Motorcycle Chain Oil
- Thread starter Norry1
- Start date
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Depends what sort of oil it is, Norry.
I use a light oil for the cycle chains, so it gets flung off and replaced frequently rather than sticking onto the chain and attracting all sorts of crap to create a grinding paste. It wouldn't last 2 seconds on a motorbike chain, though. The higher chain speeds need a thicker oil or it would be all over the back of your trousers before the third gear change.
Cycle oils also get applied (usually) fairly frequently. I'm checking and applying oil after most wet & mucky rides on the MTB, which could be every 15-20 miles. On a motorbike, you are probably going to do at least 10 times that distance between applications.
Motorbikes also have o-rings, so the chain oil has different requirements, although that wouldn't be a show stopper on it's own, I'd say that motorbike oils aren't ideal for bike chains but anything is better than nothing and they probably won't do any harm.
I use a light oil for the cycle chains, so it gets flung off and replaced frequently rather than sticking onto the chain and attracting all sorts of crap to create a grinding paste. It wouldn't last 2 seconds on a motorbike chain, though. The higher chain speeds need a thicker oil or it would be all over the back of your trousers before the third gear change.
Cycle oils also get applied (usually) fairly frequently. I'm checking and applying oil after most wet & mucky rides on the MTB, which could be every 15-20 miles. On a motorbike, you are probably going to do at least 10 times that distance between applications.
Motorbikes also have o-rings, so the chain oil has different requirements, although that wouldn't be a show stopper on it's own, I'd say that motorbike oils aren't ideal for bike chains but anything is better than nothing and they probably won't do any harm.
Norry1 said:
I've used Wurth Dry Chain lube when I didn't have any pushbike-specific oil lying around and it seemed to work OK. Not sure what it would be like long-term though.
Clearly the real answer is to buy yourself another motorbike as it would be a waste to leave all that chain oil lying around ...
