With a new chain on, I decided to take a peek at my front sprocket.Some of you might have remembered that I performed a deep cleaning of my front sprocket only about 800km ago. And so I expected it to be relatively clean now. But when I popped open the sprocket cover…
Eeew! Yucks! Phhht!
There’s a MASSIVE blob of sticky, gooey grime at the bottom of the sprocket cover! And when I dug around the sprocket shield further…
Gasp! It accumulated a good amount of gooey grime too! Determined to have my newly installed chain last quite a bit longer than my previous chain, I spent about 5 mins cleaning the gunk up.
Disappointed, with the condition of the sprocket area, it suddenly struck me that it must be the chain lube that I’ve been using – Motul C2 Road Chain Lube. While I must admit that fling is minimal, I think Motul’s C2 chain lube has a tendency to attract dirt and grime – LOTS of it!
Perhaps it’s time for me to try another lube. Or maybe I should seriously consider an automatic chain oiler instead.
maybe you can consider auto chain oiler like scottoiler or tuturo
I might just consider them… if they weren’t so expensive… Hahah.
You could also use gear oil or for me, I used the leftover of engine oil. Fill it up in a bottle like the SINGER oil bottle and drip it on each link. Just remember to let the oil absorb in each link and wipe them clean after. I have never clean the chain with any solutions ever since 🙂
Certainly a consideration… Thanks for the tip. Though I’m just not too sure about the used engine oil – especially with all the engine impurities floating with it.
Yeah never use the used engine oil. Since the 200ns use up on 1.2l of oil, that remaining 800ml could be used instead
I tend to use “branded” oils for my engine and would rather save that 800ml for the next oil change session! =P Would consider cheap gear / engine oils though. I still have a bottle of Mobil 4T dino oil remaining from the last time I used it to flush my engine after it got contaminated with coolant.
Just use gear oil. A bottle goes a long long way. The Honda Super4 manual actually recommends it, rather than commercial sprays.
@chriszzz, yeah… I know of people doing that. Only thing is having to deal with messy fling – possibly even when applied lightly. Otherwise gear oils are known to be great chain lubes too!
I know of a friend who told me he does not clean or oil his big bike (750cc) chain since new. And still managed to eke out approx. 25000-30000km (mostly commuting in rain or shine) from them before requiring sprockets & chain replacement!!? Now is that believable (or not)? Well, perhaps for safety sake it may be unwise to stretch it that far…cos I read from somewhere that a snapped chain on a bike at speed can do horrible damage to the drivetrain/engine & possibly/surely cause a horrible crash too. Not worth penny-pinching here….
Well, I’m pretty sure that my previous chain still had quite a bit of life left in it when I swapped it out. I guess it all boils down to how fussy one gets. As long as you do not over-tighten the chain, it shouldn’t snap. Using the chain with the uneven wear was more of an irritant than function. On spots where it’s correctly tight, it pulls well. And on spots where it gets too loose, a hear a slight rattle (chain rolling along the chain guide). Like quite a bit of other stuff for the bike, I’d prefer to swap it out at the earlier end of the part’s life than at the later stage – for 2 reasons. 1) I’m less likely to experience a catastrophic failure resulting in collateral damages, and thus, additional repair expenses. And 2) Better ride quality / experience. It always feels good to have fresh components on (fresh oil, fresh chain, fresh tires, etc.)
You can try maxima chain wax!!! Do check the reviews online.
Yeah – I’ve certainly heard great things about Maxima’s Chain Wax. It’s a little curious that it’s twin brother, Maxima’s Chain Guard didn’t seem to get as much attention comparatively.