the torque of the engine.
This is untrue... Most chain wear is due to lack of proper, cleaning, adjustment, lubrication ( e.g. "maintenance").

The tensile strength of a chain could never be exerted by the drive of any motorcycle engine. It validates a product ( dimensional tolerance and materials ) design, and manufacturing process verification test, but relative to utilization for use on a motorcycle is mostly irrelevant.

The simplest measure of fatigue and wear-out ( i.e. "End-of-life" ) of a chain is typically measured by the bow of the radii when 'bent', end-to-end and not a change in linear dimension ( length ). Linear 'stretch' may be evident on sprockets "Sharktooth' features, but I've seen sharked sprockets and the chain's "bow" integrity is unapparent.

Chain wear may also be predicted, when installed by inspection of the symmetry of sprocket teeth. It's a tell-tale sign and evidence.

Claim: Racers use non, o-ring chains because of impact to power consumption.

The impact to power consumption by the stack-up of o-ring friction would be virtually incalculable as would the impact of miniscule rotational mass.

Could it be calculated ? Sure... Is it of anything more than fly-shit of mass in the equation ? No... Not really.

To put it in perspective specifically to mass, increasing the rear sprocket size and adding additional lengths of chain-links is a factor of perhaps one-hundred or more than the weight of 113 o-rings. ...that's a guess.

The effective use on a MX, or track bike in time is 'Low', and the removal for tires or gearing change-outs is 'High' whereas a long-term reliability concern is not really an issue compared to doing days-on-end on a Enduro or ADV platform where hours a day are the norm.

Discussion: Seems everybody has a different regiment depending on the type of bike, degree of cleaning required, tools and cleansers to clean it and what to clean it with. Like Perry says above, "Whatever works for you!" is where the discussion ends.

To be continued...

 

[Idahokid]

I use a chain degreaser that Walmart sells for oring motorcycle chains and they also have a wax chain lubricant made by DuPont. I don’t know if it’s any better or worse than Maxima brand or not. It looks like same when it’s dry. I’m in dusty conditions and pavement 50/50. I have JT sprockets with a DID gold chain. I clean it after every ride in the dirt. I ride a KTM 1190 R and ride conservatively most of the time. I also use a three sided brush to get the big stuff off. And I don’t power wash the chain.