Alternative to Chain Lube in the developing world
 

Hey,

I just ran short on some top quality chain lube while near the Lao/ Cambodia boarder. Been trying to get some more for days but when I present the empty spay can and pantomime application, people just stare at me like I have 12 heads. Even in a major city, Pakse, I couldn't find any, or anyone who seemed to get that I was looking for something, anything, to lubricate the chain to my motorcycle. That said, most of my searching/ antics/ and acting were in small towns :-)

Any alternatives?
I bought 'cup-grease' but I think its mainly for large, cold temp joints. In a pinch, I'm gonna mix that with motor oil and apply.

Its dusty and hot as balls here if that helps. My chain is currently dusty too :-(

Thanks :scooter:

I use ep80w gear oil as chain lube

Easy to find anywhere

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Engine oil. Because, you know, you might find it useful to be carrying some anyway.

Yep, I've got some. But is hot as hell here and seems a tad thin. Thoughts on mixing it with standard cup grease? Lots of dust here too. Poor chain :-(

If it's thin, it'll fling off and take the dust with it. Just keep reapplying.

I use grease on the road in the UK, because it doesn't just wash straight off in our lovely wet weather. Tend to switch to oil for dusty places, because grease just attracts the dust.

That's my theory anyway :confused1:

Just after the wheel was invented ..... and before O-ring chains

We boiled our chains in grease then hung them out to dry, it seemed to work well enough and ought not be too hard to arrange in the 3rd world.

90 weight gear oil seems to work great for me. Honda I believe recommends it along with some chain manufacturers.

Yep, that's dead right.
Using the kitchen, it's best done only if you KNOW :eek3: your mum will be out :nono: for the entire operation! Like wot I and my Dad used to do :smiliex:.

Runny engine oil is fine, it'll take the dust and dirt away with it. Don't overdo it though. Little and often.
"top quality chain lube" often just attracts the dirt.

from preference I re-use the EP90 gearbox oil from when I change it on my Enfield, Apply with a 1 inch paintbrush. engine oil is fine also.
If you are using a modern O or X ring chain, the oil is just cleaning it and on my old style chain it is lubricating the chain as it can get inside the rollers

Oil.
Chains love oil.
Any kind of oil.
On long gravel, or mud passages, I alternate applications of motor oil and WD-40, at or between fuel stops.
In wet weather, or running in deep mud, I will spray or oil the drive chain every couple hours.
Running dry pavement, I reduce lubrication to only two or three times per day.

On earth, in the 21st century, it's become popular to run an O/X-ring chain, properly tensioned and checked every 2500-3500km. No dirt on your chain or being flung off it all over your bike . . .

Sorry to interrupt the "back, back in the day" reminiscences and anecdotes.

There's little hard data about any advantage to lubing a modern chain. The frictional differences between O/X-ring and non O/X-ring chains are apparently not measurable on a dyno.

Lubing a non O/X-ring chain . . . a good idea. Even more importantly would be making sure that chain is CLEAN before it's lubed with whatever witch's brew you favor (I'm with the fellah who likes gear oil).

Dirt is the abrasive that destroys your sprockets. All of this is more important if the motorbike spends significant time off-road where dirt is more present. Lube on the chain holds the dirt on the chain . . .

On a KTM 950/990 folks regularly get > 30,000km out of an O/X-ring chain without EVER lubing it. Granted, a powerful single cylinder motorbike would get less due to the power pulses of a single vs a twin or multi. But a DRZ is NOT a powerful single. :)

No advantage in oiling an O-ring chain? You're crazy. The oil will help maintain the o-rings, and reduce wear on the sprockets as the rollers of the chain come on to the teethe at high speed.

And rather than speculating, and passing on stories (some bloke on a ktm...), I'll give you some figures. The last chain I had from new till it was knackered lasted 45,000 miles. I briefly borrowed an identical bike with an identical chain that was on 19k miles, and the chain was already completely knackered. I tightened it up because it was hanging off, and within 200miles it was hanging off again. I was quite lazy looking after that 45k mile chain for the first part of its life so I reckon it could have gone on longer. A guy I know who uses a scott-oiler, but also oils his chain manually most days, got 60,000 miles out of his last c+s. These were road bikes used for despatching.

My theory is that when a chain is looked after, the front sprocket will wear quicker than the chain, and once it deteriorates to a certain level it accelerates the wear on on the chain. The next time I'm looking to get high mileage out of a chain I'm going to replace the front sprocket roughly half way through the predicted life of the chain. Front sprockets are cheap. Food for thought?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Npx9w7uhJa...k/s1600/12.jpg
The sprocket off my DR350 near the end of my Mongolia trip. Not hard to imagine that it wasn't doing the chain much good.

Lube - not on a bike going off-road.
 

I'm one of the bloke(s) on a KTM 950.

And on a DRZ 400. And a Husky TE630 and, just lately on a Husaberg FE570.

I've never lubed an O-ring on a dirt bike or on a bike doing considerable off-road. NEVER.

YOU can find lots of data on chain wear, etc on ADVRider among other sources . . . lubing chains is a hangover of old men recalling (understandably) the poor quality chains of the past. But it's NOT the recent past. Old habits die hard.

Do tell . . . what benefit lubing would provide the O-rings ? Nope. Dirt damages them . . . and lube (other than specific dry lubes) holds dirt.

Do appreciate a photo of evidence that you've rightly abused your machine and chain. Not sure that's very supportive of your position or the merit of following it.

