need help, how to clean chain?

lonesoldier84

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i understand the basic concept obviously. but i dont have any wd-40. what other common household compounds can i use to clean the chain?

also i dont have a centre stand installed. what is the best way of cleaning the chain without a centre stand installed?
 

andrewclaycomb

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i understand the basic concept obviously. but i dont have any wd-40. what other common household compounds can i use to clean the chain?

also i dont have a centre stand installed. what is the best way of cleaning the chain without a centre stand installed?

A lot of people will put mineral spirits on a rag and wipe the chain really good. You could also remove the swing arm, take the chain off and dip it directly in mineral spirits. (pain in the ass)

Some use simple green as well.

Without a center stand you need a swingarm stand. Some call them paddock stands.
pro_red_rea_ill.jpg


Who doesn't have WD40??? between that and duct tape you don't need any other tools.
 
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W

wrightme43

Kerosene works well too. So would deseil fuel. Not gas.

You could just clean the top and bottom, roll the bike forward and clean top and bottom again.

Dupont teflon dry lube at Lowes is the best I have found for me.
 

lonesoldier84

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is it possible to stand the bike on something that wasnt designed to be a stand? or is this unwise and im gonna end up wrecking something?
 

DefyInertia

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you still have the centerstand in your pocession, no? just use it! you won't have to use any tools and once you get used to putting it on it only takes a few seconds to do so....
 

lonesoldier84

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i thought thered be a lengthy installo process to install the centrestand. ya i still have it. ill prop it up on there as best i can then.

cheers
 

Botch

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You could also remove the swing arm, take the chain off and dip it directly in mineral spirits. (pain in the ass)
Why would you remove the swingarm? Can't you just remove the chain itself, using the whatchamacallit link? (<= genuine engineering term) :rolleyes:
 
S

sportrider

Why would you remove the swingarm? Can't you just remove the chain itself, using the whatchamacallit link? (<= genuine engineering term) :rolleyes:
the chain is rivited you would need a chain breaker and a new rivit type master link. I'd just clean it on the bike, using the roll method Steve posted earlier. I will miss the center stand!!!
 
W

wrightme43

Not untill the chain is replaced. The stock chains are endless.
 

lonesoldier84

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ok. the centre stand did not help at all.

i just manually moved the bike forwards and backwards.







most intense chain-cleaning in the history of motorcycling





the cleaning process of the chain took.....just over 3 hours....almost 4 hours. that includes one break to eat for 20 mins. and a 20 min trip to buy some WD-40 partway through.

i used sunlight dishwashing liquid. WD-40. 9,327 gallons of water. enough rags to clothe a rag-tag militia of 100 soldiers (hehe pun INTENDED MWAHAH)

i began by spraying an entire can of wd-40 over each section of chain and wiping it down. i would spray a length of chain. wipe it down vigorously. repeat. rotate chain. repeat. did this all the way around for like 3-5 complete rotations of the chain. now the REAL cleaning began. I dripped sunlight manually into EACH chain link. then i would hold a STRONG power-jet of water on that link for 15 seconds. I did that for each side of the chain and for each link for each length of chain. I then sprayed another large portion of WD-40 on each link. I then again held a power stream of water on it for 20 seconds or so for each link for each side. I did one complete revolution of the chain thusly.

At this point I was done with the sunlight liquid. i now sprayed the front disc with a massive amount of WD-40 followed with intermittent scrubbing and detailing and SUSTAINED water-jets. I also did this to the place where the chain rubs the plastic part in the middle of the bike behind the transmission above and near the gear change lever. This required some goop-scooping. Also did this under the bike in another goop-collection area under the chain where it exits the transmission.

All in all i think i removed enough goop to feed four hungry-hungry-hippo's. Or one hungie-hungie-homer.

When I was done there was no black stuff coming out of anything except the transmission. which i didnt want to open. The chain was 100% spotless and shiney. The rear disc was sparkling white.

Detailed every corner of the bike (even opened the fairings to get into hard to reach places and up under the forks and EVERYWHERE I could squeeze my many tools of cleanliness).

I took it for a quick spin. Applied lube to the warm chain. Bike is now resting.

Before this I hadnt cleaned her in a LONG time. Chain had NEVER been cleaned since i bought it 4700km ago. Had been lubed tho. I felt so bad for the past few weeks I wanted to dedicate a whole day to some TLC for good ole fizzy.

Also, I removed the front windscreen and I quite like the look of her without it. Ride is more exciting feels like a naked bike. Cant wait for full conversion to naked!! but thats next year...
 

Nelly

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it makes it so much more motorcycly if thats even a word (which it's not)
If you go to Wikipedia you could create your own new word. Give it meanings, origins ect.
Actually that could be pretty funny.
On July 7th 2008, Lone devised the word by examining how the physical conceptual thoughts of motorcycle imagery could be synthesized into an emotive state blah blah blah....
 

Raid The Revenge

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Whoa! You cleaned your entire chain like that without a stand? You pushed it back and forth to do that entire thing? Holy Crow!

I really liked it; up until the point where you sprayed water on each individual link for 20 seconds or something like that. Yeah, you don't want to apply too much water pressure on each link of chain, because there are little rubber seals in there that could come splashing out (they're not the kind of seals that balance balls on their noses either).

Besides that, way to go!
 

Botch

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I have been riding with out a windshield too. Its nice.
Me too. I took mine off to do some video the last few weekends, and the breeze keeps me so much cooler its staying off the rest of the summer. I did take a dragonfly in the throat though on Saturday, ouch!
 

peppaster

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I use diesel fuel taken at the pump.
After cleaning the chain I make sure to remove the fuel as much as possible before lubing again, because it surely modifies the properties of the lube.
 

nimzotech

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Gratz on your relentless effort. Chain cleaning was never intended to be that difficult though. :eyebrow:

Hold up. Has anyone in this thread even mentioned lubing the chain after cleaning it? :eek:
 

lonesoldier84

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I use diesel fuel taken at the pump.
After cleaning the chain I make sure to remove the fuel as much as possible before lubing again, because it surely modifies the properties of the lube.

how do you remove the diesel? water? whats ur method?

and nimo ya i lubed it after doing a warmup ride of 3-4 mins after cleaning it. but i rather enjoyed detailing the chain like that. it was honestly in PERFECT condition and so was everything it comes into contact with except the transmission. didnt want to open that up.........yet :D
 
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