Clean & lube your chain every 600 miles

[browe58]

it's been over a decade since i've owned a chain drive bike. i recently picked up a very '83 1100e but the drive chain noise was driving me crazy. no matter how i adjusted the tension, it just wasn't right. it was tight in some spots and loose in others. i could hear the chain hitting or rubbing something at slow speeds and when decelerating. the consensus here is to replace the chain and both sprockets since they're not that expensive. i'm frugal so i decided to clean & lube it the way the owners manual calls for to see if i can save some cash. well. i'm glad i did. found a local gas station that sells k1 kerosene ($3.99/gal) and a vip auto store that carries 40 weight non detergent ($2/gt).
1. used bike stand to lift rear wheel (don;t have center stand)
2. placed cardboard under wheel to catch everything
3. put some k1 in a spray bootle and sprayed chain down while still on bike and used a toothbrush to get the grime off while turning wheel.
4. wiped and cleaned everthing w/ shop cloth and let it dry
5. dipped another brush in oil and applied to chain while turning wheel and let dry & wiped off any excess.

took about an hour but man, what a difference. now the wheel turns smoothly and effortlessly and no more loose or tight spots on the chain. then i adjusted the tension to approx 1" and took it for a spin. now it's quiet and i can't tell i'm riding a chain drive bike. it's very easy to do the lazy thing and just spray it down w/ a chain lube every now & then. do yourself a favor...... save yoru hard earned cash and "clean & lube" it every 600 miles per the method called for in the owners manual. ride safe.

[still_bluenoser]

Your chain was dirty enough to screw up adjustment?

[Steve]

it's been over a decade since i've owned a chain drive bike. ...

Sorry about your luck.

I have not had a chain-driven bike since April, 1979.

.

[MisterCinders]

Sorry about your luck.

I have not had a chain-driven bike since April, 1979.

.

Sorry about YOUR luck.

[TheCafeKid]

If your chain was going loose and then tight, it's time to replace it AND the sprockets. Oiling/lubing it is just masking the problem for now....
He is right, though. Lube and clean every 600 miles (or less) and a good quality oring chain will last many many thousands of miles.

[browe58]

If your chain was going loose and then tight, it's time to replace it AND the sprockets. Oiling/lubing it is just masking the problem for now....
He is right, though. Lube and clean every 600 miles (or less) and a good quality oring chain will last many many thousands of miles.

hi cafekid, i appreciate & respect your knowledge & expertise but how do you explain the fact that after cleaning & lubing the chain, it no longer has tight & loose spots? tension is now uniform throughout and wheel rotates effortlessly on the lift and silky smooth on the road w/ no chain noise. and i lubed it very lightly to minimize excess run off. logic dictates that if everything was shot as you suggest, then no amount of cleaning and lubing would correct what i had experienced before, especially the tight and loose spots. i just think the chain was full of grit & debris and needed a good cleaning & lube. again, not rying to be a wise ass, know it all or question your expertise, just articulal\ting my observation & thoughts. so please don't take it the wrong way and keep providing your feedback. peace.

[Allie]

hi cafekid, i appreciate & respect your knowledge & expertise but how do you explain the fact that after cleaning & lubing the chain, it no longer has tight & loose spots? tension is now uniform throughout and wheel rotates effortlessly on the lift and silky smooth on the road w/ no chain noise. and i lubed it very lightly to minimize excess run off. logic dictates that if everything was shot as you suggest, then no amount of cleaning and lubing would correct what i had experienced before, especially the tight and loose spots. i just think the chain was full of grit & debris and needed a good cleaning & lube. again, not rying to be a wise ass, know it all or question your expertise, just articulal\ting my observation & thoughts. so please don't take it the wrong way and keep providing your feedback. peace.

Are you absolutely sure it had tight and loose spots? Usually that's caused by a worn out chain, which as stated no amount of cleaning and lubing will fix. It sounds more like grit and gunk was causing it to bind in places. I question if grit and gunk could cause it to bind that severely if the O rings are still intact, did you check them? Either way, yes clean and lube that rascal diligently. Different riding conditions have different needs though. Modern O ring chains with modern lubes can go a long way without lubing if the riding conditions aren't dry and dusty.

