Chain Rust - Bike On The Street All Year Round...

there's lots of good ideas here, but you know, lubricant manufacturers spend a lot of time and pay a lot of chemists to formulate oils with additive packages tailored to an expected use. motor oils are designed to work inside motors, gear oil is designed to work inside gearboxes, hypoid differential oils work best inside hypoid differentials, and so on. the spec sheets for lubricants are endless, because the engineers know that moving parts need fluid film protection tailored to their working conditions to survive.

having the best oil though is less important than just lubing the chain regularly and thoroughly. a lousy lubricant applied before the chain looks dry will work better than an excellent one seldom applied. chains only rust when the lubrication and the protective fluid film is insufficient. a chain that rusts is a chain that isn't seeing enough oil. there are specific chain oils that have very high surfactant content that will actually displace water on the surface of the metal. if you're having rust problems experimenting with one of these might solve the problem

just my two cents

 

Hi,
Would be interesting to know if/ how often stones manage to wreck belts.
Some/all? Bikes have belt guards to prevent stone ingress, are they effective or where your worries unfounded?
Think I would use a belt bike. Ken.

 

That used to happen (When setting off) with older BMWs, but they addressed it some time ago.
Ken.

 

I was on the ducati forum and it was surprisingly common unfortunately.
Ducati would replace it once and then charge for the next time. $900+.
In the end (the recommendation on the forum) was to remove all of the shielding (from the belt drive and pulleys) as it seemed to be trapping the stones in and not letting stones out.
That’s what I did in the end but it's still squeeky bum time when you ride it.
Turns out the engine blew its big end shells (at 4.5k miles) before I damaged the belt.....

 

Thanks for that info.
Wonder what Sandi T’s thoughts are on belt drive motorcycles?
Ken.

 

i have a 1997 buell cyclone with a final drive belt. i live in the sticks with three miles of unpaved gravel road to ride before i get to blacktop. i don't run a hugger or guard on it and it's never given me any difficulties in about five years.

 

My first job was in a steel works and we used chains to drive gearboxes etc and I found that we had an endless supply of chain of the right pitch for my TS 185 Suzuki so I’d have one on the bike and one in maintenance so to speak. Don’t remember having to buy too many sprockets either.

 

WD40 is a dam good degreaser, so any oil/chain lubricant will be removed with WD40.

Don’t use it as a lubricant.

 

What, as opposed to a chain driven bike where too much power makes the front wheel rise. To be fair, that looks so much cooler pulling away down the high street...

Unless you drop it like some plonker outside the Chalet Cafe (Nr Henfield) a while ago. I bet he wishes he had a shaft drive!

 

I used to do the similar with a Yam RD I used for work about 45 years ago.

Split the chain and connect the new chain using the split link and run it onto the bike.

Unbeknown to me the procurement dept changed the spec and started buying in cheap chains, then one day riding home from work going round a roundabout the chain snapped and I was highsided off the bike.
Resulting in me being bruised and battered, one destroyed crash helmet and a smashed bike.
You live and learn.

 

I used to do this with my Trials bikes which used non-O ring chains, thys lasted ages. We had a running joke back then that our local chippy usd to cook the chips in Link Life as they were always really dark brown. Thay were delicious!

 

The guy was talking about using WD40 to clean his chain,,,,,so

 

Just two words...Chain Oiler. I've used them for years and swear by them, have them on both road bikes. Lubrication always there when it"s needed. The ZZR has a ChainTec (long out of production) but I made one for the Triumph. Just keep the tank topped up with gear oil and wipe the chain over now and again with a paraffin rag.

 

Reminds me I had a loobman www.loobman.co.uk on my speed trip, much cheaper than a Scott oiler and just as effective.

 

If you're cleaning using a wire brush you're potentially making the problem worse as it will scratch whatever coating the manufacturer has used over the chain and allow the oxidation process to occur.

Giving it a quick rub, as has been suggested already, after each run should help.

Also have you thought of one of these covers? I used one over a couple of winters in Edinburgh without any issues (and it's a lot easier to cover the bike - just ride in, close and padlock up)
https://www.feelgooduk.net/bike-home-motorcycle-cover-suitable-for-most-standard-bikes