Kerosene for cleaning chains?

[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.

The TGR after 850kms offroad... I told you, I'm not right in the head when it comes to dirt on my bikes.



Even worse is that I've done this to other bikes people left at my house. I need help.

Cheers!
ChinaV

[moilami]

ChinaV is doing it right

[Nuhaus]

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.

[ChinaV]

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

[Fred]

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 ? ;-))

[Nuhaus]

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.

[ChinaV]

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,

Agree 100%, the fact that it cleans, lubes, and removes dirt helps extend chain life greatly.

so it cannot dissolve the lube inside them.

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.

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

[Fred]

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. ;-)

[Lao Jia Hou]

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.

[ChinaV]

Ah, beer was cheap, girls were free, and life was simple back then.

Probably because we didn't have internet forums

Cheers!
ChinaV