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Chain lube

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ddavis

ddavis

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First Name
David
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Davis
I read the old post about chain maintenance, and I have used all but the pj 4 that was mentioned. When I was in NC last year, a mechanic used a lube on my chain that looked and felt just like the grease that comes on the chain when new. I should have paid more attention.

Does anyone here know the product I describe? I want to be able to use it on both my street and dirt bikes so I don't have to stock two different kinds.
 
:tab Motorcycle Consumer News recently reported on a new lube that is teflon based. They loved it. Not messy and did not attract dirt and grime. I'll see if I can find the article and get better info.

Adios,
 
I've been using the bel ray chain wax, but have found I need to clean it off the chain with solvent, either kerosene or WD40 with a soft plastic brush and wipe it down good between every couple of applications or the chain starts getting too gunked up.

It'll dry out in dusty conditions, I had to actually buy a little can of 2 stroke oil at a gas convenience store on the way back from Big Bend on the KTM and drible it on.

One dose was good for the arkansas trip onthe FZ though.

It does look like what they put on my FZ when I bought it though. Kinda white looking.

I'd be interested in looking at that teflon based stuff.
 
I don't care much for wax for the reasons you mentioned. It might be ok on the street bike but, frequent maintenance on the road isn't much fun to me. Off road, I lube before every ride anyway, because I hose the bike off after every ride.
 
Chain Lube

Gents, Here's something I discovered... I had a Bandit 1200S... I was using the Zuke product which contains Moly. It was messy and thin... had to be sprayed on every few hundred miles.... One day I decided to experiment. I have a container of Multi-Purpose lithium base grease with a high concentration of Moly in it. That's Molybdnym di sulfide for the chemically minded... It's a metal made up of spherical shaped molecules so it's like having billions of little ball bearings. The heavy lith grease holds it in suspension. I cleaned the chain, got out an old tooth brush and slathered the fool out of the chain with it... 500 mi later, I inspected.. the rollers of the chain were still heavily coated with the black goo... I went another 500 miles... same story... now it's a thousand miles since "greasing" the chain... no sling off, no mess, and the rollers are still coated with the black goo. I give it another coating for good measure... 3,000 miles later... chain is perfect... no adjustment needed... still coated with the black goo...
Then I had a 97 Magna... did the same thing... one treatment... 4,000 mi and when I sold the bike... the chain was still black and the rollers were still slick... Now, I have a 98 Magna... the OEM chain when I got the bike last month was in terrible shape... It had been sprayed regularly with "chain wax"... it was twisted in spots, ran jerkily... was stretched out to the limits of the adjusters... and ran making noise like something scraping... I slathered it liberally with the Moly grease.. the noise went away, but the chain was shot... It was new chain time... new tire... new chain... when the new chain has a few miles on it then comes the Moly grease... none of that high dollar chain lube... just plain old multipurpose lithium Moly grease.....

JR
Old but not too lold to learn
 
ddavis said:
I don't care much for wax for the reasons you mentioned. It might be ok on the street bike but, frequent maintenance on the road isn't much fun to me. Off road, I lube before every ride anyway, because I hose the bike off after every ride.
Click to expand...
I don't lube off-road at all if using an o-ring chain, pretty common practice. A dirty lubed chain will wear more than a dry chain.
 
