sealed motorcycle chain lube

[Ride_Red]

On rainy camping trips, I use the chain lube as a dual purpose tool.
I spray on the lube very liberally and let it drip onto the wet fire wood. This gets all the dirt and water off the chain, and acts as a nice fire starter for the wet wood.

This is the Liquid Wrench Chain and Cable Lube. OEM chain on my old Honda NC700X, 20K miles and still going with the new owner.

 

[02SE]

This looks like a fine place for this.

 

[maraakate]

I've been using whatever gear oil is on sale for many years. I tried Maxima chain wax and it works well but requires frequent applications. Noticed I was adjusting the chain more often. Gear oil works great and is easy to apply, but it does tend to fling on the rear tire. I personally don't care, but others might. Gear oil is cheap and readily available. I just keep a large bottle next to where I pull in so I can do it right away on the center stand when I get back. I can get more than 10,000 miles out of a DID "natural" chain this way.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Frequent chain adjustments on a lubed sealed chain typically means the chain is low quality or the chain is being ran too tight. I've used Maxima Chain Wax for decades, and all the chains on my bikes only need a couple of chain adjustments in 10K miles. The first one is always due to initial break in miles. I always run the chain on the loose side of the slack spec ... a tight chain will wear if faster (stretch) and is also hard on the counter shaft bearing and bearing on the sprocket side of the rear wheel.

 

[Bonz]

I've been using whatever gear oil is on sale for many years. I tried Maxima chain wax and it works well but requires frequent applications. Noticed I was adjusting the chain more often. Gear oil works great and is easy to apply, but it does tend to fling on the rear tire. I personally don't care, but others might. Gear oil is cheap and readily available. I just keep a large bottle next to where I pull in so I can do it right away on the center stand when I get back. I can get more than 10,000 miles out of a DID "natural" chain this way.

What do you mean by "natural chain"? A chain without any type of X or o-ring?

What size chain, 520, 525, 530 and what hp/tq?

I'm seeing over 33,000 mi from a DID X-Ring chain. 145 hp and 85+ ft/lbs. As I said in a previous post, initial adjustment somewhere in the first thousand miles. A quick check of slack every so often and honestly no adjustments needed except to reset slack after a rear tire change. A quality chain is worth every penny even if it means spending a few more bucks over the course of 33,000 miles versus a cheap chain that need changing every 10,000 miles. With that, there aren't any non o-ring or X-Ring chains that have the tensile strength to avoid stretching with respect to my bike. So we're talking apples and oranges if yours is a non-ex or o-ring chain. Not even in the same discussion with respect.

That's great you're seeing the success you are however there are factors with respect to what I asked above that make a huge difference in the context of this discussion.

 

[maraakate]

What do you mean by "natural chain"? A chain without any type of X or o-ring? What size chain, 520, 525, 530 and what hp/tq? I'm seeing over 33,000 mi from a DID X-Ring chain. 145 hp and 85+ ft/lbs. Might have to check adjustment every 10,000 miles, not necessarily do anything to the adjustment.

That's great you're seeing the success you are however there are factors with respect to what I asked above that make a huge difference in the context of this discussion.

Correct. No x-ring/o-ring/etc. 520. X-Rings that are well taken care of can go for much longer periods, yes.

With all due respect to you, I don't know what question you asked and there are 4 pages here of people mostly posting pictures of what they use. Did I miss something here?

 

[Bonz]

If you are running a 520 chain, what horsepower and torque is your bike putting out? Is it a street bike or a dirt bike? Trying to narrow down the usage situation you are talking about versus the one that the rest of us are talking about. Which has to do with O and X-Ring chains not non-sealed chains.

The title says what we are talking about. "Sealed motorcycle chain lube".

 

[maraakate]

Frequent chain adjustments on a lubed sealed chain typically means the chain is low quality or the chain is being ran too tight. I've used Maxima Chain Wax for decades, and all the chains on my bikes only need a couple of chain adjustments in 10K miles. The first one is always due to initial break in miles. I always run the chain on the loose side of the slack spec ... a tight chain will wear if faster (stretch) and is also hard on the counter shaft bearing and bearing on the sprocket side of the rear wheel.

That initial break-in miles is critical though. I've replaced so many chains from others bikes that come back to me a season later because they never listen to me when I say it needs checked again when it's a new chain. They just stretch so much and people let them smack on the swingarms and never think much of it. When it's new I check 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 miles and it might need a tweak or two around 50-200 and seems to be fine after that.

 

[maraakate]

If you are running a 520 chain, what horsepower and torque is your bike putting out? Is it a street bike or a dirt bike? Trying to narrow down the usage situation you are talking about versus the one that a lot of the rest of us are talking about. Which has to do with O and X-Ring chains not non-sealed chains.

I feel this is argumentative and I must have bad reading comprehension. I'll just "unwatch" this thread. Thanks.

 

[Bonz]

I would welcome opinions from the collective as to whether my line of questioning was argumentative. I always want to get better.


@marakaate, you unwatched the thread that was about sealed motorcycle chains and you are referencing a non-sealed chain. If you see this, I don't see that as argumentative. I see that as trying to understand the relevance.

You can feel its argumentative however what you are sharing isn't the context of this thread.

Despite that, I'm trying to broaden the discussion and understand what kind of bike you are getting 10,000 Mi out of the non-sealed chain. Not meant to be argumentative, it's asking information that you're not willing to share at this point by taking it the way you have and unwatching the thread. That is an opinion of mine, would welcome your thoughts on the discussion.

 

[KrisZ]

It’s been about 350 miles since I lubed the chain and the his is how it looks like. I rode through some rain, so the bike is even more filthy than before

The rollers do become shiny, so I guess it is a good indicator when it’s time to lube the chain.

 

[02SE]

It’s been about 350 miles since I lived the chain and the his is how it looks like. I rode through some rain, so the bike is even more filthy than before

The rollers do become shiny, so I guess it is a good indicator when it’s time to live the chain.


View attachment 329869

Our dirtbikes are cleaner than that...

Excuse me while I step out into the garage to hug our 3rd gen 'Busa.

 

[Papa Bear]

Dirt cheap Bar oil. Grunge brush then paint brush with bar oil - after 5 mins wipe off with terry towel

 

[jkhawaii]

Dupont Chain Saver.

 

[The_Sheriff]

preferred chain lube for sealed motorcycle chain?

I have used several in the past...cheap stuff from cycle gear, white stuff from bel-ray, and some sort of chain wax; if I get myself a mini moto I will be doing chain maintenance;

I'm open to suggestion...thanks

.
The best I’ve ever used. Will not harm X or O rings and is super clean.
.

 

[rydaddy]

I use gear oil and a rag to both clean and lubricate.