Chain cleaner / greaser kit

I just got my chain cleaner and greaser kit.

It looks a good piece of material. Here is how it works:

[video=youtube;Gkyaoek9rGI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkyaoek9rGI[/video]

I will report my own opinion soon, but it seems to me it's a good buy

HTH

Interesting kit and a very clean set-up for cleaning the chain. One would wonder why they did not simply make different slots for the brushes to fit into or provide different brushes for different size chains. As far as the re-lube, I prefer to dry the chain first. Sometimes I dry it with a hot air gun to get a bit of heat in the chain as well. Most procedures recommend running the bike to warm the chain before lubing it, but my dirt driveway and road don't make this attractive for me.

It is funny that we went to o-ring chains to minimize maintenance and now we do just about the same level of maintenance as before. Some people even use automatic oilers on the o-ring chains. Non o-ring chain was cheaper, stronger, and has less horsepower loss than o-ring chain.

Does the x-ring chain perform better than an o-ring? I know there are two sealing points on it vs one on an o-ring, but is that going to make the chain last long enough to justify the cost.

As for the chain cleaner think I'll stick with a cake pan kerosene and a toothbrush

Beemerphile said:

One would wonder why they did not simply make different slots for the brushes to fit into or provide different brushes for different size chains

Click to expand...

I bought the "classic" model, cheaper but you have to cut the brushes to the size you want. But then they have the "premium" model, with different brushes for different chain sizes:

Kettenreinigungsgerät für Motorrad- und Fahrradketten | Kettenmax - KETTENMAX PREMIUM

Beemerphile said:

As far as the re-lube, I prefer to dry the chain first. Sometimes I dry it with a hot air gun to get a bit of heat in the chain as well.

Click to expand...

Me too. I don't clean the chain every time it needs lube, just when it's dirty. If I'm not going to clean it, I always lube it while still hot, just after a long ride. If it needs cleaning it is another history, but your idea of using a hot air gun looks very good to me. I will do it that way the next time

gpd211 said:

Does the x-ring chain perform better than an o-ring? I know there are two sealing points on it vs one on an o-ring, but is that going to make the chain last long enough to justify the cost.

As for the chain cleaner think I'll stick with a cake pan kerosene and a toothbrush

Click to expand...

For our low power bikes, probably any good name chain properly cared for will give similar service (DID, RK, EK). I haven't used EK, but I can't tell much difference between the better DID and RK chains, except the DIDs came with a hollow tipped rivet master link. The solid rivet RK master link is too tough for the majority of chain tools. Before I got the RK tool, I would put DID master links on RK chain. I do like the sideplate spacer that comes with the RK link and have kept it for use installing any master link. Oh, and the DID gold color is racy looking.

As far as the toothbrush, I did take a half-step up to a grunge brush. Highly recommended...

Simple Solutions The Grunge Brush RGB800 : Amazon.com : Automotive

gpd211 said:

Does the x-ring chain perform better than an o-ring? I know there are two sealing points on it vs one on an o-ring, but is that going to make the chain last long enough to justify the cost.

As for the chain cleaner think I'll stick with a cake pan kerosene and a toothbrush

Click to expand...

The marketing (and its costs) says the x-ring is better than the o-ring, but I had an x-ring in my offroad bike and I didn't see any difference.

Kerosene (petroleum) and a toothbrush has been my method since the begining, but I wanted to give it a try, it's cleaner and fast. You don't need to get your hands dirty and leave petrolleum smell in the garage

Beemerphile said:

It is funny that we went to o-ring chains to minimize maintenance and now we do just about the same level of maintenance as before. Some people even use automatic oilers on the o-ring chains. Non o-ring chain was cheaper, stronger, and has less horsepower loss than o-ring chain.

Click to expand...

Amen! I don't even oil the X-ring chain on my dirtbike let alone my street bikes. Clean the junk off of it with WD-40 or kerosene and ride. My FZ1 got 20k+ miles out of the originals.

Kafn8td said:

Amen! I don't even oil the X-ring chain on my dirtbike let alone my street bikes. Clean the junk off of it with WD-40 or kerosene and ride. My FZ1 got 20k+ miles out of the originals.

Click to expand...

The O-ring chains will last a looooong time if you do take care of it though. I got ~52k out of the factory chain on my Bandit. With the modest power the NC makes, I hope to get at least that out of this chain with decent care.

trey

I must admit all I use to clean my chain is WD40 and then I wipe it over with a cloth before lightly oiling it. I never use chain sprays as I really don't like them.

duk2n said:

You don't need to get your hands dirty and leave petrolleum smell in the garage

Click to expand...

And you call yourself a man dirty hands and petroleum smell keep the women folk at bay in my garage.

gpd211 said:

And you call yourself a man dirty hands and petroleum smell keep the women folk at bay in my garage.

Click to expand...

Well, from now going on I will leave the cup of the petroleum can open, don't worry! LOL

duk2n said:

I just got my chain cleaner and greaser kit.

It looks a good piece of material. Here is how it works:

[video=youtube;Gkyaoek9rGI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkyaoek9rGI[/video]

I will report my own opinion soon, but it seems to me it's a good buy

HTH

Click to expand...

This gizmo will be mine as soon as I can get to a computer!!

How can you tell when a chain needs replacing?

Usually the sprockets are a good indication. If you lube and clean your chain properly, it should last as long as your sprockets. If you see that your chain is binding or the rollers are breaking and coming off then it is time to replace it. Also if you are at the end of adjustment on your swingarm. As the chain and sprockets wear they will make more noise and you will see the teeth begin to get thin at the tops. Sometimes the teeth on the sprockets will begin to curl, usually the front sprocket more than the rear. You should always replace chain and sprockets at the same time. They wear together and replacing only half of the combination will very quickly ruin the other parts. One positive thing about owning a bike with only 50 HP is that our chain and sprockets, if well maintained, should last a very long time.

gpd211 said:

And you call yourself a man dirty hands and petroleum smell keep the women folk at bay in my garage.

Click to expand...

I find the older I get, the less I have to do to keep the women folk at bay.

I have had a kettenmax chain cleaner for 2 or 3 years - it didn't work on my last bike but that's because it was a shaft drive But last week at 3000 miles I decided to give the NC700's chain a going over.
The Kettenmax is OK but it isn't as 'clean' as you think. Yes most of the gunge goes down the little tube at the bottom, but there are still plenty of drips. Also all the components of the kettenmax itself gets pretty mucky. I now use it with paraffin for cleaning the chain but then paint the chain with ACF50afterwards. In fact I've just bought one of these which I am going to keep soaked in acf50 for just that job.
Laser Chain Cleaning Brush 4140
Mike

What is the benefit of painting the chain with ACF50? You use it as grease?

Never heard of anyone using ACF50 as chain lube before

sorry guys - I thought it was on here that everyone was discussing wd40/acf50 as chain protection instead of greases. Must be the Uk forum
Mike