Re: Chain Lube

Anonymous said:
Gents, Here's something I discovered... I had a Bandit 1200S... I was using the Zuke product which contains Moly. It was messy and thin... had to be sprayed on every few hundred miles.... One day I decided to experiment. I have a container of Multi-Purpose lithium base grease with a high concentration of Moly in it. That's Molybdnym di sulfide for the chemically minded... It's a metal made up of spherical shaped molecules so it's like having billions of little ball bearings. The heavy lith grease holds it in suspension. I cleaned the chain, got out an old tooth brush and slathered the fool out of the chain with it... 500 mi later, I inspected.. the rollers of the chain were still heavily coated with the black goo... I went another 500 miles... same story... now it's a thousand miles since "greasing" the chain... no sling off, no mess, and the rollers are still coated with the black goo. I give it another coating for good measure... 3,000 miles later... chain is perfect... no adjustment needed... still coated with the black goo...
Then I had a 97 Magna... did the same thing... one treatment... 4,000 mi and when I sold the bike... the chain was still black and the rollers were still slick... Now, I have a 98 Magna... the OEM chain when I got the bike last month was in terrible shape... It had been sprayed regularly with "chain wax"... it was twisted in spots, ran jerkily... was stretched out to the limits of the adjusters... and ran making noise like something scraping... I slathered it liberally with the Moly grease.. the noise went away, but the chain was shot... It was new chain time... new tire... new chain... when the new chain has a few miles on it then comes the Moly grease... none of that high dollar chain lube... just plain old multipurpose lithium Moly grease.....

JR
Old but not too lold to learn
Click to expand...

OK I cleaned my chain and tried it today. I am going to see if it works. I applied it liberally and some flung off on a 30 min ride in 70 deg temps. When I got back I put the bike up on the centerstand and rubbed a little more on while it was running. We shall see.
 
Tourmeister said:
Better late than never...

Dupont Teflon Multi-Use Lubricant

Dupont Performance Lubricants 631-666-4186
www.performancelubricant.dupont.com
www.powersportrider.com

Motorcycle Consumer News gave it a great review!

Should be about $6.95 for an 11oz can or $3.95 for a 4 oz squirt bottle.

Adios,
Click to expand...


Ok, I've seen at least a couple of posts touting this new super duper stuff. Anyone seen it in stores? auto parts? home improvement? ACE hardware? wal-mart?

I'm about out of Bel-Ray Super Clean and am looking for my next chain lube product. Although I've been happy with the bel-ray on the Vulcan, I don't mind trying different products that come highly recommended.
 
dukey33 said:
Ok, I've seen at least a couple of posts touting this new super duper stuff. Anyone seen it in stores? auto parts? home improvement? ACE hardware? wal-mart?

I'm about out of Bel-Ray Super Clean and am looking for my next chain lube product. Although I've been happy with the bel-ray on the Vulcan, I don't mind trying different products that come highly recommended.
Click to expand...


Lowes carries it!!! I use it alot on my street bikes, and the DS Bike. I love the stuff, works well and does not attract dirt like all the other stuff. And is easy to clean off with a rag moist with WD-40.

Todd
 
+ 1 on the Dupont lube. Fotomoto got me started on that stuff. :thumb:
 
Motorex 611 Chain clean and grunge brush.
Motorex Racing chain lube, or 622 lube for dirt riding.
 
Re: Chain Lube

Anonymous said:
Gents, Here's something I discovered... I had a Bandit 1200S... I was using the Zuke product which contains Moly. It was messy and thin... had to be sprayed on every few hundred miles.... One day I decided to experiment. I have a container of Multi-Purpose lithium base grease with a high concentration of Moly in it. That's Molybdnym di sulfide for the chemically minded... It's a metal made up of spherical shaped molecules so it's like having billions of little ball bearings.
Click to expand...

Your are on the right track but, the molydeneum disulfide molecule is more flat. It works like a deck of cards......when you rub the deck back and forth, the cards slide against each other. As the moly sloughs off, it is replaced by more moly. The molybdenum atom is sandwiched between two sulfide atoms…a moly sandwich with sulfide being the bread,

Molybdenum is very slippery. Also, it tolerates very high pressure (it is used as an EP additive in many lubricants). And, it stands up to high temperature. Also, it does attach to metal. Us BMW owners use it for servicing the splines in our Paralever driveshaft systems. It is excellent for sliding and high-pressure systems such as a chain drive. Your moly-rich grease may not be the best way to apply the moly because the grease will attract and hold dirt but, it seems to work well for you so….who am I to criticize.

