How to clean and lubricate the motorcycle chain

Cleaning and lubricating the chain of our motorcycle is one of the maintenance operations that we will carry out most frequently. We recommend that you always clean it before greasing. We will do it every 800 or 1,000 kilometers, or sooner if we have driven in the rain.

Cleaning and lubricating the chain of our motorcycle will achieve the miracle of multiplying its useful life. We know it is a messy and cumbersome task, and that time is never found, but it is a necessary and simple task if you follow these steps to oil the secondary transmission. If your motorcycle has a cardan transmission, you will have to visit this other report.

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We usually take advantage of the washing of the motorcycle for the tasks of checking the chain. In another article, we have detailed what your chain is like and the steps to always maintain its correct tension. In this article, we will focus on its correct greasing.

The first phase of washing is usually done with a type KH7 or similar anti-grease product, which we will also take advantage of to clean the swingarm, rear wheel and the rear shock absorber. We will finish washing the motorcycle and with plenty of water we will remove the degreaser.

Use a high pressure cleaner?

We do not like, although it is very effective, to clean the chain of the motorcycle with a high-pressure cleaner because it could damage the seals or make water penetrate through them. If you are cleaning with pressurized water, try to do it at a certain distance so that not all the pressure reaches the chain …

Once the bike is dry, it is time to dedicate ourselves to the chain. We will need to have an easel to lift the rear wheel. If we do not have an easel and as an exceptional measure we will have to ask for help, tip the bike over the kickstand and have someone lend us a hand to clean and grease the bike. But we say as an exceptional measure, first because it is dangerous and second because we will end up damaging the kickstand. The best thing is that the motorcycle has an easel or help us with an easel or workshop lift.

If you have an air compressor, you can dry the chain well with it, if it doesn't strip shop paper or a rag.

Deep chain cleaning

With the dry chain you can finish cleaning it in depth with a specific degreaser or, our recommendation: GASOIL, it is a fantastic cleaning product and since it contains a proportion of lubricant it does not damage the seals. WD 40 also lubricates and cleans properly. You also have very cheap motorcycle chain cleaning products in establishments such as Lidl, from the W5 brand, but we have not tested them.

With a workshop paper, we will spray this product and rub. We will see how our chain is getting rid of all the old fat and is completely clean. The chain with the kilometers is impregnated in the old grease of particles and dirt from the road, which works like small files if we do not remove them and put new grease directly on the chain.

Motorcycle chain grease

When we have perfectly clean the chain, we will proceed to add new grease. We have read everything, use lithium grease (the one that best takes care of our transmission kit), high compression grease, wax ... There are countless products, but in the end a good spray chain lubricant is the cleanest and most comfortable solution. And the easiest to find in almost all specialty stores. There are some that we especially like like the Silkolene chains, GRO, Castrol OR or BelRay, to give you three examples, but there are many more. They are fats that with a light application enter very liquid between the links and after a while they thicken until they become very consistent fat. In the case of the BelRay Blue Tac it is almost glue, which prevents it from detaching with the spin of the chain and dirtying the rear wheel. The one marketed by GRO is a white foam that indicates well the degree of lubrication of our chain. We also like Castrol because it lasts a long time and in very rainy conditions it does not disappear. The price of these products is usually around 12 euros, the 400 ml bottle.

Apply the grease with gloves, because surely something falls on your hands and then it is difficult to clean. While moving the rear wheel with one hand, spray the inside of the chain through the two ends of its links, right where the O-rings are if it is a chain of seals. Once the chain is fully impregnated, you don't need to add excess grease, keep turning the rear wheel to keep the rollers moving well and to penetrate the lubricant as much as possible while it is liquid. Do not use the motorcycle immediately, wait at least half an hour until the lubricant has thickened to the maximum.

Never manipulate the chain with the motorcycle running

As a safety measure, we must insist that you never manipulate the chain with the motorcycle in gear and in gear. Always move the wheel by hand. It will not be the first time, nor unfortunately, the last time, that a mechanic or biker loses any of the phalanges of his fingers for manipulating the chain of the motorcycle with the engine running.

Finally, if the life of our chain has come to an end, you must change it. In this article, we give you some advice about this task, the measurements and the qualities.

So, If you need more tips like this please visit the number one online motorcycle blog BikeBD