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Was looking at this site here and since they claim kerosene is good for cleaning a chain I thought I would buy some and get down to work. Anyone know where to find it in Shanghai? Asked a few locals and only gotten confused looks so far :rolleyes1:.
If anyone knows of a suitable substitute I'd appreciate hearing about it. Not really to keen on using a flammable substance as a cleaner in the first place.
Nuhaus,
I burn kerosene all winter in my Japanese Blue Heaters.
Kerosene is technically called 煤油 (mei2you2), but it's widely referred to simply as 燃油 (ran2you2) or "fuel oil".
Last load I purchased from Blue Heater was 50 rmb for a 5 liter tub, which is probably more than you need. You can reach them in Shanghai at 400 820 3021.
EDIT: I'm not at all commenting on the suitability of using kerosene as a chain cleaner, as I've not done this. Others may have opinions on this topic.
cheers
Thanks Euphonius :thumbsup:. Tried the first one at B&Q but had no luck. Will get the GF to call the number you provided this afternoon. Yeh, I can't imagine using up 5 liters of the stuff any time soon. Maybe I'll get Steve R over this weekend and see what we can do on his bike too. Do you even bother cleaning the chain on your bike? Reason I ask is that the last one I had on the Rebel got completely ruined over the course of 8 months. I noticed the improvement in performance immediately after getting a new one put on and would like to be able to keep that.
Would it be dangerous to use this stuff on the exterior of the engine (while it's cold of course)? Or does it just evapourate?
Yes, it's not the kind of stuff you want to have sitting around your apartment. I have a couple liters left in one of my heaters, and would consider using this in the manner you've described, if you get a green light from others.
Yes, you should clean your chain regularly, but as you'll read in many forums, there's a lot of debate about what to use. A lot depends on the type of chain you have -- standard or o-ring. Use of penetrating agents like WD-40 is hotly debated to the point of ruining friendships. WD-40 will indeed clean your chain, but it can also penetrate into the o-rings and destroy the grease that the o-rings are there to encapsule and protect. Most folks say WD-40 is fine as long as you wipe off the excess immediately, so it cleans the exterior of the your links, but cannot penetrate. Others recommend bespoke chain cleaners.
My chain definitely needs a cleaning, so I await other replies to this new thread!
As for B&Q and the like, flammable liquids are subject to pretty strict controls in China, for reasons that are pretty easy to understand, so I'm not surprised they'd not have jugs of kerosene in stock.
cheers
I'm about 5 weeks late to chime into this thread with this amazing discovery for cleaning chains. It comes from Web Bike World, quite a good website for information ...
Cleaning chains with a pickle
I've seen huge jars of pickles in China at very reasonable prices.
Five weeks late? Now that wouldn't have anything to do with 1 April, would it?
From what I understand it's not what you chose to clean your chain, the critical part is lubing it properly afterwards. Paint thinner seems to be the favorite for cleaning chains. Kerosine, paint thinner, gasoline and diesel dissolve grease and clean your chain. You have to do this more than once, everytime throwing out the dirty solvent and starting over with clean container.. Gasoline is extremely flammable, if it weren't, would be ok to use. over here.. http://www.nordicgroup.us/chain/ they recommend chainsaw oil. I don't know if anything heavier is needed for a motorcycle chain.
My chain is not an Oring type. I don't know if I could even get one for this bike. How common are they on Chinese bikes? I did get one on my CB400 and had to lube it with an expensive compound every time I rode.
Chinese gasoline also leaves behind some really nasty detritus. I had a leak from my tank that left brown goo on the top of my motor and it just looked awful. Yeh, I think paint thinner should be easy enough to come across. I'll go look for that at the B&Q. Really not wanting to leave 5 liters of kerosene in the apartment.Quote:
Originally Posted by slabo
Had Euphonius not chimed in about April 1st I would prolly be out there right now with a pickle.