I also add moly to the gear oil in my transmission on my BMW boxer as well as the final drive gear oil.

Moly is also added to some motor oil formulations as a friction modifier.
 
that dupont product is available at O'Reilly Auto Parts out here in GA, so I assume it must be available elsewhere. I use it to lube my cables on the bike, and hinges on the truck - hadn't thought to use it on my chain. I'm happy enough with the Maxxim wax.
 
-1 on the Dupont Teflon stuff.... If anyone wants to try it you can have the rest of mine for free - just pay shipping.
 
txbanditrydr said:
-1 on the Dupont Teflon stuff.... If anyone wants to try it you can have the rest of mine for free - just pay shipping.
Click to expand...

banditryder, just curious why you don't like the teflon stuff? I haven't tried it yet but was seriously considering it.
 
Pac - I'll admit the chain stayed substantially cleaner when using the stuff but it never really seemed like the chain was fully lubed even though I used gobs and gobs of it. Also, if you read the fine print on the can it's a "wax" based lube and needs to go on a warm chain to fully penetrate (IMHO). Since it was about this time of year (early winter) I couldn't really get the chain to warm up much before application.

I also developed three "kinked" links that remain to this day - had nothing before and haven't had any additional ones since I went back to old-fashioned 90w gear oil. I am convinced the Teflon lube was the culprit. This occurred at about 14,000 miles on the chain and it's tempting to say the chain was getting old and needed to be replaced. As posted elsewhere, I'm still running the same chain at 36,000 miles and every o-ring is intact.

I'll add that I probably overdo chain maintenance - regular applications of gear oil and a good kerosene bath every 1,000 miles. This regimen may not be for everyone and maybe I didn't give the Teflon a thorough evaluation. There are certainly lots of glowing reports on the Teflon - it just didn't work out for me. :giveup:
 
Dyna Sport said:
It'll dry out in dusty conditions, I had to actually buy a little can of 2 stroke oil at a gas convenience store on the way back from Big Bend on the KTM and drible it on.
Click to expand...

If you are not concerned about sling off, save the motor oil out of your car/bike/mower etc. when you change it. Works good and as chain/bar lube on a chainsaw as well.

Cheap.
 
txbanditrydr said:
Pac - I'll admit the chain stayed substantially cleaner when using the stuff but it never really seemed like the chain was fully lubed even though I used gobs and gobs of it. Also, if you read the fine print on the can it's a "wax" based lube and needs to go on a warm chain to fully penetrate (IMHO). Since it was about this time of year (early winter) I couldn't really get the chain to warm up much before application.

I also developed three "kinked" links that remain to this day - had nothing before and haven't had any additional ones since I went back to old-fashioned 90w gear oil. I am convinced the Teflon lube was the culprit. This occurred at about 14,000 miles on the chain and it's tempting to say the chain was getting old and needed to be replaced. As posted elsewhere, I'm still running the same chain at 36,000 miles and every o-ring is intact.

I'll add that I probably overdo chain maintenance - regular applications of gear oil and a good kerosene bath every 1,000 miles. This regimen may not be for everyone and maybe I didn't give the Teflon a thorough evaluation. There are certainly lots of glowing reports on the Teflon - it just didn't work out for me. :giveup:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the infor bandit, gives me some food for thought.

How well does the 90w hang onto the chain? I'm guessing there's quite a bit of sling-off involved?
 
pacman1 said:
How well does the 90w hang onto the chain?
Click to expand...
With gear oil there is some fling but that actually is a good thing. The trick is to apply it sparingly and not just flood the chain. I made an applicator that can place a small drop precisely where I want it - both o-rings and one side of the roller. Fling-off occurs during the first 5-10 miles and then pretty much stops. This also helps "clean" the chain by carrying gunk along with it. I'll re-lube every tank of gas or so - on long trips I use a Loobman chain oiler but only if I'm covering several hundred miles in a day.

