FZ07 Chain care

[Bouncer Beebo]

Thanks in advance. I ride my new to me FZ07 daily at least 60+ miles to work and back and weekend runs to the Dragon since I'm close. What chain lube do you all recommend and how often? Beebo

[Triple Jim]

You'll get a lot of different answers to that question!       I've settled on DuPont Chain Saver.  It is wax based and dries non-tacky.  I brush or spray it on, depending on which version I have at the time, about every couple tankfuls.  Oil/grease and road grit makes grinding compound, so it's important to me to use something that grit doesn't stick to.

[Pursuvant]

I'm likely no example for chain care, I run my chains adjusted, dirty, and wet. Wet with chain wax - only because it's the least messy on garage floor, and if you use the straw that comes on the can, it goes a good ways before empty. Last drive set ran 22K. I only wet the link plates, let overspray/run do the rest. Think I will give Triple Jim's DuPont a try

Maybe it's more important how you lube, not what product? That might be a little more interesting.

Bend the straw some, so you can get in and spray between the link plates.

 

And spray between the links is all I go for, first the outside of chain, spin the wheel while you spray...

...then get in there to the inside and hit those link plates in the same way. Excess spins out from the sprocket and spreads on the rest of the chain as you get rolling. That's how this old tymes does it

[Triple Jim]

Just now, Pursuvant said:

Think I will give Triple Jim's DuPont a try

I think you'll like it better than Maxima.    I tried that for a while, but even though it claims to be wax, it's still very sticky.   The Chain Saver really is wax, and after you use it for a while, the chain starts looking cleaner and cleaner.  I completely wet each link with it.

Edited July 30, 2022 by Triple Jim

[Pursuvant]

Just now, Triple Jim said:

...Chain Saver really is wax, and after you use it for a while, the chain starts looking cleaner and cleaner...

Thx, I'm on board with Dupont. Because supply chain sux, I'm stocking hard parts for stuff I do over 18 mos, and been grabbing an extra or two of consumables.

I ran for 30+ days this season on a backup rear sprocket & chain while I waited on drivenracing.com set, custom 44 tooth rear took them 4+ mos to drop at the shop. I switched to superlite for the current set so I didn't have to run backups

[Triple Jim]

Agreed... the current state of retail parts availability is not good, relative to what we've gotten used to.

[Mt707]

5 hours ago, Triple Jim said:

I think you'll like it better than Maxima.    I tried that for a while, but even though it claims to be wax, it's still very sticky.   The Chain Saver really is wax, and after you use it for a while, the chain starts looking cleaner and cleaner.  I completely wet each link with it.

I read a thread a month or so back and saw someone recommended  the DuPont (might have been you) and decided to give it a shot. Safe to say it’s my goto now. 

[joegeis]

Check out this video if you haven't seen it already. I was also using chain wax before. I ran out and now I'm giving the machine oil a try. It's definitely messier, but I think one jug will last me a lifetime, and it's super cheap.

 

[ElGonzales]

Don't worry, since I've changed to a new DID VX chain I use the cheapest SAE 80W90 transmission oil with a little manual chain oiler (cobrra nemo2).  It lasts now 10.000 km and the chain looks like new.

[Pursuvant]

Just now, ElGonzales said:

Don't worry, since I've changed to a new DID VX chain I use the cheapest SAE 80W90 transmission oil with a little manual chain oiler (cobrra nemo2).  It lasts now 10.000 km and the chain looks like new.

Now see that interests me because I keep 80w gear oil around for things like Stihl backpack sprayer, and I've got excess Stihl chain bar oil that I could use in place of your nemo2 in a mix. What ratio, 80w to nemo2 ? Or more easily said, how much "sticky" do you want the final product to be? Enough that it doesn't drip after lubing, or drips a little on newspapers under bike, or if you over do it it runs off on floor in a puddle?

Just your goal for how sticky... 

[ElGonzales]

I personally don't like that sticky stuff any more, can't stand the mixture of sand, dirt and greasy lumps on parts of a power train. You can apply pure transmission oil with an old rag within a minute and nothing drips (and the chain is clean in the same move). I let the oiler system release a small sip of oil to the rotating chain while I drive at city speed every now and then (sparingly, approx. after refueling and when fuel tank is half empty) and it's fine for me. I think I ride ~5000km with a 50ml oil reservoir.   But unlike others  thats no religious thing to me and I don't say it's the best solution of the world, for everybody and the chain will last 30.000 miles. I used chain grease spray before and wasn't lucky, now I try this and I'm lucky until now. Always a nice oil coating, very free moving chain links/rollers and clean chain without any effort.

Edited July 31, 2022 by ElGonzales

[Pursuvant]

I'm mildly interested in playing around with this a bit but don't expect me to find anything better than what you already run, because "good enough is good enough"