Cleaning and Lubricating Motorcycle Chain

Chain is an essential part of a motorcycle and keeping it clean and lubricated ensures that you have a trouble free smooth ride, at the same time it helps increase the life of the chain as well.

Cleaning the Chain

While there are various ways of cleaning your motorcycles chain as well lubricating it, I prefer to use the good old kerosene (if not available then petrol) to clean the chain. A small brush (an old tooth brush) dipped in kerosene cleans out most of the sludge. Although it is a bit time consuming, but it usually does the trick and leaves a thoroughly cleaned chain.

However if you wish to clean the chain even more thoroughly then the best option is to remove the chain (use the plyer for removing clip of chain), dip it in a pot filled with kerosene and then clean it with the help of a brush. After the chain is cleaned, wipe it with a clean lint free cloth and let it hang for half an hour to dry up properly.

WD 40 can also be used to clean as well as lubricate the chain; it is usually easier then above mentioned option. However it is an expensive affair and requires quite a lot of WD 40 spray to clean and lubricate the entire chain.

There are chain cleaner cum chain lube spray available in the market from Motul and cleans and lubricates the chain at the same time, also it is quite easy to apply since it is only a spray. However it is quite expensive to use it on a regular basis.

Lubrication

For lubricating the chain I prefer to use 90w gear oil, it is thick enough to stick to the chain properly and usually is good enough to keep the chain lubricated for roughly 1500-2000kms if the chain cover is on.

You can also use 2t oil to lubricate the chain in the event you are unable to find 90w gear oil. However the 2t oil is only good enough for 400-500kms if the chain cover is on.

Chain Cover: Removing chain cover reduces the life of the chain drastically especially in monsoon months. If you have removed the chain cover then inspect the chain on regular intervals for signs of dirt and also keep on the look out for the chain noise as a hint that chain needs to be adjusted and/or cleaned.