Looking to upgrade my chain, I live in a humid area on Vancouver Island and constantly need to scrub surface rust off my chain. Which is normal for being so close to the ocean, but its rather unpleasant to scrub off so much every 500kms. Was hoping someone in a similar climate knows a good upgrade. Also, which type of material should my chain be made of for wet, rainy, salty, humid conditions? Any brands or type of chain material suggestions are greatly appreciated. Its my daily ride, so I would like to upgrade this sooner rather than later. I feel like my chain doesn't hold lubrication very well due to the rain and when it gets close to 500kms without a thourough clean and lube, it starts to noticably feel shittier when downshifting. The bike is past 10,000kms and I have serviced everything myself so far. I also think my links just don't hold the 80w-90 gear oil very long with so much rain, so maybe I need to switch to something else in the future for a new chain lubricant that can hold up in my climate. Any reccomendations for that would also be a internet high five for your suggestions.
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best chain for my RE Int 650
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TJ Admin Staff memberModeratorMember who has the rights to delete posts, and ban members form forum if they violate the rules.@A-Dawg
first, id stop "cleaning" your chain. a rinse with non salt water is fine. youre washing off and out all the lubrication. washing chains is for guys who get DIRT and sand all up in the chain when offroad. why in gods name are you putting 8090 gear oil on your chain and not an actual chain lubricant? Thats why youre getting rust on your chain so frequently, your chain is tossing that oil off like awater off a ducks back as soon as you get going. So stop using gear oil and go get a GOOD chain lube like the ones made by belray. i prefer their super clean chain lube.
SO heres the drill - go buy a good X-ring chain by DID or RK. they hold lubrication inside much better than an O-ring chain.Next, after you install the new chain, lubricate that chain with actual chain lubricant, spray it on the lower part of the chain so you are spraying onto the surface that contacts the sprockets, roll the bike forward, spray on the next section, dont be shy. repeat process till chain is covered. let the bike sit for half an hour, longer if its cold out, before you ride it, if you are riding every day and the bike is stored o utdoors, a light spray every couple weelks shoudl drastically prolong the life of the chain. i lived in huntington beach with chain drive bikes and my chains lasted a long time with regular care. as long as you dont go dirt bike riding for miles, you dont need to be cleaning the chain.
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don't get short with me mr.frodo!
nah, but for real, the chain oil is just a common cheap lubricant. And I'm cheap because I am poor. I had a bunch of gear oil left over from when I was doing a gear oil change on my 50cc Iget engine. So naturally, I didn't want to spend more money on lubricants when I had some in the garage for the bike, that lots of people recommended I use, so I dunno man sue me I guess. In videos online with testing, gear oil held up suprisingly well, its why I thought 'fuck it'. But, where I live, we often get 22-24 inches of rain per year, so I was looking for something that would last just a little longer instead of reapplying over and over. Sure, it flings, but the bike is filthy dam near 6 months out of the year anyway.
Also, I park my bike about 20 yards from the pacific ocean 5 days a week for 8 hour days being stationed at CFB Esquimalt. The winters can still freeze here, so the road salt also fucks my chain up in the winter, so it needs cleaning man, washing it with water would probably make things worse. Thats why this winter it got pretty rusty and required some gentle scrubbing to ensure my surface rust didn't start pitting my chain. It is never dry in the winters here in Vancouver island. But, the belray stuff you reccommended is not available near me unless I order it and wait a few days to get it or drive up island 120kms to buy a can, so we settled with Motul spray. Were gonna try that this year and see how it holds up until I can save for a new chain and sprockets this summer.
I will go with an x ring chain as recommended, and some deep dives about the materials online leads me to believe that gold plated or nickle plated will hold up better for surface rust protection.
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