White spirit on chain

I'm taking my bike over to Gunterpots tomorrow so he can help with my chain/wheel alignment problem. I wanted to clean the chain thoroughly before going over so it's not covered in old lube and gukk and stuff.

Can I use white spirit and a toothbrush on it without damaging it? I can use clean lube on it straight away afterwards. Failing that, what can I use that I'm likely to have around the house? Car screen wash? Washing up liquid? Silicone spray? Polish?

Obviously chain degreaser is the best choice, but am poor now until next week!

WD40

I've got 5 litres of rubbing alcohol here, bring a toothbrush and you can do mine whilst you're at it :)

Haven't got any WD40! lol

But can I assume from the fact you haven't gone NOOOOOO then it should be ok?

The best thing to clean a chain is petrol but at todays prices it's probably not the cheapest. Just dont smoke when you're doing it. White spirit will be fine. It'll dry out pretty fast as it will evaporate. Give it 10 mins then give it a good lube.

WD40 or petrol on a rag to wipe the outside of the side plates clean. While you're at it, clean the swingarm and wheel too. It's a personal thing, but if someone wants me to work on a bike of theirs I won't touch it until it's clean >:(

Wheel & swingarm were spotless, but now the chain is gleaming too!

I think I've also srted my problem out with the tight spot/wheel alignment too. Took all the vaseline off my nuts to make it easier to see what was going on, and I think where I'd tightened up the locking nut, but not secured the adjuster bolt properly, it had put things out. Have cleaned, lubed, realigned and used a spanner to hold the bolt while I tightened up the nut with another and it seems t have sorted the problem. Only had a little spin round the block though so will still take it to Gunters tomorrow to check my work and see if it's right. plus I'll know on way there if it's resolved the problem properly.

Chain is a bit corroded though on the outer plates so I will order a new one soon with sprockets.

Can anyone tell me if I can take a tooth off/add one one anywhere ok to make it a bit quicker off the mark? Not so worried about losing a bit of top speed as it's rare I take it past 130, let alone the 170 it's supposed to be able to go!

Petrol as others have said, but when you have some pennies I can not recommend Muck-Off Degreaser enough, water soluble as well so all you have to do after using it is take the hose to the thing then lube her up again.

If the teeth on the sprockets ain't hooked and you can't pull the chain off the rear sprocket, then a bit of rust is nothing, it's fine, stop worrying :)

If you want to drop gearing you could do either 1 off the front or plus 1,2 or 3 on the rear - plus 1 or 2 on the back will be less of a change than -1 at the front. You might find someone on the web who's done up a gearing chart to suit your bike would show top speeds in gears with adjusted ratios, can figure out rpm at cruising speed from said table.

If I did 1 off front, and 1 off rear, would that make a noticable difference?

where's your speedo pickup?

Erm... Uhhhh.... Hmmmm. Good question. Answers on a postcard?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Squashed_Fly

If I did 1 off front, and 1 off rear, would that make a noticable difference?

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Yeah, as it goes a slightly bigger change than just going +1 rear.

Find out what standard sprockets are, then have a look here

http://www.renthal.com/File/gearing_ratios.asp

will show you the final drive change from standard depending on combination.

A more real world guide to help choose would be knowing speed at x RPM in x gear

Adding teeth can require longer chain, removing more than one tooth probably would want a link taking out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scotty

WD40 or petrol on a rag to wipe the outside of the side plates clean. While you're at it, clean the swingarm and wheel too. It's a personal thing, but if someone wants me to work on a bike of theirs I won't touch it until it's clean >:(

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Hint taken! ;D

going abit ott, but using WD40 can damage o rings on your chain.... I use WD40, as it does it job perfect :P…it doesn’t effect the o rings drastically, but it as it is a penetrate aerosol/degreaser, it can penetrate o rings, degreasing the grease within the o rings, and causing damage to the rings too :P.. ensure u have thoroughly removed the WD40 before u apply your lube, as this will also degrease your lube if there is any left :P

WD40 does not affect O rings fact, if it gets past them to the grease in the rollers the chain is shagged anyway, therefore wd40 is fine on good chains.

sprockets.... dropping one tooth on the front is the equivilent of going up about 2.75 teeth on the rear. i highly recomened doing one or the other at first, ie less a tooth on the front, OR up 1,2 or 3 on the rear.

im currently running one less on the front and + 2 on the rear and it's mentall! lost a bit of top speed, but quick enough to loose ya license still. the bike likes to point north quite often now, but i love it. keep old sprockets if they are in good condition, as you can swap depending on your mood or distance your gonna ride.

