Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Removing Chain for cleaning.

I just spent three hours cleaning my chain. First wiping down the chain with Kerosene, then cleaning each interior chain link with Q-tips, especially to get in-between, links to remove crud, then used a paintbrush dipped in kerosene to get crud in between inner and outer chain links. Seems like it may be faster just to remove chain. However, looking in Haynes manual and at bike removing swing arm seems like a big project. Is it?

yes...but perhaps not for someone who just cleaned 112 links with a toothbrush..
G

Paintbrush and Q-tips. Its really clean now.

Jon, I leave the chain in place, use a bristle brush, kerosene, and small drain pan, clean the chain good with the brush, then dry with a rag, and move along to the next 1 foot section. It may not be quite as clean as the way you did it, but its easy, so if you do it every 1000 miles or so the chain stays nice and clean
G

wipe it off with a rag & keep on rollin'.

A good psychologist may be able to help with that OCD.

Jonathan,
It's not that critical. Get a chain brush and some cleaner like Kerosene or Orange Blast and go a around a few times. then wipe a couple of times. Cleaning with Q-tips and a tooth brush is a total waste of time. Right after you clean your going to lube anyway. You just want to keep most of the gunk under control. You'll end up hating your bike if you keep cleaning it like that. You don't want to remove you chain to clean becasue you'll weaken it and it's a waste of time.

These are O-Ring chains and I was told NEVER to use Kerosene to clean it.

Just a thought, put bike on lift, remove front sprocket then let chain hang down in a gallon can full of kerosene. Clean that 18" section then roll the back tire and do the same with the next 18" section of chain. What's that sound like? Never tried it but I remember all the slack when I changed the sprocket.

jerry

Wow,
I'm glad I changed to the belt-drive!

I thought one reason for the O-ring chain was to keep the good grease in and the bad dirt out?!

Thanks for all the info, it's just I noticed a lot of crud in between inner and outer links. As I have read in many articles about excessive chain ware, the worst thing is crud in between links. 17,000, miles on original chain. Purchased
TBA 5/19/06. This is the first time I devoted that much time to cleaning the chain, usually I do just wipe it down with Kerosene, lube and off I go. One thing I did screw up, last year when I put up the TBA for the winter I did not put extra lub on the inside of the chain, Actually I never did lube the inside of the chain. In the spiring there was rust on that side. When I did the three hour cleaning most of that rust came off. Ride safe.

The OEM chains seem to be lasting from 20k to 25k miles before needing replacement.
So keep that in mind.
The easy way to tell is that it will be very tight in one spot and very loose in another. You'll notice this when you check the adjustment.

Home made 2 X 10 lift + self serve car wash = clean chain

Pop the covers etc. off at home, & park right over the floor drain while spraying. Most 'legal' car washes coalesce waste water to remove oils, so it's not about throwing oil into the water table.

A little OT - I've tried many of the magic chain elixirs, and have finally settled on Cyclo brand white lithium grease spray. It goes on as a liquid, and sets up as a grease. So far it's the best performer with regard to penetration, fling, and grit attraction issues. Even better than the Bel Ray.

the first time I replaced my rear tire, I took advantage of the situation to clean the chain....with the bike up on a jack and the wheel removed, you can simply let it hang into a pan of kerosene and clean about a third of it at a time....rotate the chain and continue until it's squeaky clean!....I suppose you could cut and replace the soft link in ordr to get the chain right out of there, but dangleing it into a pan of solvent seems at least a bit easier....

Invest in a Scottoiler. One of the best little investments I have made. No muss no mess and lots less work worrying about lubing the chain...especially if you use your bike to commute year round.

I'v got a chrome chain on and I don't go to those lenghts to keep it clean. Just wipe it off with kerosene and relube every once in a while. They will still last 20k or so whether you keep them extremely clean or just so so. Course I have found at times, chain cleaning can be just what you need to get your mind off other crap. So there's always that.