• Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

chain cleaning

krider59

Husqvarna
A Class
hi guys new to the dual sport motorcycling. any advice or recommendations on chain and sprocket cleaning?
 
I use WD40 for cleaning, I remove the sprocket cover, and with the straw equipped can aim at leading edge of the counter shaft sprocket ....Hose it down and let it drip off, got a grundge brush I just leave on my lift for the heavier stuff and then wipe down the chain with shop towel, then my fav lube....
 
I just wipe the chain off with a kerosene soaked rag, and wipe of any extra with a clean dry rag afterwards. After the kerosene evaporates off, I lube the chain with Amsoil HD Metal Protector.
 
I don't do it like this but it looks logical- http://www.reginachain.it/eng/use_and_maintenance/how_to03.shtml

I just spray it with WD-40 and brush it before washing the bike. and spray it again afterward. I know, WD-40 is not a great lubricant but it seems to work fine for me.


I know it's worked for a lot of people in the past but consider that WD-40 is not an actual lubricant. It's original intention and the reason it was created was an anti-rust agent and "water displacement." Just so happens to be that a good water displacement is oil ;) but it's doesn't have near the staying power of actual chain lubricants.
 
I have found, if I use the right lube and we are talking about an o-ring chain, Bel Ray Super Clean is my choice. The benefits are it keeps the chain clean. Downsides are that it should be used more frequently. I use Dawn to wash the bike, chain and everything. It's a great cleaner and degreaser. The chain gets brushed with a particular brush to get any debris off. I let it air dry while I spray electrical contacts, parts of the engine and areas around the FI with Boeshield since it is what I prefer for bicycle chain lubing, and gear cleaning. It dries to a thin wax film. I spray down the plastics with Lexol Vinylex as it's my go to vinyl cleaner upper for my vehicles. Spray it under fenders and on anything painted or plastic. After buffing and the chain is dry I spray it with Bel Ray Super Clean. It dries quickly and not tacky and leaves a white film. That's my methodology and less hassle than cleaning my mtb. Sprockets just don't gather much dirt and clean up easily.

_GGP1162.jpg
 
I know it's worked for a lot of people in the past but consider that WD-40 is not an actual lubricant. It's original intention and the reason it was created was an anti-rust agent and "water displacement." Just so happens to be that a good water displacement is oil ;) but it's doesn't have near the staying power of actual chain lubricants.

You're so right. As a matter of fact I used to give prople crap for using it on their bicycle chains. I'm quite fastidious about cleaning my bike after a ride so it's basically only doing its job for a few hours at a time.
 
I have found, if I use the right lube and we are talking about an o-ring chain, Bel Ray Super Clean is my choice. The benefits are it keeps the chain clean. Downsides are that it should be used more frequently. I use Dawn to wash the bike, chain and everything. It's a great cleaner and degreaser. The chain gets brushed with a particular brush to get any debris off. I let it air dry while I spray electrical contacts, parts of the engine and areas around the FI with Boeshield since it is what I prefer for bicycle chain lubing, and gear cleaning. It dries to a thin wax film. I spray down the plastics with Lexol Vinylex as it's my go to vinyl cleaner upper for my vehicles. Spray it under fenders and on anything painted or plastic. After buffing and the chain is dry I spray it with Bel Ray Super Clean. It dries quickly and not tacky and leaves a white film. That's my methodology and less hassle than cleaning my mtb. Sprockets just don't gather much dirt and clean up easily.

_GGP1162.jpg

Wow, that's really clean. I'm a big fan of the Bel Ray Super Clean too.
 
Here is the before ;-)

841131_4378020135876_1884172102_o.jpg

Hasn't rained much this year so just dust and it pretty much rinses off. And it's been a regular at the dealer so keep it clean to make it easier for them which I know is appreciated. About 700 miles so far... 90% dust.
 
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