You are correct, of course, that I'm crazy. But not wrong about this.:)

My my, what an impressive collection of bikes you keep! But how on earth do you find enough time to ride all of them enough to build up any experience of chain wear on them? Or do they just sit in the garage whilst you live out your riding experiences and chain data accumulations via adventure rider forum? :whistling:

I like to keep moving parts oiled, and seeing as how the o-rings on a drive chain are situated between two moving plates, I find it ideal to keep them oiled. Friction between the o-ring and the plates can only serve to damage the o-ring, reducing it's efficiency in keeping grease in, and dirt out.


Chain maintenance in off-road conditions is a tricky subject. As mentioned previously by somebody above, to some extent a light oil will fling off the chain taking the dirt with it, effectively cleaning the chain. Personally I would oil a chain unless I was planning on riding in a significant amount of sand, or possibly very heavily dry/dusty conditions on gravel or hardpac dirt roads. But probably only the sand (to run a dry chain).

Since you've asserted that lubricating an o-ring chain serves no purpose or advantage at all, could you tell me how you would look after the chain on a bike used predominantly on sealed roads, because it sounds like you're trying to back yourself out of a corner by reiterating your comments but by clarifying them with a 'when off-road' disclaimer. Note the majority of HuBB posters, and 'adventure riders' in general seem to ride in the vast majority on-road, so if you're going prescribe advice suited to riding exclusively off-road and particularly in proper sand, it would be handy to say that.


Personally I quite like getting 40,000+ miles out of a chain and sprockets, so I think I'll keep oiling my chains with engine oil for now. Like o-rings on a drive chain I also require periodic (okay, frequent) lubrication, so I'd better pop off to the offy for some more beeer before they close.

The O-ring or X-ring is only there to hold the grease in the roller/bush assembly. Lubrication is to slow the wear action of the roller on sprocket.
If the lube is too thin, you risk "washing" the bushes out.

Best lube is some sort of EP oil or if you can get it, chainsaw oil also has long molecules to reduce "fling" and works very well.

John

I use a Pro-Oiler on my AT since about 50,000km now, and I can tell you for sure that I do have a clean chain even after extensive mud rides. 250ml of cheap engine oil will be sufficient for several thousand km. The oil does lubricate the chain and prevents dirt from sticking on the chain to begin with. The dirt is thrown off the chain; if it´s really dirty terrain, I´ll increase the quantity dropped on the chain and everything´s clean again in a jiffy. Nice side effect is that my DID chains do live 30,000km and more on the AT and Transalp.

Cheers
Chris

Honda recommended engine oil for my VFR, and that's what all the local mechanics use in Philippines.

I've gotten 25k miles out of a minimally maintained and cleaned chain on a ZX12R, that was still in spec (as were the sprockets) when I replaced it prior to a long trip.
Sprayed with a corrosion inhibitor to prevent rust when I remembered, usually 1000 to 2000 miles.
The ZX can put a little of stress on chains...



Sent from my chinaphone excuse the spelling

True, I know longer due Iron Butt type rides anymore unless absolutely necessary . . . like it may be this summer . . . 1600kms in 24 hours.

They are, from inside. But perhaps you use some magical form of lubrication that sticks to o-rings . . . but flings off chain bushings and links. Do tell . . .


You mean like this ?

Not sure what corner you're imagining . . . lubrication off-road - Nope. Nada. On-road . . . perhaps some dry lube. On-road the chain will almost certainly move faster and over longer periods of time . . . it's not IMPOSSIBLE that some lube between the bushings and sprockets could be beneficial. But I've never done it and have noticed no difference in wear over . . . 20 years and several hundred thousand KMs . . . chain life has improved with chain quality, for me.

Bit off topic here but . . . I'd no idea this was news. Carrying an extra C/S sprocket ? Replacing it at half the interval of the rear sprocket or taking it off and reversing it when possible ?

Personally I like not turning my countershaft sprockets into paper cutters . . . breaking a chain at speed is terrifying. And even at slow speed could easily destroy the engine cases. Can't imagine the noise your C/S and chain were making . . . but not everyone has a keen sense of the obvious. :)

Especially if the clutch is abused . . . wheelies, dropped clutches, etc. But overall, notwithstanding your bike's prodigious power and the grip afforded by that monster rear tire . . . it has a cush drive and delivers the power in relatively smooth pulses due to it's 4 cylinder configuration. Thumpers, and to a lesser extent, twins, deliver those pulses between longer intervals and so . . . tend to wear chains inspite of their smaller displacement and lower outputs.

A buddy's ZX10 has yet to wear thru it's first chain at 24,000 miles . . . he's adjusted it once, cleaned it a few times. No lube. That bike lives in Sacramento, CA.

I'm guessing my ZX saw worse conditions, including a few thousand miles of dirt road, and quite a bit of winter riding.
Somewhere on Advrider there are some pictures of it keeping company with several adventure bikes, all on their sides after hitting glare ice on a dirt road during a post Thanksgiving weekend trip around Vermont.

But I hear you about the big power pulse issue. It's not just chains that get affected.

Sent from my Android chinaphone, please excuse the spelling

I think that is a reverse reasoning! As far as I know it is the chain that wears out the sprockets, not the other way around. Due to the (wear) stretching of the chain, the fit over the teeth is gone after a certain amount of stretch. Then you get what looks like a saw blade sprockets. If you want to last longer with chains and sprockets, buy two chains and one set sprockets and change the chain every 10K/15K with the other one. In reality this is not practical thought because it is not so easy to press the shackels and I don't want to bring it to the shop every time.
So infact this is actually rubbish info:scooter: but technically it is correct. :smartass:
sorry to go a bit of topic...

Cheers,
Noel