This stuff is amazing for O-Ring and Non-O-Ring chains, bearings, sex etc.
http://www.motorex.com/image/webtool...reaseSpray.jpg
After you spray it, it starts bubbling like it's carbonated. I'm meticulous when it comes to the care of the chains on all my bikes. Makes a huge difference in the way they ride. I rode this bike 1300 kilometers in the rain last week and cleaned it today.
http://www.contactdi.com/2011/1090840.jpg
I don't use anything but this spray. Warm it up, spray it down, wipe it off, repeat a couple times and your chain will last a very long time.
The grease cleans and lubes while penetrating the O-rings. :thumbsup:
Trust me, works better than anything else I have tried.
End of thread :lol8:
Cheers!
ChinaV
ChinaV,
Not nice to fool your fellow China bike riders. That's a new bike that has never been ridden, now show us your real bike that you rode in the rain for 1300kms.
Quote:
Originally Posted by barnone
The TGR after 850kms offroad... I told you, I'm not right in the head when it comes to dirt on my bikes. :crazy:
http://www.contactdi.com/2011/1090845.jpg
Even worse is that I've done this to other bikes people left at my house. I need help.:eek2:
Cheers!
ChinaV
ChinaV is doing it right :lol8:
Found paint thinner at the B& Q today, 115 RMB for 2 liters. I did not partake. Motorex Grease Spray on Taobao yeilds some interesting but hardly useful results (including cranberry juice and a lovely pair of women's trousers). Unlike the pickels it does appear that the Motorex product is actually useful for cleaning chains.
ChinaV, any ideas where to get the Motorex online in China?
What about using the Chinese version of WD40 to clean the chain and then lubing it with chain oil afterwards?
Still not too keen on storing Kerosene in the apartment.
I don't know where you can get the Motorex in China, I buy it in Hong Kong at MotoMart for HK$ 70 per can, pretty reasonable compared to other lubes. I'm never able to find this kind of stuff on Taobao, I'm not good at Taobao search like you other guys, but if it's sold in HK, usually you can find it on Taobao. Any kind of spray grease will probably work. I prefer it over WD40 and other chemicals, as it doesn't dissolve the lube that the O-Rings are usually impregnated with. As long as you don't saturate the chain with WD40 or a Chinese equivalent, I think you will be fine. Get some old rags and moisten them with your solvent and just start wiping the chain. The more elbow grease and less solvent you use the better. Once you have it clean, load it with a decent chain lube, ride it for 10k, spray it again and wipe off the excess. When you get to the end of a long day of riding, pull out the chain lube and give the chain a light coating. It's best to hit the chain when it's hot and it will also protect should it rain during the night.
Cheers!
ChinaV
Ok, I know the "is WD-40 good for cleaning & lubing your chain ?" argument is a long one in motorcycle forums, but I'm quite sold on this.
WD-40 (or Water Displacement 40) is very good to clean, prevent rust, displace water (obviously...) and to lubricate too. Ok, ok, it's a light lubricant, meaning you probably need to lube your chain a little bit more frequently than with chain lubes, but I read many tales of bikers using only WD-40 for years, with chains holding on for 20,000 miles on 1,000cc bikes, and saw many pictures of spotless chains. The biggest advantage is that WD-40 keeps your chains and sprockets really really clean all the time and does not damage the rubber of the O-rings, so it cannot dissolve the lube inside them.
I've read quite a lot on the topic and the results, together with the price and availability of WD-40 have sold me. The frequency to spray it on the chain : maybe every 500km I guess. It's quite easy to do anyway, so it's not really a problem.
Many persons may disagree with this, but hey, that's what a forum is for, huh ? ;-))
Thanks Fred, gonna go pick up some WD40 this afternoon. Thinking that the weather forecast is gonna keep me off the road for the next few days at any rate so I'll prep the bike tonight.
