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What chain lube is best for the Bird?


Redbird USA

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The best stuff so far has been some dirt-bike spray I borrowed from a friend. I don't recall the name though. It was ugly but lasted a good long time.

Otherwise, the standard Honda brand or the PJ!, applied regularly works for me.

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When I bought both my CBRs The guys at Honda told me to use 90 wt gear oil - which I have faithfully every 600 miles. The 1000F is now 13 years old and still has the original chain as does the "01 Bird.

Terry

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Guest majic1

Extra virgin olive oil. Ya troll. :icon_rolleyes:

Ed :icon_biggrin:

I've heard Dupont Teflon MultiSpray is the cat's ass, and plan to try some as soon as my can'o chain wax runs dry.

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When I bought both my CBRs The guys at Honda told me to use 90 wt gear oil - which I have faithfully every 600 miles. The 1000F is now 13 years old and still has the original chain as does the "01 Bird.

Terry

+1 on the 90 wt. gear oil. Fill up a contact lens solution bottle, make the hole a little bigger, just enough so you get a nice drip out of it, and and Bob's your Uncle

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When I bought both my CBRs The guys at Honda told me to use 90 wt gear oil - which I have faithfully every 600 miles. The 1000F is now 13 years old and still has the original chain as does the "01 Bird.

Terry

+1 on the 90 wt. gear oil. Fill up a contact lens solution bottle, make the hole a little bigger, just enough so you get a nice drip out of it, and and Bob's your Uncle

+1 on the 90wt I just tried adding a couple of drops of Lucuas oil additive, and on the way to and from PRIXXS I got almost no fling off at all the chain has a nice film of lube still on it also after 300 miles of riding.

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I've tried about everything that isn't a wax, and I'll tell you... the absolute BEST chain lube I've ever used is the Honda stuff in the BLUE can... The "clear" stuff in the red can is the second best stuff I've used... Both stay on and lube as well as the JP1, but the JP1 makes a HELL of a mess and attracts a TON of dirt and debris... I ride all year long, in the salt, sand, and rain, and this chain, which I've used the Honda stuff is at ~25k miles and hasn't started to stretch yet, so we'll see how long it goes...

Mike

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Want many, many miles out of your chain? Here is the way Grasshopper.... :icon_biggrin:

WD-40 is your friend. Buy lots of it. WD-40 is cheap. Chains and sprockets are not.

Every 1000 miles use WD-40 to the tune of about 1/2 of the large size cans to completely spray and clean off your chain as you slowly rotate the wheel. Keep spraying until the shit is dripping off the chain at all points. Let is sit and soak for a couple of minutes. Take the garden hose and spray off the chain and wheel and swingarm and everything that is dripping WD-40. Lots of dirt and slime will ROLL off the chain. Now spray off the chain again with WD-40 to drive away the water. Now take the green can of Motorex 622 (Strong) chain lube that you conveniently purchased at the bike shop and lightly coat the chain with it. 622 sprays on very thin and runny but sets up in a few minutes to a nice tacky coating. It is also opaque/white and lets those pretty gold plates on the ZVM chains just sparkle. :icon_biggrin: Repeat the light application of 622 every 300 to 400 miles. Repeat the cleaning process at 1000 mile +/- 100 miles intervals. If you refrain from wheelies and burnouts on a frequent basis, you can expect 30,000+ miles service life from a good quality chain.

I have used this method for two decades with great success.

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To people who don't fully read the post, where he just cleans with WD40, and lubes with chain lube, I will caution...

WD-40 is a light lubricant, but it's also a penetrating oil that eats grease... like the grease that's in your O-rings...

Mike

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To people who don't fully read the post, where he just cleans with WD40, and lubes with chain lube, I will caution...

WD-40 is a light lubricant, but it's also a penetrating oil that eats grease... like the grease that's in your O-rings...

Mike

+1

I was WD-40 fanatic as well... always kept a clean chain.

Bought a VFR that aleady had some miles on the chain so started the same process. The chain had a few tight spots... and they got worse with the WD-40. I talked to a dirt biker buddy of mine and he said go back to the basics... oil... texas tease... black gold. I did not want to pull the chain on the VFR so every hour I would take a sponge brush and coat/paint the oil on the chain - roll the tire and paint the chain over and over. I let it soak over night and wiped everything off. I then went through every link and spun every roller to make sure they could spin and bent the chain up and down to work out kinks. This took care of all but one tight spot on the chain. Now I just brush the oil on after a few tanks of gas and go. Nothing fancy.

I agree with Bart... WD-40 will eventually penetrate and eat the grease and then the kinks will follow. 1 can of cheap 10W-30 oil is how much?

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I clean my chain with diesel fuel (free from work) and a brush. After it sorta dries, a 5 minute ride and then apply the 90 weight while the bike is running on the center stand and idling in 1st gear. After shutting the bike off and letting the excess drip, a coating of chain wax will help retain the oil in the nooks and crannies of the chain.

My CBX has had this done since 1981 and it still has the original chain and sprokets.

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I've been using WD40 on my chain since my 97 bird was new. I now have 30,000 miles on the original chain and it's still in good shape. I used to use PJ1 black or blue (preferred) label on previous bikes with O-ring chains and I never got even close to the mileage I've gotten on this current chain that's never seen anything but WD40. I don't think I ever saw over 15,000 miles on a chain on a few bikes over at least 100,000 miles of riding.

Assuming the o-rings are not damaged, then you are not actually lubing the chain rollers because the lube is supposed to stay inside (which is what the o-rings are for). The WD 40 does it's job by stopping the external part of the chain from rusting and there's no sticky residue to attract dirt which will eat the o-rings. Works great for me.

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I've been using WD40 on my chain since my 97 bird was new. I now have 30,000 miles on the original chain and it's still in good shape. I used to use PJ1 black or blue (preferred) label on previous bikes with O-ring chains and I never got even close to the mileage I've gotten on this current chain that's never seen anything but WD40. I don't think I ever saw over 15,000 miles on a chain on a few bikes over at least 100,000 miles of riding.

Assuming the o-rings are not damaged, then you are not actually lubing the chain rollers because the lube is supposed to stay inside (which is what the o-rings are for). The WD 40 does it's job by stopping the external part of the chain from rusting and there's no sticky residue to attract dirt which will eat the o-rings. Works great for me.

This is true about the JP1... I stopped using it because it would pick up dirt better than any Dyson I've ever seen...

Mike

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But beware Grasshopper....if you do not care for your chain using the method I have prescribed, your offspring will all be born with two hands and only one sexual organ.... :icon_oldman: You have been warned young one!

:icon_rolleyes: If we're counting, it looks like cleanliness is right up there next to godliness and adding some sort of lube tends to make your anal sex chain roll easier. :icon_evilgrin:

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