A motorcycle chain is one of those parts that you need to inspect and check before every ride, and knowing how to lube and clean your chain correctly is undoubtedly on top of the list of proper motorcycle care. Make sure that your chain is always cleaned and lubed since this will protect your chain and ensure it lasts much longer than it would without proper care. With that being said, let’s show you what adequate motorcycle chain maintenance looks like.
So how do you maintain a motorcycle chain? As a general rule, you need to determine what chain type is on your motorcycle, and accordingly to that, use a brake cleaner to soak the chain and use a chain brush to clean all the dirt. Use a cleaning agent and spray the chain to clean it thoroughly and dry it. Once the chain is dry, lubricate it.
This article will teach you everything you need to know about proper chain care, so stay with to learn much more interesting and helpful stuff.
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How to Properly Lube and Clean a Motorcycle Chain?
Lubing and cleaning your motorcycle chain is one of those processes that are pretty fast and easy to perform but will have a significant impact on increasing your chain lifespan and your motorcycle performance. Not only that, but the sprockets will also function much better and will be protected from getting worn and torn easily.
With that being said, let’s guide you through step by step process on proper chain care:
Step 1: Determine What Chain Type Is on Your Bike
You need to determine what chain type is on your bike because you need to know the proper approach to take the grime off your chain and clean it.
A plain motorcycle chain is made of metal on metal links, and there is no seal among them. This means that you can clean plain chains more aggressively than you would if you had a sealed chain on your bike.
Sealed motorcycle chains like O-ring, Z-ring, or X-ring have a rubber seal among the outer and inner links, and what that does is retain grease within the pin and bushing cavity. This chain type prolongs the chain’s lifespan and demands delicate cleaning.
Step 2: Position Your Bike
As we mentioned earlier, lubing and cleaning your chain is easy to do, and to make it even easier, you should put your bike on a center stand (if your bike has it) or put it on a paddock stand. This will let the rear wheel spin freely, and you will be able to apply the chain lube and chain cleaner more effectively.
If you don’t have any of those mentioned above, you can use your motorcycle kickstand. Clean one section at a time. Once you are finished with cleaning one section, just move your bike a little bit and continue cleaning another section. Other than that, you also have an option of removing the chain off your motorcycle and cleaning it entirely while it is off your bike.
Step 3: Inspect the Chain and Sprockets
Visual chain inspection is the first step you will take in determining your chain condition. Look for any signs of chain wear, see how much side-to-side movement your chain has, and determine the range of the links sliding back and forth when they are under tension and compression. If your chain is in a good operating condition, it will let only minimal variances in the previously mentioned indicators.
Your motorcycle manual is another way to determine if you need to replace your chain. In the manual is written the maximum length of a specific number of links that your chain is built of. If you measure a higher links number than written in the manual, that means that the chain is too worn.
Inspect the master link on your chain. It is a link that connects two chain ends together, and you will notice it because it looks a little different than other links. The master link can be fastened with rivets or clips, and this is a perfect time to check if the master link is secure or not.
You can determine worn sprocket in a couple of ways. Make sure that you look at the sprockets and see if they show any worn signs. Look for any signs of sharp teeth and “shark fins”. These “shark fins” happen at the moment when the sprocket tooth lending edge is heavily worn than the backside is.
Note: “Shark fins” occur on motorcycles that accelerate hard and decelerate soft and on motorcycles that have old chains.
Motorcycle sprocket teeth need to be flat. Once they become sharp, they have formated shark fins probably because of a lot of downshifting combined with hard braking, which leads to wearing the sprocket tooth trailing edge.
Tip: A general rule is that once you replace the chain, you also replace sprockets if they are worn and in bad condition.
Step 4: Use a Chain Cleaner
In these step, you need to clean all the dirt and grime off. You can use a brake cleaner or even kerosene to remove the existing dirt particles and lubricant sediment accumulated over time. Make sure to clean the chain thoroughly.
Note: It is very important to properly clean your chain because a new chain is expensive, so you wouldn’t like to get your chain damaged or broken just because you spared some of your brake cleaner or kerosene in the cleaning process.
Step 5: Brush the Chain
Once you have soaked the chain, take a motorcycle chain brush and clean all the gunk accumulated over time. You can use products such as The Gunk Brush to clean your chain.
You need to clean the chain thoroughly because once the chain surface is clean, it will let better adhesion to the new motorcycle chain lube once you spray it.
Step 6: Spray the Bike Chain
Choose a cleaning agent and respray the chain. Make sure that you have cleaned all the grime and gunk from your chain because you wouldn’t like any gunk remaining to lower the performance of your chain or even damage it.
Step 7: Dry the Bike Chain
Your chain needs to be completely dry, and the reason is that the motorcycle chain lube better adheres to the chain. Ensure that you have removed all the chain cleaner and fully dried your chain before lubricating it.
Step 8: Lubricate the Bike Chain
There are a lot of choices and lubricants for your chain. You need to apply the lubricant evenly on all parts and sides of the chain. Once the chain has been completely dry, you can apply the lubricant. Maxima Chain Wax is an excellent choice for lubricating your chain, and the reason for that is that it will not fall off the chain so easily, and therefore you won’t have to clean any mess in your garage or other parts of your motorcycle.
If you have any problems with your chain and you need to fix or replace it, click on this link where we explain How to Fix a Motorcycle Chain.
What Is the Difference Between Plain Chain and Sealed Chain?
We think you would want to keep in mind slight differences in lubricating plain and sealed chains.
Plain Chain
Spray a lubricant on a plain chain and wipe any extra lubricant from it. The best way to ensure that a plain chain functions correctly and has a longer lifespan is to keep it constantly lubricated with clean lubricant.
Sealed Chain
Sealed chains have O-rings that contain the grease that lubricates the chain, and the only purpose of applying a chain lubricant is to protect the outside of the chain from rust.
Here is a nice video showing How to Adjust and Check a Motorcycle Chain:
Final Thoughts
These were all the things you need to know about proper chain maintenance. Like we said in the beginning, chain maintenance is pretty simple, and everyone can do it. The best thing about it is that it should only take 15-30 minutes to perform this, and its benefits are great. You will ensure that your chain has a longer lifespan and functions the best way possible.
One more tip I would like to share with you is to lubricate your chain more often if you ride in wet and dirty conditions since water, moisture, and dirt can get your chain worn more quickly.