All 650's Cleaning your chain

ADIOS600 · Jul 25, 2017

I'm a bit of an anorak as far as cleaning goes. My bike is only used for pleasure so never really gats that bad.. I try not to over lube the chain, and clean it every two lubes. But that's not practical for a lot of people. It looks like you may have to consider a dry spray type lube like Wurth or similar.

Xorro · Jul 27, 2017

h0ck3y said:
Not necessarily on the subject of chain lube, but more along the lines of what comes off the chain. How do any of you get into and clean the area below? And which cleaners / degreasers do you find makes the job go easier?
View attachment 503

I use one of these that I originally bought for car detailing, it's also great for getting in to that area of the bike. I just dunk it in the bucket I'm using to wash the bike. If it's really bad I might spray some Bilberry wheel cleaner in there - it's non acidic.

http://www.motorgeek.co.uk/cgi-bin/ecom.cgi?Command=ShowProduct&db_pid=101

h0ck3y · Jul 27, 2017

Cool brush -- I might even get a second one just to do the rims. Thanks.

ADIOS600 · Jul 27, 2017

Washing a bike is something I very rarely do,(maybe I should).If I have to get into tight places I will use tooth brushes and cotton buds plus rags with prodders all soaked in any sort of maintenance spray to give me anti corrosion protection. If I cannot get to the area in question I will dismantle at a later date.

aaronlukemarshall · Jul 28, 2017

Scottoiler, Scottoiler did I say Scottoiler.

GPJake · Jul 28, 2017

aaronlukemarshall said:
Scottoiler, Scottoiler did I say Scottoiler.

Scottoilers have fans and critics almost equally.

I've never seen one in person in my life.

aaronlukemarshall · Jul 29, 2017

haqzore said:
Scottoilers have fans and critics almost equally.

I've never seen one in person in my life.

I think people just don’t set it up right and that causes problems.

ADIOS600 · Jul 31, 2017

I always used to have chain oilers. I never had the fancy electric ones just inertia type.The problem was finding a happy medium on the setting ie too much or too little. Once I found a compromise which seemed always to be a bit too much I then found the maintenance of fling etc to be the main issue especially in the front sprocket area, as we do even with manual lubing. For my mileage i will stick with manual IT WORKS FOR ME.

GPJake · Jul 31, 2017

ADIOS600 said:
I always used to have chain oilers. I never had the fancy electric ones just inertia type.The problem was finding a happy medium on the setting ie too much or too little. Once I found a compromise which seemed always to be a bit too much I then found the maintenance of fling etc to be the main issue especially in the front sprocket area, as we do even with manual lubing.

This seems to be the chief complaint that I hear about them.

ADIOS600 · Jul 31, 2017

Would I have another, probably not, you have to pay good money for an electric one. The other problem I had was the oil was very sensitive to temperature, how the later ones work I would not know, maybe we will hear about it. You are obviously happy to manually lube the chain.

GPJake · Jul 31, 2017

I think some of it comes from riding style also. If you ride a lot in dirty/dusty/gravelly areas an auto-oiler probably gives great benefit I would think?

ADIOS600 · Jul 31, 2017

Yes I agree. For shorter cleaner trips manual lube is good enough.

Thomas · Jul 31, 2017

I went to the dealer and asked how much one would cost (they have the CSL ones in stock - basically the best ones out there).
As I am not really a "man of the screwdriver" and I wanted it to be installed and ajusted correctly and I wanted it to not look like sh*t I wanted the price including installation.
Around 460€ - I just said thank you and left. If you are not as incapable as I am you can get them for around 300 bucks which still is a price I don´t really like and install them by yourself.
Lubing and cleaning every now and isn´t that bad after all. I mainly wanted it so the chain lasts longer and is always perfectly lubed.
They said a chain can last between 30-40.000km with it. I personally decided it´s not worth it at all in MY case.

BUT I think it definitely IS worth it for people like Duncan. If I bought a pretty new bike and I would be sure to keep it for at least 80.000 km or more I´d go for it. There are also some people that buy a bike new and just ride it until 100.000 km or more and then sell it and buy the succesor of the same model. In that case you might be able to reuse it on your new bike - and the auto oiler payed for itself several times.

ADIOS600 · Jul 31, 2017

They are saying 18 to 25,000 miles, you can get that with carefull manual maintenance of a chain, they are being conservataive. As you say we all have different views and that's how it should be.

GPJake · Jul 31, 2017

Whoo... That price!

It's the same with everything though.. The more convenient it is, the more expensive it is.

Jerry · Aug 1, 2017

That's pretty expensive.
I don't mind manually cleaning/lubing the chain. It kind of gives me the feeling of taking care of the bike. It's almost like a bonding ritual. Because of things like this, I feel much more attached to my bike than to my car, even though I rode like a 100 times the distance with that than with my bike.

GPJake · Aug 1, 2017

Jerry said:
That's pretty expensive.
I don't mind manually cleaning/lubing the chain. It kind of gives me the feeling of taking care of the bike. It's almost like a bonding ritual. Because of things like this, I feel much more attached to my bike than to my car, even though I rode like a 100 times the distance with that than with my bike.

agree with you here. chain maintenance is a bit of a "zen" experience for me.

ADIOS600 · Aug 1, 2017

Yes a bonding ritual not a chore. What a sad lot we are.

GPJake · Aug 1, 2017

ADIOS600 said:
Yes a bonding ritual not a chore. What a sad lot we are.

LOLd at that

The image of a spotless chain is super satisfying though!

ADIOS600 · Aug 2, 2017

I couldn't agree more.

All 650's Cleaning your chain

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