Chain Oil vs Wax

[flynrider]

+1. A little bit too loose with the chain is nowhere near as bad as a little bit too tight.

When I was a noob, I was fanatic about keeping the chain slack at the absolute minimum. It took me a few years, and several sets of chains and sprockets to realize that the chain wears at an alarming rate when kept at the minimum specified slack. I found that adjusting it near the maximum value, the chain and sprockets hardly wear at all (plus I spend much less time adjusting and aligning).

[shane-o]

as long as you keep ya chain lubricated it doesnt matter what ya use really, the danger is not lubing ya chain

dont know if you can get Bellray chain lube where your at, but it roks, it has zero fling off, good penetration, only thing is it comes out white which is a bit trippy, but at least ya know where youhave been with it

[The Grinch]

Chain wax is worthless. It's a solid and gets displaced almost immediately and cannot replenish the bearing surfaces.

[Sev]

Chain wax is worthless. It's a solid and gets displaced almost immediately and cannot replenish the bearing surfaces.

There are no bearings in a chain. And chain wax isn't really a solid, it gets in there and stays in there. The biggest issue is that if anything is already in the roller surfaces it will be trapped in there and cause more damage.

So if you use it on a perfectly clean chain you will be fine. If you apply it to a dirty chain you might be causing more damage.

[BuzZz]

.....So if you use it on a perfectly clean chain you will be fine. If you apply it to a dirty chain you might be causing more damage.

And this applies to any lube or wax. And is why you want to clean your chain every now and then.

Most of the damage is to the "O Ring" s in the chain getting torn and cut-up from the outside as the dirt is pushed inside the links. No dirt (or lube) is getting inside the rollers until those "O Ring" s are compromised. The lube they put in there as they manufacture the chain is all that they will ever see if the "O Ring" s never fail.

None of that applies to non "O Ring" chains. Those need to be clean well to flush out all the dirt and then lubed well to prevent wear.

[ofblong]

If you've got your chain under tension it's way to tight and is pulling the countershaft sprocket towards the rear of the bike. This puts some twisting side load on the countershaft which presses oddly against the mainshaft and can basically cause your transmission to shred itself.

Basically with your bike fully loaded and you sitting on it with a full tank of gas and everything you want to have about 1/4" of freeplay left in the chain. But that's bloody tough to check by yourself. And don't do it with the bike running.

+1. A little bit too loose with the chain is nowhere near as bad as a little bit too tight.

cept a little too lose chain and you will shread your sprockets as well as stretch the chain and then your chain will jump which could cause more damage than a shredded tranny. Ive seen both sides of the story but not on bikes only on machinery. You oughta see some of the chains we got here. You may think #60 is big but imagine one thats 100x bigger. you get the wrong tension on that baby and your talking 100grand to replace broken stuff.

[High_Side]

Regular chain lube flings off and you are forced to wash it off of your body work. Chain wax flings off and sticks to your body work like glue. I used chain wax for years and went back to regular Bel-Ray lube. I got over 30,000km out of my last chain, only needing to adjust it during tire changes. This is on a big bore V-stwin sport bike with relentless wheelies.
Currently I am doing the WD-40 thing that others have had luck with on the internet. Time and mileage will tell...

[Skier]

Regular chain lube flings off and you are forced to wash it off of your body work.

Nah, it provides a barrier between nature and your paint.

[flynrider]

I've been using a silicone/teflon lube on my current O-ring chain. It doesn't attract dirt as much as the regular petroleum based lubes, plus it's light and doesn't fling off the chain and gunk up the rear end as much. So far I've got 16K miles on the chain and it still looks good. I've only adjusted it twice since new.

[BuzZz]

What brand is that stuff your using, John?

I just did my chain and sprockets last fall and have been using Bel-Ray, but wouldn't mind trying something like your doing.