One of the big issues I had with commercial spray-on lubes is that they don't fling (as much), attract dirt and it makes a paste that just grinds the critical parts of the chain. Also, what did fling occur was the hardest thing to clean up. Gear oil wipes clean with a paper towel in one swipe.

I do give points to the Teflon lube on keeping things clean - similar to chain waxes in general.
 
I've been using PJ1 because it sticks so well, but I recently cleaned my chain using a pan of mineral spirits, and I was absolutely amazed at the grit in the bottom of that pan when I was finished. Apparently, PJ1 captures a heck of a lot of grit while riding, and it stays until cleaned.

I've started using Amsoil's Heavy Duty Metal Protector/Chain Lube, which is sold by our local Kaw shop and popular among the dirt riders in the area. I spray it on, and wipe the excess back off by just running a rag over the outer surfaces. It leaves a thin film on the side plates, which only need lube to keep from rusting. It leaves a thicker film on the o-rings and rollers where the rag doesn't reach. It doesn't fling off badly at all if the excess is wiped off, and glory be, it keeps the chain much cleaner wiping it off each time. After 500 miles or so, the side plates are still waxy to the touch, and the rollers still have lube in place, so it seems to stay.

I tried the same trick with PJ1, but that blasted stuff dried to glue so quickly it was tough to wipe off the excess. The Amsoil spray takes longer to set, so wiping off the excess if feasible. So far, I'm pleased, but I've only got about 1000 miles with it.
 
txbanditrydr said:
... There are certainly lots of glowing reports on the Teflon - it just didn't work out for me. :giveup:
Click to expand...

+1 on txbanditrydr's comments. I found the DuPont to give me about 40% less chain life on both the DL1000 and B12. YMMV.
 
with my latest chain replacement on my klr im trying a new regimen... i clean it with wd 40 only... wipe it off with a rag when im done.. and thats it.. then periodically (every 200 miles or so) i spray on some more wd 40, let it sit for a while and wipe off excess. i will monitor how long the chain lasts that way. I have had conflicting reports on how good wd40 is as a lubricant for chains. the bike has hardly been ridden off road for the last 15k miles.. hiway only.. i have about 2500 miles on the current chain.. i will see how it goes and let people know..

i put the bike up on a jack, and rotate the tire and spray on the wd40 takes me about 5 minutes total to do the job.... the chain is a good quality o ring chain.....
 
+1 on the Dupont Teflon spray.

I was useing the PJ1 for years. Chain life was typically in the 14K to 16K range. I use the strongest chain available, DID ZVM. My chains would typically start going south with about 2K left to go. They would get kinks, noisy and brown between the roller and side plates. I lubed about every 300 miles but was bad about not cleaning them regularly.

After some research I discovered that O-ring chain lube does not "lube" the chain. It is to condition and protect the o-rings. The o-rings seal the lube (grease) inside the pin and roller and keep the dirt and grime out. Thus my down fall. My lack of cleaning regularly caused grit to build up on the "sticky" PJ1 which deteriorated the o-rings, allowing the precious lube out and contaminants in.

I was on a ride and commented to a buddy about his chain, how clean it was and looked new. He told me it had 20K on it. Long story short, he told me of the benifits of the Dupont Teflon spray. So I gave it a try.

My last chain, useing the Teflon Spray lasted 21K, the most I have ever gotten out of a chain. The front sprocket was "hooked" pretty bad, but the rear looked almost new. I contibute that to the teflon not allowing the road grit to abraid between the chain and the sprocket. Best of all, there is never any gooy-sticky sling-off to clean up. My center stand and counter sprocket cases are free of grime and build up. The other thing I notice about useing the Teflon stuff is that the rear wheel (when up on the center stand) spins much more free. There is a lot less drag caused by the sticky chain lube on the chain and sprockets. Also when riding, the chain is a lot quieter.

To say the least I'm very pleased with the Dupont Teflon Spay Lubricant product.:clap:
 
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