New chain question

Anything special to do on a new chain? Looks like its already pre-lubed (greased). First new chain I've purchased in 30 years.

I wiped the grease off my new chain and saturated the links with the chain lube I use which is the DuPont teflon Multi Purpose spray lube from Lowe's.

Take it to the carwash and soak new chain down really good with simple green or something like that to get that shipping grease off of it then take and ride it a mile or som to dry it out,then soak the hell out of it with good chain lube.

Thanks bountyhunter, wireman. I did try searching here before asking. I'm sure its been discussed here before but had not luck finding anything on the topic. Thanks again.

First off, what kind of chain? The O-ring and X-ring chains don't need to be lubed the way old school chains do and solvents do more harm than good.

All chains need to be lubed.

650ed wrote: All chains need to be lubed.

Sorry, poor phrasing. You don't use the same methods, but you still lube them, mostly to prevent corrosion. Although I found this report on another forum.

I've done the tests. I have 70,000 miles on my bike, and each chain I treated different just to see what works.

I ran DID 525 X ring chains. Some riveted, some clipped. I ride alot of dirt (pre-ran the Baja 1000 with one of the chains) Every chain got me 15,000 miles. + or - 1,000

1st chain(stock); I lubed and cleaned all the time. (15,000)
2nd chain; I never touched it, not even once. (15,000)
3rd chain; I wiped it down with WD after washing the bike. (15,000)
4th chail; I wiped it down with kerosene once in a while. (15,000)

FWIW the chain that came stock on my recently sold 07 ZX6R had 16k on it when I sold it. I believe it was a O-ring. I wiped it off and sprayed Maxima Wax every 500 or so miles. It still had another 5k easy left in it.

The stock grease on a new chain is fine. It will find it's way off the sprockets on to the rest of the bike whithin 100 miles. After that add your favorite lube. Also as Ed says all chains need lube. I suppose corrosion is a thought, but the main reason for this is the rollers are rolling over the sprocket teeth at a high speed. Yes the chain is lubed for life sealed by orings, xrings, krings, you name it. This is all great, but no lube for life on the rollers. Without lube they are dry and every mile are wearing the teeth off your sprockets. Also I might add if you doubt the need for lube, take your nice shiney lubed for life xring chain on a quick 100 mile or so interstate romp dry on the dry rollers and take a note how hot the chain is. This is rolling friction from the dry rollers rolling over the sprocket teeth. I don't really get the 15,000 miles chain lube don't matter thing. I get 60,000 miles out of a chain lubed. I would wager to guess a heck of a lot less running 350 degrees chain temp on a dry chain.

I still say that shipping grease was designed more for rust protection while sitting in a box in some humid wharehouse(spell check)than actually protecting the chain while in service :laugh:

wireman wrote: I still say that shipping grease was designed more for rust protection while sitting in a box in some humid wharehouse(spell check)than actually protecting the chain while in service :laugh:

Correct.

I also agree it's a bad idea to soak X-Ring or O-ring chains in solvent ans that just washes out the lube loaded in the pins held in place by the rubber rings.

Wipe the grease off, shoot it with liquid chain lube and go for it. The grease doesn't hurt anything but will make a mess.

That's pretty much what I did. I did spray some Polmolive solution to clean it a bit better. But plenty of grease still on there. And I sprayed it with the DuPont Teflon Chain Saver. Same as the multipurpose stuff they make but more specific to motorcycles. Didn't bother finding out the difference. So I should be ready to roll as soon as I finish up the rest of my tasks.