On ‎10‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 3:22 AM, alberto said:

in my motocross bike and trial bike i use Motul offroad chain lube, it's the only chain lube that do not attract dirt, sure WD40 attract less dirt but the lube ?

 

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I've had a look at that on the net - looks like it does what it says on the tin. Have to buy some next year when i'm back in England.

Think it all depends upon the miles you do...    During TT week in the isle of Man, I did the Scarlet Point trial, which had us going through salt water rock pools and up craggy climbs. on my Honda TL125.  

The following day I went to Ramsey to see a race, and when that finished I rode up the mountain to get back to Douglas.   The Bike slowed in 4th gear, so changed down to 3rd, and it still slowed, pulled the clutch in and the engine revved Ok. but the TL had stopped.   Tried pushing it back and fro, it was stiff.  Thought I  had done the rear wheel bearings in , so looked closely and burnt my fingers on the chain !   It was near enough seized.

Not having any chain lube on me, I used the next best thing, butter from my picnic pack in my rucksack.  That got me back to Douglas, and then some borrowed engine oil got me on the Liverpool Ferry and back to North Wales.   It's all good fun..!

I was told by an elderly technician, who used to oil mechanisms with one drop of oil on a small paintbrush, that you only need oil on the bearing surfaces and that all the oil on the outside should be wiped off with a rag as it only attracts dust.

There's varying trains of thought on this.... for sandy conditions though, I wouldn't use the dry lube (PTFE based) as it traps the dirt and turns to grinding paste.  KTM recommend not using any in sandy conditions... I use the Motrex off-road lube after washing as it's synthetic oil based and the dirt/sand dries it and it just falls off.  Others use a spray of WD40 to get rid of the water and prevent flash rusting... I always thought it was bad for chains, apparently not? Light oil/motor oil also used as it just flings off.

That's the thing - anything remotely oily is going to attract the sand. Like flies to s##t.

I reckon KTM  know a bit about off road sandy conditions....

I used to do Mountain Biking as well as Motorcycling, and found that some of the more expensive chains took about 3 hours to bed-in.  During this time they would jump the small 11-13 tooth rear sprockets (why I don't know!)..  The cure occurred quickly when riding through mud, as they would soon wear-in.

To check if they were excessively worn, you lay the chain on the bench, and 10 links would be 10.0 inches.  When this changed to 10.1 inches the chain was worn, and if it reached 10.2 inches it was knadgered.   We sometimes used anti-fling chain-saw oil on our chains, as we had a few gallons of the stuff.

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