How to Clean & Lubricate a Chain? Step by Step Guide

Some parts of a motorcycle need regular maintenance. The chain is one of them. The motorcycle engine provides mechanical power which is captured in the main shaft and connected to the motorcycle chain through a countershaft. In that way, the motorcycle chain rotates, which, in turn, turns the rear wheel to move the bike forward.

If the chain is not smoothly scrolled or it has friction, then obviously, it will add load to the engine and the engine will consume more fuel to rotate that chain and you can imagine how important it is to clean and lubricate your chain regularly. So, let’s get to the point of how to clean your dirty chain. First of all, get all the tools required and follow the steps below.

Tool Required

• A piece of cardboard
• Chain cleaner
• Grunge brush
• Chain lube

Types of Motorcycle Chains

There are basically 3 types of chains – Standard Non-Sealed, 0-ring, and X-ring

Standard Non-Sealed Motorcycle Chain: It’s the simplest chain made of interconnected links. This chain is found in older motorcycles and some small-engine bikes. This type of chain requires more maintenance as compared to the O-ring and the X-ring chains.

O-Ring Chain: A ring is fixed to the gap between the outside and the inside roller covers of every chain link. When we lube the chain, the grease will go inside these 0-rings, which helps the chain to remain lubricated for a long time.

X-Ring Chain: The X-ring chain is mainly used for racers because the O-ring chain moves at a slower speed due to the large size of the O-rings. The concept of keeping the chain lubricated for a long time is the same as the O-ring chain. But it has a smaller contact surface area with the pins and covers that help to reduce the drag and increases speed.

Steps to Clean and Lubricate Motorcycle Chain

Step 1: My suggestion is to clean your chain just after your ride because the chain will warn so that it will be easy to remove dirt from the chain. After the ride put your motorcycle on the rear stand.

Step 2: Now we need to remove the dirt from the chain. Use a chain cleaner (C-Ring chain cleaner) and start spraying. To block overspray you can use a piece of cardboard below the chain while spraying.

Step 3: Pick a Grunge Brush or old toothbrush and scrub the entire chain.

Step 4: Now rinse your chain and take a short ride to warm the chain up.

Step 5: Now get a chain lube and put on the overlapping links of the chain. After that, you are good to go with your frictionless chain.

Check out this video by Canyonchasers. This will help you to understand better

How Often to Clean Your Chain?

Well, this depends on how much you travel in a day and also where you are traveling. If you are traveling in the forest, you will need to clean and lube almost daily. But if you are on the smooth road and riding daily almost 30 miles, then lube your chain every 10 days and you can clean it every 20th day. Sometimes, if you have a hard day riding, which means riding on a rough road, then on the same day, clean then chain.

Final Words:

I think the steps that I have mentioned here are not too difficult. It only takes 10 minutes of work to clean and lubricate your motorcycle chain. Cleaning and lubricating are certainly the easiest maintenance tasks for a motorcycle owner. And it’s also very necessary to clean your chain from time to time.