Agree 100%, the fact that it cleans, lubes, and removes dirt helps extend chain life greatly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred
Disagree 100%. Put a blob of grease on something, spray it with WD40 and watch it dissolve. This is the argument of why people think WD40 is bad for O-Ring chains. It penetrates past the o-rings and washes the grease away. My feeling is that it may wash the grease away, but it is a lubricant, so it still helps.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred
WD40 works well for people that religiously lube and clean their chains, however, it's not a good solution for extended riding in places like China. I agree you will see 20,000 mile chains, but probably not in China with WD40.
#1 China coats your chain in an astounding amount of grime and micro fine grit on a daily basis.
#2 WD40 evaporates quickly when the temperatures increase. If you don't lube between every ride, you lose a lot of its benefits.
#3 WD40 attracts dirt, but so does just about every other lube I've tried, so cleaning regularly is very important.
The most important thing about using WD40 is making sure it is real. China is full of fake WD40. You can immediately tell by smelling it. I get very strange looks when I buy the stuff because I always spray some in my hand and take a whiff.
Cheers!
ChinaV
Thanks a lot for the info ChinaV, I'm always learning too.
I don't especially agree on the fact that WD40 can go past the O-ring rubber, but yes of course IF it would go past, it would dissolve the lube, no question.
One thing that surprises me is when you wrote that WD40 attracts dirt. For my experience, it's very much less than any chain lube, the chain stays clean and there's no oil/dirt/sand paste forming on it, not like specialized chain lubes...
What is sure is that the roads here are VERY dusty, so lubing your chain more regularly than what the user manual is recommending is mandatory.
Good advice too for the fake WD40, I'll make sure to check more carefully now. ;-)
Heh heh ... probably the only issue which is more controversial on MC forums is which oil to use.
As my mother used to say, cleanliness is next to godliness.
IMHO, a clean chain with ANY lubricant is far better than a dirty chain with the "best lubricant". Back in the 70s, long before any of the new techno-products, a buddy and I went tip to tip North/South America. We lubed our pressure-washed chains (not o-rings) with old motor oil filtered through panty-hose, as required (which was usually when we were bored & had nothing better to do). Somehow, it worked fine. Ah, beer was cheap, girls were free, and life was simple back then.
Probably because we didn't have internet forums :lol8:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou
Cheers!
ChinaV
Lao,
I've been around a long time and can't remember " Ah, beer was cheap, girls were free, and life was simple back then.",especially the part about girls being free.
50 RMB for a large can of WD40 from B&Q. I'm sure that will last me a few months. Spent a good 30 minutes spraying and going over the chain with a rag to remove grease and build up. Used ChinaV's pic as an example but damned if I could get the sprocket to stay that clean. Took it for a quick ride around the block to get rid of the excess fluid on the chain then brought it back and lubed it with some 100RMB chain lube. Holy cats, did that ever make a difference in the ride to work this morning. Thinking I'll make this part of my weekly routine just to keep it moving like this.
This is a really encouraging little report, Nuhaus. No one's bike will ever look as showroom-ready as ChinaV's, but it's a good reminder to know what dividends a good chain scrubbing yields in terms of performance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nuhaus
Pix?
Thanks!
Well - you just had to say pickle and motorsickle didn't you?Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou
http://mp3.baidu.com/m?f=ms&tn=baidu...cle+song&lm=-1
Arlo Guthrie, "The Motorcycle Song"
Apparently McDonald's has big vats of pickles for their burgers and they save the pickle juice. At closing time, the pickle juice is used to clean the grills. So if it can clean a McD's grill, I'm sure it can clean your chain.
As for me, I have a lube spray I use (similar to what ChinaV posted). For you guys in Shanghai, head over to the Jiaoji Lu MotoMarket to pick up a can (about RMB 60 if I recall).
When on long rides out of Shanghai, I stop by the village bike mechanic and he always has a bowl of used motoroil with a paintbrush in it. I paint some of that on to keep me running smooth - a good "paintjob" lasts a few hundred kms.