Red dust on my chain...What is it?

[Griffin]

Just goes to show Leslie shouldn't be working for someone selling chains with O rings. There is absolutely no need to ever soak your O ring chain - there is no point and it is a complete waste of time. Leslie almost contradicts her / himself when she / he points out the lube is sealed for life (correct). All you are doing is preventing the outside of the chein from rusting (correct Leslie). And you can do that by wiping the thing with an oily rag. If it's caked in crud wash it off with a dish brush beforehand.

Soaking your chain is a throwback to the days before o ring chains came about when you could get crap in behind the rollers. Soaking a chain does nothing other than getting the outside wet.

So regardless of the argument about whether O rings are affected by this or that solvent why risk damaging them in the first place?

Yeah, I guess somebody who is responsible for all the sales (and therefore the profitability of operations) of one of the largest drive chain manufacturers in one of the largest markets in the world will pass out misinformation that could affect the warranty rate of their product (therefore jeopardizing the company's profits and reputation).

You can still get crap wedged in between the o-rings and the sideplates, which if not removed, will eventutally tear the orings and allow the lubricant to leak out. If that weren't the case, you'd never have to clean your chain with a rag or soft brush at all, only spray some rust-preventative on it once in a while. Soaking the chain will help soften up any crud to facilitate removal.

I've soaked every new chain I've purchased over the past twenty-seven years in kerosene to remove the shipping wax (i don't like it because road grime sticks to it like glue), and so far haven't had a single early chain failure. The few replacement chains I've worn out had the following miles on them (all on my '85 GS700ES, the original chain was replaced at 14,000 miles):

Chain 1 (Tsubaki 530 o-ring) - 18,000 miles between 1987 and 1989

Chain 2 (RK o-ring 530) - 19,000 miles from 1989 and 1992

Chain 3 (RK o-ring 530) - 13,000 miles from 1992 to 2004 (the chain had to be replaced with relatively few miles because the bike sat for seven years and the o-rings dried out and fell apart)

The drive chain currently on this bike (RK X-Ring 530) was installed in 2004 and now has 16,000 miles on it. It was soaked in kerosene before I installed it, has been regularly cleaned with kerosene a couple dozen times since, and in 2008, after riding for three days in pouring rain during a GS rally, was removed and soaked in kerosene, thoroughly scrubbed, and reinstalled (at 10,500 miles).

It has needed adjustment once (after the first thousand miles or so). Since then, the rear wheel axle adjusters have been lined up with the same marks on the swingarm (two marks from the front). It still looks brand new.

I regularly clean my chain with a kerosene-soaked shop rag because it does a far better job than WD-40. I then use Maxima chain wax once the chain is clean and the kerosene has been wiped off.

Kerosene is not much more of a solvent than motor oil, and will only damage materials that motor oil will damage (styrofoam, certain non-automotive rubbers and plastics, etc...). It will not damage the rubber o-rings on a drive chain in any way whatsoever. It actually helps preserve the softness of the o-rings by restoring the oils that leach out of the rubber as it is exposed to air, water, and sunlight. You could leave a drive chain o-ring in a pan of kerosene for months and it will be perfectly soft, supple, and intact when you remove it.



But, I guess some people still know more than manufacturer's reps do about their products.

 

[hampshirehog]

But, I guess some people still know more than manufacturer's reps do about their products.

A rep is a rep. You don't have to know anything other than your bottom selling price to be a rep. Most I meet can't even remember that. Most I meet bullsh!t like it's going out of fashion to try and impress.

Leslie is a rep for FTM Enterprises Inc. Google tells me they are import agents (I've never heard of them). A rep who works for an agent is even less guaranteed to know anything.

Tom's getting 20k out of his chains without cleaning them.

 

[koolaid_kid]

I follow the same regimen as Griffin with similar results. I keep kerosene on my shelf and clean periodically, it works wonders. I have switched to the DuPont Teflon Multi-Use Dry, Wax Lubricant, as it is half the price of the Maxima and just as effective.
No WD-40 ever sees my chain, thank you very much. It is very handy, however, for displacing water in a distributor cap of a 1965 Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a 425 cubic-inch Super Rocket V8 with 370 horsepower.