Cleaning the Chain???

[speedster]

After a throrough cleaning, I simply put lube on the inner side of the chain (the one touching the sprocket teeth and let centrifugal force of things spinning while riding disperse it to the outermost side of the chain. Coating both sides of the chain, I find, will result in excessive amts. of lube flinging all over, creating an awful mess.

[espro]

I use a two by four cut to length, then I jam it under the swingarm lifting the bike up onto it's kickstand and the two by four.

I also added a pitbull swingarm/spool lift this year, so it's my tool of choice for any rear end work now.

Thanks for the idea, measured and cut a piece today, worked well! Chain cleaned and lubed up

[unL33T]

But i use the dupont lube so i cant even remember the last time i had to clean my chain...

I put the DuPont stuff directly onto my dirty chain without cleaning it and I swear it cleaned the chain itself. So much dirt and crap came out with the extra spray and the chain went from black to a nice shiny silver. Even after scrubbing it for 20 minutes with my Tirox chain cleaner and brush it didn't look as good as 5 minutes of spraying the Teflon on. I might use the drip bottle in the future though as it seems no matter how careful I am with the spray I get a lot of over spray all over the place and waste a lot of lube.

[adri]

How do you guys kerosene spray anyway? along the length of the chain downwards? at the sprocket as well or nah?

[gcrouse]

brake cleaner sprayed on a rag works best. Dont spray directly on chain though, will damage rings but on a rag and it will look like new!!!!

[Zaneris]

I spray the whole chain with kerosene, then give it a quick scrub with the brush, then apply the dupont lube.

So far, I'm only doing a full clean for every 3 applications of the lube, since it does a pretty good job of cleaning the chain all by itself.

[cjbenedict]

If just wiping down the chain I've found that gause pads with some kerosene has worked well for me. When doing full cleaning I drip kerosene on top of the back sprocket and do a little light scrubbing, the liquid penetrates the chain well.

[Skurj]

waste of time..

[bobjohnson]

How do you guys kerosene spray anyway? along the length of the chain downwards? at the sprocket as well or nah?

I use a spray bottle at the sprocket, the oil and dirt drips down over the sprocket making it easier to see when the chain is actually clean (no more black runoff = clean chain). I use a rag or brush on the top part of the chains run, because worst case scenario, my hand gets tugged with the brush into the front sprocket cover or chainguard (where as on the bottom run, it can get tugged into the sprocket, or the rag gets run up through the sprocket, even with the bike off). I also find that if you use oil based lubes the dirt and oil can build up on the sprocket as youre cleaning the chain, which means as it spins around its just picking up more crap if youre not cleaning the sprocket at the same time.

I just cleaned the chain on my 450 the other week because the last owner used some sort of oil based lube, took about 10 or 12 revolutions before it was completely clean. Chain looks and feels a million times better though, definitely worth the 5 minutes.

[FZ1Oakville]

Today i decided that i was going to clean the chain for the first time. i had already bought chain lube and had some wd-40 to clean it with.
I started with hosing down my bike since i was going to clean the chain anyways. Then i go to clean the chain. I started with spraying wd-40 on the chain, and then cleaning it with a tooth brush, spray wd-40 again, and then wipe it all off with a paper towel. This is where i discovered that my chain was not black, but actually silver. I was doing this on the rear sprocket for about 20 min until i realized that i could be doing it between the sprockets. After the chain was cleaned i sprayed it with the chain lube. This seemed to take forever (45-60 minutes), and i was covered in the grime that came off the chain when i was cleaning it. Another problem that i had was that my rear tire was covered with the chain lube. By the end i used up about 15-20 paper towels

So my question is if i am doing it right.
1. spray wd-40
2. clean with tooth brush
3. spray again
4. wipe down with paper towel
5. rince the whole chain with water
6. spray on the chain lube.

and is there anyother steps i should take, or any that i shouldn't be doing

Perfect method....a little overkill but fine none the less......do that in a parkinglot somewhere and not on your parents driveway......bring some rags for your hands....last step -- will probably leave excess oil/lube on the chain....ride in the parking lot real slow a little then wipe off everywhere that the lube went....

[cjbenedict]

Can anyone say where they have bought the Dupont Lube in the GTA? I haven't had any luck finding it at canadian tire, home depot, or Napa. Although, Napa does carry Castrol motorcycle chain lube for half the price of bike shops.

[steve220s]

Can anyone say where they have bought the Dupont Lube in the GTA? I haven't had any luck finding it at canadian tire, home depot, or Napa. Although, Napa does carry Castrol motorcycle chain lube for half the price of bike shops.

Lowes

[cjbenedict]

Ok, I live in mississauga so is a trek to get to the Lowes in brampton, but will have to do it some time this summer.

[Eastender]

Lowes

Which Lowes store did you get your Dupont Lube? The scarborough (Warden/Eglinton) Lowes does not carry it.