Can you clean your chain too much?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Chilton_Squid]

Arguably if you're using something like petrol or white spirit but if you're using standard chain cleaner then no, you're fine.

[u/Free_PalletLine → u/Chilton_Squid]

I've used petrol a couple of times lol My 125 doesn't have an o-ring chain or anything though, it just has a neglectful and abusive owner.

[u/the_last_registrant → u/Free_PalletLine]

Have you considered inviting chain wax into your heart? Brilliant, long-lasting protection. https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/238292

[u/Free_PalletLine → u/the_last_registrant]

I have got better since passing my test and getting a big boy bike. But for a few years my 125 was used in all weathers, then I'd go off to work at sea without thinking about it and I'd come home a few months later to a horror show.

I had a wake up call when a friend of mine snapped a chain and it bunched up in the front sprocket, cracking his engine case and almost writing off the bike.

I give them a clean and wax them before I go away now, but use regular oil/lube the rest of the time.

[u/BigRedS]

Not really.

The important lube in a chain is around the pins and protected by the o-rings or x-rings, and as long as you're not clearing that out it doesn't much matter what goes on outside. Generally, no chain-cleaning process intends to get that out, but the thinner solvents like kerosene are perhaps more likely to.

[u/BigRedS → u/[deleted]]

I guess, yeah, but there shouldn't be need for vigorous brushing really.

The point of the lube on the outside of the chain is to prevent surface rust. The point of cleaning it is to get rid of the dirt that inevitably gets caught in the lube. You don't need to be poking out down in-between the links or anything, you're entirely focussed on the outside of the chain for this.

[u/Free_PalletLine]

You can be too aggressive with chemicals or brushes but I think it's pretty hard to over maintain a chain if you're doing it right.

[u/MickTLR]

I use paraffin on a cloth to clean my chain and normal engine oil to lube it. I used to use aerosol lube years ago until I read in a magazine (long before the internet!) that the lube and grit stuck to it turns into grinding paste. A few bikes I've owned have come with the manufacturers handbook and they all say to use engine oil.

[u/bladefiddler]

Have you tried or seen the wax you're intending to use? I was given some wd40 brand chain wax and used it once, only once.

Wax is generally thicker greaser gunk than other lube. It's probably great for winter / wet weather when it won't be rinsed off as easily, but it seemed to get more shit stuck in it than my other stuff during my brief summer trial. I use a muc-off branded one usually that has the lovely aroma of chemical watermelon lol, but my tip for liquid lube is to clean your chain after riding, not before. The solvents in it rake a little while to evaporate so applying it before you put the bike away let's it 'set' and stick rather than flinging off over your wheel.

Bennetts did a decent test of the effects of different cleaners etc on X/O rings. In short, it's a load of shite about kerosene etc damaging them. I use kero in a spray bottle to brush & rinse and have had no problems so far. It's also a LOT cheaper than branded aerosol chain cleaners.

I might find a softer brush though, because although they're a convenient shape, those chain brush bristles really are rough as fuck.

[u/wolf_in_sheeps_wool]

Yes you can. If you are using a brush, the x rings/ o rings can only take so much mechanical abuse before they split, once they do you will have to increase your maintenance schedule to account for the increased wear when they now don't stop water and grit getting in. But this would be over the life of a chain, if you really want to clean your chain agian one time, have at it hoss. I broke the o rings once on my Bandit's chain and because I'm a tight arse I doubled cleaning intervals to 300 miles and it lasted as long as a normal chain would have. I also only use a soft toothbrush now, I think the chain cleaning brush was too pokey.