Chain Cleaning

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

What do you use to clean your chain, do you use a liquid chain cleaner, if so what, have you checked to see if it damages O rings?

I feel I should clean my chain, but I've no idea what to do it with, I know WD40 knackers O rings (they go brittle and crumbly) so I was wondering what to use, in the past I've used clean cheap engine oil and a brush as it shouldn't do any damage, but it's a bit messy.

[weeksy]

GT85 to clean and GT85 to lube.... motorbikes, mountainbikes... same

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

GT85 to clean and GT85 to lube.... motorbikes, mountainbikes... same

I think I'll give it a miss, it's a solvent

[v8-powered]

Always used paraffin (or I did when I could be arsed, just let the Scottoiler do its thing these days!)

[Mr. Dazzle]

Always used paraffin (or I did when I could be arsed, just let the Scottoiler do its thing these days!)

Me too, with one of those 3 sided brushes.

[wull]

I swear by Motul C1 chain clean and C2 chain lube, I’m a chain whore and have tried them all, this for is by far the best.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Feck me, that's cleaner than a new chain, does the can say what's in it?

[dern]

WD40 to clean if it's filthy, engine oil on surface to stop corrosion.

[ChrisW]

GT85 to clean - neither this nor WD40 harm O / X rings but I prefer GT85 because it smells nicer. I don't lube except for wet weather, which means less frequent cleaning.

Not in Wull's league, no even close, but this is a fairly cheap OEM chain at nearly 12,000 miles:

[Supermofo]

Used to use paraffin. Now I'm using this.
https://wd40.co.uk/product/motorbike-chain-cleaner/

This was a spray, leave for 30 secs and wipe off. It'd be better if I used a chain brush which I will be doing this week before I go away for the weekend.


Bikesocial tested WD and Paraffin on o rings and they seemed fine.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

So far the cheapest degreaser is looking like petrol, which is a bit flammable, followed by Gunk at £10ish for 5 litres on Amazon

[Supermofo]

So far the cheapest degreaser is looking like petrol, which is a bit flammable, followed by Gunk at £10ish for 5 litres on Amazon

I seem to recall from the Bikesocial test petrol not being good for o-rings. Paraffin is cheap and fine with them.

[Bigyin]

I use the Motul chain cleaner and a 3 sided brush then Motul Road chain lube although I do have some Motul Race lube as well.

But of a change from years ago as a yoof when I kept just lobbing lube on top of lube and grime and wondered why chains didn’t last as long as other people’s

[Yorick]

I've ever cleaned chain in my life.
And last time I had to replace a chain was on my CBR600 in early 90s. About 25k IIRC.

Always kept my bikes about 2 years since then

But my first GSXR1000 did 29k. They all had a harder life than most.

[ChrisW]

And last time I had to replace a chain was on my CBR600 in early 90s. About 25k IIRC.

Bloody hell - were there none cheaper???!!

[Supermofo]

But of a change from years ago as a yoof when I kept just lobbing lube on top of lube and grime and wondered why chains didn’t last as long as other people’s

I never cleaned a chain till recently. I only ever replaced 1 chain as I always sold the bikes before the chains were knackered.

[Supermofo]

But of a change from years ago as a yoof when I kept just lobbing lube on top of lube and grime and wondered why chains didn’t last as long as other people’s

I never cleaned a chain till recently. I only ever replaced 1 chain as I always sold the bikes before the chains were knackered.

Actually I'm going to clarify that. I never cleaned a chain till I got old and sad. There's a part of me that laughs like a drain while I sit there cleaning the bloody thing, metaphorically throwing empty beer cans at the middle aged tosspot cleaning chains rather than riding the bloody thing!

[JackyJoll]

The heavy stuff will fall off, eventually.

[Bigjawa]

Always just used heating oil, because there always seems to be a huge tankful of it nearby.

I put the chain on my Bandit in 2006. Its about half worn.

[Skub]

A rag.