• 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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

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    Thanks for your patience and support!

Y'all ever heard of that "dreaded red chain dust"?

ebrake

ebrake

Husqvarna
A Class
So I was inspecting my chain earlier today and noticed some red dust around a dozen or so of the inboard o-rings and plates. None on either sprocket and none on the bike.

After some research I have concluded that its is lubricant leaking from inside my chain, due to some busted seals. That is a thing right?

Sadly my chain only has 6000 miles on it and it was lubed and cleaned regularly and it has never even needed to be adjusted because it has never gone out of spec, and I measured it regularly. The sprockets still look brand new and square.

The only thing that I can think of it that inadequately lubricated the inside plates and o-rings all those times.

Thoughts?
 
Xcuvator said:
Rust
The chain is rusting. Chains usually come lubed with white lithium grease.
Click to expand...

I don't know, it really doesn't look like any type of rust I have ever seen. I have had rust on bicycle and motorcycle chains before. Plus I haven't ridden in the rain in months (somehow) and at least one cleaning and several chain inspections ago, and this is brand new.

Ill try and post up a picture from my phone
 
The more I look at it the more I think rust...but damnit internet, why you talk about red chain dust and make me doubt!
 

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In other threads a lot of TR650 owners have commented on the poor quality of the OEM chain. Mine has a few stiff links but nothing like what your picture shows.
 
Chains are part of the price point pricing in many bikes. Just get a Regina ZRH (Zring) or similar and the best sprockets and be done with it for 20,000 miles or more. The high alloy steel and better seals in quality chains and sprockets make them much more resistant to rust and wear.
I am a big fan of Ironman.
 
it looks like the rust is forming on the outside plates, not the inner side where the O-rings seal the lubricant in. Clean the chain with mineral spirits and give it a good lubing. Is it kinking anywhere?

I have installed a scottoiler, which constantly lubes the chain. not a good option for off road though.

--Chris
 
They only thing I ever lube my chain with is dry teflon lube. It provides a protective coating, doesn't attract grit, and wont affect the o-ring seals in the chain.
 
rajobigguy said:
They only thing I ever lube my chain with is dry teflon lube. It provides a protective coating, doesn't attract grit, and wont affect the o-ring seals in the chain.
Click to expand...


I tried using a dupont teflon lube. I found that the chain did not last any longer than if I had just not lubed it at all, although it stayed cleaner and less dusty. I've gone back to just using motor oil to lube the chains on my bikes.
 
Sorry for the delayed response, I got caught up with life obligations. Thanks to everyone who responded. The verdict is, YES, my chain is dead after 5800 street miles. Several of the links are locked and upon further inspection while cleaning, the rust dust was found around my front sprocket.

I will be replacing the chain with something of quality before I ride her again. Thanks for the advice and knowledge.
 
ebrake said:
Sorry for the delayed response, I got caught up with life obligations. Thanks to everyone who responded. The verdict is, YES, my chain is dead after 5800 street miles. Several of the links are locked and upon further inspection while cleaning, the rust dust was found around my front sprocket.

I will be replacing the chain with something of quality before I ride her again. Thanks for the advice and knowledge.
Click to expand...

Don't bother cleaning your chain, oiling it is cleaning.
 
PaulC said:
Don't bother cleaning your chain, oiling it is cleaning.
Click to expand...


I disagree. Dirt isn't a lubricant. Using a device like a scottoiler which will constantly keep the chain wet will do a good job of cleaning it also, but if you're just oiling it after each ride, that's not going to happen.
 
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