[Jedz123]

600 miles? I oil mine every fuel up and clean after every 300 especially if I ride in the rain... Call me obesvive but my chain and Sprockets are still looking like the day I put them on about 18k miles ago!

[TheCafeKid]

hi cafekid, i appreciate & respect your knowledge & expertise but how do you explain the fact that after cleaning & lubing the chain, it no longer has tight & loose spots? tension is now uniform throughout and wheel rotates effortlessly on the lift and silky smooth on the road w/ no chain noise. and i lubed it very lightly to minimize excess run off. logic dictates that if everything was shot as you suggest, then no amount of cleaning and lubing would correct what i had experienced before, especially the tight and loose spots. i just think the chain was full of grit & debris and needed a good cleaning & lube. again, not rying to be a wise ass, know it all or question your expertise, just articulal\ting my observation & thoughts. so please don't take it the wrong way and keep providing your feedback. peace.

Easy way to check, if you can grab a link at the back of the sprocket and pull it and expose half the tooth or more (assuming your chain deflection is set correctly) its toast.

I do see what you're saying, but binding links are packed with grit and grime. Grit and grime acts like little tiny files on the orings and pins of the chain...

[browe58]

Are you absolutely sure it had tight and loose spots? Usually that's caused by a worn out chain, which as stated no amount of cleaning and lubing will fix. It sounds more like grit and gunk was causing it to bind in places. I question if grit and gunk could cause it to bind that severely if the O rings are still intact, did you check them? Either way, yes clean and lube that rascal diligently. Different riding conditions have different needs though. Modern O ring chains with modern lubes can go a long way without lubing if the riding conditions aren't dry and dusty.

hi allie, absolutely sure about the tight & loose spots. how do check check the o-rings? do all modern chains have o-riings? i just bought the bike in april so i'm slowly going thru everyhthing. bike is in incredible shape but i can see how the chain could have been neglected. it's a pain in the butt (messy & time consuming) to properly clean & lube a chain every 600 miles. it's just easy to spray over the grit and grime every now & then and hope for the best. heck, i did that a few weeks ago after buying it. but after countless adjustments w/ no improvement, i decided to do it by the book and hopefully i'll stay on top of it. i'm not a bike mechanic but i'm 53 and have been wrenching for decades and consider myself pretty smart & resourceful. i think the chain & sprockets are fine and that they just needed a good cleaning & lube. i'm never too quick to replace items without attempting to correct the problem . i probably got lucky and caught it in time to get some more miles out of the set.

[browe58]

Easy way to check, if you can grab a link at the back of the sprocket and pull it and expose half the tooth or more (assuming your chain deflection is set correctly) its toast.

I do see what you're saying, but binding links are packed with grit and grime. Grit and grime acts like little tiny files on the orings and pins of the chain...

yes, i did that and it's about 1/2 way exposed. i have 2 notches left on the swingarm so i know i'm due for a repalcement soon. just trying not to spend much on this bike as i might sell it. i love it but it doesn't fit me right. i'm actually going to look at a very clean '91 bmw k100rs tomorrow. it's a tad faster than the 1100e but has abs, fuel inj, hard cases, heated grips, windshield, corbin seat, water cooled, made for taller riders, germany engineering, etc. for $1800. it has 85k miles which is nothing for a bmw. my 1100e has 67k miles (motor rebuilt at 60k). i paid $1700 for it and can probably get $2k for it. wish i could keep both but i think the bmw will serve my needs better.

[Allie]

Okay here's what we're usually talking about when we say 'tight spots' on a chain.

