Best chain cleaner ?

[grog]

SA, listen to your bike shop view if you want.From my use for lots of years, a load of crap. I clean with brake cleaner or kero, both dont seem to wreck chain or spoil lubing. I use vmx castrol gear oil, flings off first 20 ks. A bit of a wipe over, none on tyre. Job done. My EK O ring chain now over 15 th ks, never needed adjusting. I only fitted cheap O ring to wear out sprockets. Its lasted twice as long as i thought it would, keeps going and sprockets still good. Suzuki reco gear oil in manual, me also, chain just runs so nice between clean/lube, at least 2 th ks. One day my cheap O ring will need adjust, ill only do it twice then replace. Supersprox and top end EK will be my choice. EK make the strongest chain.

[SA14]

I hear ya and have great respect for your (and everyone's) experience. Not a problem there. I told them that Suzuki recommends it and they shook their head and said "yeah, we know - still not a fan". The problem I have is that I have zero experience so I have to collect as much data and opinions as I can and to make some sort of educated guess. A newbie's dilema.

[Dusty ST]

then thoroughly spray off - preferably with a high pressure wash but high pressure garden hose jet is ok.

High pressure washer?
I think there's a measure of how good their advice is 

[Hooli]

Pressure washer is likely to get water past the O/X rings & kill the chain faster.

I wash with paraffin & rinse with a normal hose, then WD40 to dry & let the oiler relube it. I got 50k miles from the last chain (but it was knackered at the end) so it works well enough for me.

[KiwiCol]

Mate, they want to sell you their expensive chain products.  1L of kero will last ages & the gear oil is also cheap & does a good job.  I also use the same combination as Grog, no problems here.  No oil on rear tire either, even if you spin it up on the main stand after oiling it, the excess goes just past the tire, not onto it & certainly not onto the tread area.

[SA14]

then thoroughly spray off - preferably with a high pressure wash but high pressure garden hose jet is ok.

High pressure washer?
I think there's a measure of how good their advice is 

Pressure washer is likely to get water past the O/X rings & kill the chain faster.

I wash with paraffin & rinse with a normal hose, then WD40 to dry & let the oiler relube it. I got 50k miles from the last chain (but it was knackered at the end) so it works well enough for me.

Well, I have neither so I'll be Mr spray and wipe.

Side note, paraffin is kerosene which I didn't know until yesterday.

[SA14]

Mate, they want to sell you their expensive chain products.  1L of kero will last ages & the gear oil is also cheap & does a good job.  I also use the same combination as Grog, no problems here.  No oil on rear tire either, even if you spin it up on the main stand after oiling it, the excess goes just past the tire, not onto it & certainly not onto the tread area.

Yeah they probably do but they also say they only recommend or suggest things they do and use themselves and they've been around bikes and racing for 30 years so I'd like to think they're not that blatant and evil as to want to rip someone off and ruin their bike and potentially cause a fatal safety issue for a few bucks profit. Or you're right and in my 55 years on this planet I've learned nothing about how to judge character. I believe them just as much as I believe you guys. Everyone seems sincere. I guess as a newbie asking advice I'm ripe for picking. Should have stuck to a bar of soap and olive oil.

[Hooli]

TBH almost anything works. The lube is just to stop the O/X rings sticking & tearing, the actual pivot pins are lubed from the factory & the O/X rings seal that lube in.

[SA14]

TBH almost anything works. The lube is just to stop the O/X rings sticking & tearing, the actual pivot pins are lubed from the factory & the O/X rings seal that lube in.

Thanks. Here's what I know and makes sense to me as an obviously clueless, naive and impressionable noob; clean it, lube it and adjust it...often.

[Hooli]

Shouldn't need to adjust it often. Once or twice when a new chain beds in & then hardly at all until it's worn out. Once they start stretching a lot they are worn out.

[KiwiCol]

I agree with Hooli, if you have to keep adjusting the chain every few rides, it's buggered, (or still new & settling in)   

Chain lube, it's like a lot of things, comes down to personal preference & how much effort you want to put in to look after your chain.

[DP1400]

I've never seen the point in cleaning chains, i just lube them regularly and let the O rings do their job. A decent chain won't need much adjustment, just regular checks.
I note pressure washing was mentioned. I'd advise never to put a pressure washer anywhere near a bike!!

[SA14]

Shouldn't need to adjust it often. Once or twice when a new chain beds in & then hardly at all until it's worn out. Once they start stretching a lot they are worn out.

Understood. What I meant was to clean often, lube often and adjust as often as needed. Just checked mine and it's got about 30mm of slack.

[Hooli]

I've never seen the point in cleaning chains, i just lube them regularly and let the O rings do their job. A decent chain won't need much adjustment, just regular checks.
I note pressure washing was mentioned. I'd advise never to put a pressure washer anywhere near a bike!!

Depends when you ride. I ride all year so cleaning the salt & half a field off the chain is needed at times to stop the plates going rotten. The dirt also acts as grit to wear the O/X rings faster.

[grog]

Im fussy these days, clean n lube. Not sure i was same back in old days. Can remember the system where you put chain in a tray and heated it. Can also remember old bikes, Z1, GT750, Honda 4 etc, just rode the hell out of them, new chain n sprockets needed very often. Probably due to lack of maintenance. Everything used to wear out quick then, tyres especially. We did ride hard but did spend lots of nights in the shed fixing stuff. Were great times.