To tame the CR i've gone up from 13t to 14 on the front and down on the back to 48t......Bloody thing still just wants to ride on the back wheel though....which is what was happening when i hit the tree!!!

Gonna try a weighted flywheel next, probably a 12oz'er

Love it ;)

The best cheap thing for de-greasing a chain is parrafin. It gets the oily/waxy sludge off, but is too thick to get past the 'O'rings, so won't touch the grease inside.

DO NOT use WD40 :)

Dear Mr xxxxxx,

Thank you for contacting the WD-40 Company.

WD-40 is a multi-purpose light lubricating oil and cleaner. WD-40 will
definitely displace and remove the water or moisture from the chain, and it will also act as a rust preventative on any of the metal surfaces. WD-40 will not dry out the rubber o-rings, and we have found no visible effects on surfaces of rubber and o-rings. Certain types of rubber will swell under prolonged immersion in WD-40. A light spray is harmless.

Thank you again for contacting the WD-40 Company. Please let me know if I may
be of further assistance.

Best regards,
Eva Zabowski
WD-40 Customer Service

Trouble is, I guess, is that Nooj is speaking from experience. But it could be that the chains he's worked with were already covered in so much gunk, the o-ring seals let the WD40 in which did do harm. I'm guessing that response from WD40 is based on it being used on a good quality, fairly good condition chain. In which case it should cause no harm?

Just playing devils advocate...

If the chain is in good condition, as are the O rings, then it will be fine. If the O rings are shagged, then you can use whatever you like, it will get past the O rings and de-grease the rollers, parrafin/kerosene/petrol/white spirit/gt85/wd40 anything, it doesn't matter. BTW did you know wd40 is so called as it's properties last 40 days from application, whereas GT85 is teflon based and last 85 days, this may or may not be true.

I thought it was called that because it was the 40th attempt to come up with the product after the 1st 39 attempts didn't do the job properly?? Could be wrong but I've read that in a few places

Also what I've heard, WD= water dispersant, 40 =40th attempt to get it right.

I've never said anything about WD40 being harmfull to 'O' rings, only to the grease behind them if it gets past them. Personally I wouldn't ever use it to degrease a chain, but it's your bike, so it's up to you.

After all, I'm only a professional motorcycle valet and ACF50 acreddited anti-corrosion specialist, so what would I know about such thing? ;D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nooj

Also what I've heard, WD= water dispersant, 40 =40th attempt to get it right.

I've never said anything about WD40 being harmfull to 'O' rings, only to the grease behind them if it gets past them. Personally I wouldn't ever use it to degrease a chain, but it's your bike, so it's up to you.

After all, I'm only a professional motorcycle valet and ACF50 acreddited anti-corrosion specialist, so what would I know about such thing? ;D

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A Google search on WD40 and chains brings up some interesting useless information some of which seems to indicate its the propelant in the cans of WD40 which is harmful to seals, not the WD40 itself. I also wouldn't expect any employee of the manufacturing company or supplier to admit there could be any third party damage by their product - opens a can of worms and hundreds of punitive damage claims if they did. ;)

I of course, no nothing myself on the matter..... ;D

Nooj, i totally agree WD40 is a degreasant, and i totally agree that WD40 doesn't affect O rings. What i have a problem with, is if the chain and O rings are sound, how would it get past the O rings? Logic suggests it can't, therefore using WD40 on a chain is ok.

>
which seems to indicate its the propelant in the cans of WD40 which is harmful to seals
<
Although I've read the whole thread I still thought of this

That picture makes me want to go clubbing

Parrafin... degreaser for allmost anything, and cheap as chips compared to wd40.. used it for years on all my chains from a cg125 to a ducati, never had a problem.