Tight spots refer to how a chain 'stretches' unevenly, only chains don't actually stretch when they get longer, the wear at all the contact points on the links and pins adds up until the chain gets noticeably longer. And since chains don't wear at an even rate there are always sections of chain that are 'looser' than others. In other words a ten link segment of the chain for instance when measured against other ten link segments could be longer or shorter. Therefore after enough wear takes place you will have spots in the travel where the chain may be too tight while at another point in travel it could be too loose and no amount of adjust, cleaning, or lubing will ever get the chain back into spec. The chain, to put it succinctly, is pooched. The End.

If a chain is badly binding from grit and grim and lack of lubrication then it can also make 'tight spots', and probably make a whole lot of noise as the links hammer the sprockets into oblivion but as you clean it and unbind it and everything works freely then the 'tight spots' disappear. My point is that I don't think a modern O-ring chain will bind like that no matter how much grime is caked on the outside as long as the O-rings are intact due to the nature and function of O-rings. This is, by the way, in Basscliff's mega welcome... but basically the O-rings seal the lube in and the dirt out of a chain. The lube we spray on isn't what actually what lubes the moving parts of the chain, that stuff is sealed in at the factory by the O-rings and we hopefully never get to see it. Therefore those contact points should always have clean lube on them and never get dirty, and never bind up. The lube WE spray on serves only to a) keep those O-rings from drying out on the outside, b) to form a moisture barrier on the metal and c) to help lube the chain to sprocket contacts. We really ought to call it sprocket lube but no one ever listens to me...... anyway my thought is that if the chain was so bad it was binding the O-rings could be knackered, you check them by looking between the plates of the chain, each link, at each little O-ring and look for any that are damaged, ruptured, or missing. I'd be surprised if you were NOT missing at least some of them after that description. If as you say the chain cleaned up fine and can be adjusted to spec then fine (sounds like it's borderline right now) but it's not going to last long the way it is. The Magic Eight Ball sees a chain and sprockets in your near future.

[earlfor]

yes, i did that and it's about 1/2 way exposed.

i have 2 notches left on the swingarm so i know i'm due for a repalcement soon.

Thats a common mistake to assume that you have the range of adjustment within the stretch limits of the chain that is equal to the range of marks on the swingarm. When you install a new chain and set it with proper slack. the chain will be out of tolerance i.e., worn out, when you have used approximately ONE full adjustment mark from where you started.

[browe58]

Thats a common mistake to assume that you have the range of adjustment within the stretch limits of the chain that is equal to the range of marks on the swingarm. When you install a new chain and set it with proper slack. the chain will be out of tolerance i.e., worn out, when you have used approximately ONE full adjustment mark from where you started.

hmmmm...... that's not what the owner's manual states. according to suzuki, the chain is worn out "excessively" if you get to the final notch on the swingarm. and i'm assuming that applies to the stock chain & sprocket setup. suzuki also states to check & adjust the tension every 4k miles. that tells me that a certain amount of stretch in the chain is acceptable. notches on swingarm are about 1/16" apart so if what you're saying is accurate, a chain is trashed if it stretches by more than 1/16". sorry but that doesn't make sense.

[earlfor]

hmmmm...... that's not what the owner's manual states. according to suzuki, the chain is worn out "excessively" if you get to the final notch on the swingarm. and i'm assuming that applies to the stock chain & sprocket setup. suzuki also states to check & adjust the tension every 4k miles. that tells me that a certain amount of stretch in the chain is acceptable. notches on swingarm are about 1/16" apart so if what you're saying is accurate, a chain is trashed if it stretches by more than 1/16". sorry but that doesn't make sense.

We have a confusion of terms at work here. LOL The adjustment marks on the swing arm are a series of long/big marks and short/little marks. they are like the hours on a clock for the big marks. Each big mark is divided into little marks, I believe there are always four small marks between each large set. So you would have say 1 o'clock and then 4 small marks, then 2 o'clock, 4 more small marks, 3'oclock, 4 more marks, etc. A "mark" is the distance between two big marks, or the distance between 1 and 2 o'clock.

In any event, the total allowable rearward movement of the rear axle relative to the swing arm marks is about 3/8".

The number of marks available on the swing arm has nothing to do with how much the chain can be adjusted.